New York Public Library Research

10/22/2026

View new acquisitions and materials from Corita Kent's artist file in a display outside the Art & Architecture Reading Room, "Rule #4: Consider Everything an Experiment."

The title comes from Corita’s Ten Rules for Artists, which she wrote around 1967 for the art department at Immaculate Heart College.

Corita Kent (1918–1986), also known as Sister Mary Corita, or Corita, was an American artist, designer, educator, and former religious sister. She is best known for her vibrant text-laden serigraphs, a stencil printing technique where thick ink is pushed through a fine mesh screen onto paper or canvas.

She used the language of mass media, brand packaging, and advertising to reflect her concerns about war, racism, and poverty, as well as her interests in everyday observations and ordinary things.

Corita's artistic career spanned 40 years, from the 1940s until her death in 1986. She created almost 800 serigraph editions and thousands of watercolors and photographs in her lifetime.

10/21/2026

This month, the Jonathan Mann collection of materials related to Abraham Lincoln became available to the public.

Acquired by the Library in 2024, the archive is notable for its depth and scope, featuring a wide variety of materials about the 16th president as well as his contemporaries and 19th-century politics and culture more broadly.

Learn more about the collection and how to access it: https://on.nypl.org/3WoCMJL

The incomparable archive includes documents, artifacts, photographs, broadsides, and other research materials.

10/20/2026

Explore a new research guide all about NYPL's incredible Print Collection.

Part of The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, the Print Collection contains hundreds of thousands of prints in various types as well as thousands of books on the history of printmaking: https://on.nypl.org/4sdymS4

10/19/2026

The New York Public Library's research collections are the perfect place for artists to find inspiration. Synth-pop star and Bastille frontman Dan Smith—who is currently working on a musical entitled 'Young Romantics,' about 'Frankenstein' author Mary Shelley and her circle of friends and family—recently visited the 42nd Street library’s Pforzheimer Collection to absorb the aura of original manuscripts by and objects associated with the Shelley circle.

Among the items Smith viewed were a recently acquired letter written by Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley's baby shirt, and a guitar believed to have been given by Percy Shelley to Mary Shelley’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont. We look forward to seeing how his visit informs his work!

How does the Library inspire your creative process?

10/18/2026

It's spooky season, and our research collections have plenty of creepy tomes lurking in the shadows. 🧛👻🐺

Explore horror, vampires, werewolves, monsters, and things that go bump in the night in these spine-chilling volumes.

10/17/2026

We have a few cards up our sleeve. ♠️♥️

For National Playing Card Collection Day, take a closer look at this 1811 deck from NYPL’s collections, designed by Mary Day Beauclerk, Countess von Jennison-Walworth.

Themed around knightly orders, it’s a “transformation deck” that cleverly incorporates hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades into illustrated scenes.

The first transformation playing cards were created by D.W. Soltan and D. Berger in 1801 as illustrations. In 1804, J.C. Cotta, a publisher and bookseller in Tübingen, Germany, produced the first full set of transformation cards that was published as an actual deck of playing cards. Four of the sets he produced were attributed to Countess von Jennison-Walworth.

These cards complement the Library’s important collection of early modern women printmakers. Learn more about NYPL’s Print Collection: https://on.nypl.org/4dsYsJF

10/16/2026

In honor of Noah Webster's birthday, today is National Dictionary Day!

There are over 2,000 dictionaries on the shelves of our Rose Main Reading Room. That includes hundreds of English dictionaries as well as other languages and topics. Which dictionary would you like to consult?

10/14/2026

The Hundred Acre Wood is celebrating 100 years today!

On October 14, 1926, 'Winnie-the-Pooh,' written by A.A. Milne and illustrated by E.H. Shepard, was published. It would go on to become one of the most influential and universally beloved children's books of the 20th century.

At New York Comic Con this past weekend, NYPL's Brent Reidy joined a panel with Pooh's publisher at Dutton Books, the creators of a new graphic novel adaptation, and legendary Pooh voice actor Jim Cummings to discuss Pooh's lasting impact and place at the Library.

Celebrate this historic centennial by visiting the original Winnie-the-Pooh toys in the Polonsky Exhibition and the special display 'Silly Old Bear! Winnie-the-Pooh at 100' at our flagship 42nd Street library: https://on.nypl.org/47lrxEh

10/14/2026

The 100th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh is coming up, and it seems hard to believe that A.A. Milne only published two books solely dedicated to Winnie-the-Pooh and his adventures. 🧸

The bear of very little brain has had a very big career outside of his original stories. Throughout the years, Pooh has featured in songs, poems, and movies, in addition to later authorized sequels. While Milne authored or was involved in some of the early additions, there are many more that reference or feature Winnie-the-Pooh or are otherwise in conversation with the silly old bear.

To celebrate Pooh's 100th birthday, explore other books he has inspired in our General Research Division: https://on.nypl.org/3VI4eSE

To celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh's 100th birthday, discover some of the other books the character has inspired. 

10/12/2026

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, join Rick Monture, a professor of Indigenous studies and member of the Mohawk Nation, to explore the story of Thayendenegea, also known as Joseph Brant.

Thayendenegea was a Mohawk leader who advocated for his people during the Revolutionary era.

See his portrait and letter, along with the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, in “Revolutionary City,” part of the Polonsky Exhibition of the Library’s Treasures.