As a web developer who works on a screen and an illustrator that works on paper, I have always admired those who could paint big—often on impossibly large and inconveniently placed walls—only to be erased in a matter of weeks or days. The ephemeral nature of street art is what makes it simultaneously appealing and frustrating as a viewer. However, Google Maps recently rolled out a feature allowing users to go back in time on its Street View. I immediately thought to check out the well-known wall on Bowery & Houston and found that Google captured the painted wall dating back to 2007. Here's a sampling from 2007 to present. I added a few images of the wall that I found while perusing the web to fill in some of the gap years that Google didn't capture.

Next, since the images of the walls were taken from different angles, I built a very basic web tool to align them by defining each of their four corners to be used as control points.

As more and more digital materials become available from the library and beyond, we will need to continue to ask what we should be remembering and what tools we can build to surface topics of interest and encourage conversations around them.

All the code for this tool is publically available here.

Rapidly evolving developments in printing technology and paper manufacture during the 19th century were a democratizing process which lowered costs and made books of all kinds accessible to a wider audience. In that context it is interesting that, even early on, one of the most popular genres of these inexpensive books was self-improvement. The selection that follows is the barest tip of the iceberg of what is available in the Art & Architecture Collection in this genre. These books can be charming, informative, and at times appalling, but they are always fascinating and all are worth checking out.

The Art & Architecture Collection has a sizeable collection of 19^th century materials which includes many manuals on dress and behavior for ladies and gentlemen. From 1811 (before the age of the bustle) there is The Mirror of the Graces written by “A Lady of Distinction” which offers “…the most Efficacious Means of preserving Beauty, Health and Loveliness”. It features a number of attractive hand colored engravings which illustrate various ladies’ costumes for different purposes and times of day. The garments and accessories are described at length in the introductory text.

When not discussing the “all conquering power of taste” The Mirror of the Graces offers recommendations such as “…gentle and daily exercise in the open air”, and country air as “the finest bracer of the nerves and the surest brightener of the complexion”. Should that fail there is a section at the end of the book which offers recipes for various unguents and potions to clean hair and skin, remove a tan, heal “chopped” lips (note the use of spermaceti – wax from the head cavities of the sperm whale), and relieve the pain of corns. Besides these and other cosmetic mainstays such as lavender and rose waters, there are concoctions such as Madame Récamier’s Pomade which promises relief from “exercises which require…great exertion of the limbs [such] as dancing”, and which calls for “the fat of a red stag”.

Dress as a Fine Art by Mrs. Merrifield (1854) begins with a lengthy discussion of dress throughout history and is illustrated with simple line drawings of historical and contemporary garments (there are also some very charming initial cap illustrations). Mrs. Merrifield also offers her opinions on “the practice of tight lacing” and compares a woman “binding her waist by the pressure of stays” to Chinese foot binding – “the same bad taste which insists upon a small waist…decrees that a small foot is essential to beauty”.  An interesting feature of Dress as a Fine Art is the chapter “Thoughts on Children’s Dress”. It advocates clothes that do not encumber movement and notes that “Girls… were less free in their movement than boys” in the garments of the day. Mrs. Merrifield discusses binding the waist of very young girls and describes it as an “evil practice”. Evidently a bandage 3 inches wide and 2 or 3 yards long was wound around the body of the child as “breaking in for the tight lacing” which is “frequently begun so early in life”.

Taste versus Fashionable Colours by William and George Audsley (1863) praises French women as being “far superior to those of our own country” regarding “all matters of taste in costume”. They seek to remedy this discrepency by offering tips on color choices based on complexion (a common approach in many of these handbooks) as “the science of colour” – a science that includes only “four classes of complexion”. The reader is provided with lists of “good harmony” and “poor harmony” regarding color combinations for dresses, bonnets, and all the trimmings. Appropriate colors for various seasons are also thoughtfully included.

From “Putnam’s Handy-Book Series” comes Hints on Dress or What to Wear, When to Wear it, and How to Buy It by American author Ethel Gale (1872). Ms Gale offers practical advice for the budget concious as well as hints on colors and styles appropriate to hair and skin coloring, age, and body type such as “many colors at one time are to be avoided” or “no woman who respects herself, and has any appreciation of the beautiful and fitting, will dye her hair”. She also comes down hard on “tight lacing” to the point of mentioning “sudden death” as a possible deterrent – “for the woman who has drawn her waist into the meagre bounds admired by a perverted taste and who is thus everyday violating her own constitution…is incorrigible”.  An English counterpart to Hints on Dress is How to Dress on £15 a year as a Lady written by “A Lady” (usually identified as Millicent Whiteside Cook, an author of other practical household manuals) and published in 1874. This book offers a no-nonsense approach to managing on a very limited budget noting that “a ‘lady’ will always look like one” regardless of how frugal her wardrobe budget might be. There are lists of “Imaginary Wardrobes” (5-6 pair of kid gloves, 1-2 pair dog-skin gloves…) and tables of expenditures, advice on choosing fabrics, sewing (the would-be lady was expected to make her own bonnets),  and mending hints. The discussion of stays and crinolines is limited to concerns of costs and maintenance – at no point is the idea of not wearing one of these devices considered. The author advises taping the bottom steel of a crinoline to prevent “the sharp edge of the steel from cutting through the material, and also from injuring your boots”. Injury to the wearer is not mentioned.

Now that one is properly attired, The Behaviour Book (1853) by Miss [Eliza] Leslie offers many chapters of advice on all situations that a lady might encounter. This advice includes how to address viscounts, baronets, bishops, and various other noblemen and women as well as what to do when a chambermaid is not up to par when visiting a country house. Miscellaneous advice includes: “To listen at door-cracks and peep through key-holes is vulgar and contemptible”.

Not to be left out there are a number of these handbooks for gentlemen as well such as The Whole art of dress! or, The road to elegance and fashion, at the enormous saving of thirty per cent!!! &c. by “A Cavalry Officer” (1830).

This is a small handbook which discusses a civilized approach to dress for gentlemen accompanied by “beautifully engraved illustrations”. Coats, waistcoats, pantaloons, shirts, cravatiana, pocket “hankerchiefs”, gloves, hats, shoes, boots and stockings are all discussed in detail and illustrated with simple but charming black & white plates. As in the ladies’ manuals, hints are given for tall and short men, fair and dark complexions, and tips on the care of skin and hands. Recipes for hair and skin products are included as well with ingredients such as beef marrow and burnt brandy for a hair cream.

Other items for gentlemen include Gentlemen’s Fancy Dress: How to Choose it by Edward Arnold (1898), and The Gentlemen’s Art of Dressing with Economy by a Lounger at the Clubs (1879 - British Library facsimile 2012).

This is a very small selection of the many self-improvement and personal development titles from the 19^th century in the Art and Architecture Reading Room of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. For any questions or queries please email us at artref@nypl.org. Many of these books are available in digital format online. Please refer to the NYPL Catalog entries for links to web sites such as the Hathi Trust and others.

“History of publishing”. (2014) Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

When few American collectors or museums were investing in the European avant garde, New York lawyer John Quinn (1870–1924) built an art collection primarily comprised of Modernist works. Through social connections and advice from trusted consultants, Quinn became discerning connoisseur and patron of new art. He helped fund the Armory Show and served as a lawyer for the Association for American Painters and Sculptors. His collection would ultimately include Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude, Picasso’s Three Musicians, and Rousseau’s Sleeping Gypsy. Correspondence with artists, dealers, and enthusiasts held in the John Quinn papers captures Quinn’s unique voice as an advocate for artists and collectors and can be used to study trends of collecting in the early twentieth century.

For most of its existence, John Quinn’s art collection resided in his Manhattan apartment, in storage, or on loan to exhibitions. In his letters held at The Library, it is difficult to determine Quinn’s long-term intentions, or posthumous plan for his collection of art. He considered opening a gallery, giving away the French works to institutions in France, or even permanent storage. Other art patrons of his era and caliber would go on to leave their collections intact and serve as foundations for new museums of modern art. However, the terms of his will stipulated his executors were to sell the bulk of it through public auction with a few objects being sold privately. The executors employed art dealer Joseph Brummer to head the project. In 1926, Brummer showcased parts of the collection in a memorial exhibition held in New York City. This was followed by a small French auction and a larger New York one in 1927. The works that made up the Quinn collection were dispersed internationally.

Today, researchers are able to access The John Quinn papers to understand trends and networks of collecting art in the early twentieth century. Quinn’s papers brings us closer to his unique perspective both as a collector of the Modern and staunch advocate for emerging artists at a time when the modern was only just emerging in America.

For more descriptions of Quinn’s life and collection practices see B.L. Reid’s biography, The Man from New York , Aline Saarinen’s essay in The Proud Possessors, and Judith Zilczer's The Noble Buyer. For more information about the fate of his collection after his death, see Zilczer's  "The Dispersal of the John Quinn Collection" from the Journal of the Archives of American Art.

It's International Zine Month (June 21 is Zine Library Day!) and they are everywhere... the Zine Pavillion at ALA in Vegas, Brooklyn Zine Fest recently drew 2,763 attendees, a 20,000 title zine collection, purchased by Harvard University, An MTA Zine Residency and the Center for the BookArts upcoming exhibit  Zines+ and the World of ABC No Rio..... clearly zines are flourishing!

NYPL’s collection of several hundred zines was started in the late 1990s and was built on iconic personal story zines like Cometbus and East Village Inky. Zines by library workers began cropping up around this time too and were quickly added. These share the experiences of library work, but from an alternative perspective then the usual library publications did. They include Library Bonnet, Browsing Room, Lower East Side Librarian, Zine Librarian Zine,Xerography Debt and more recently The Borough is My Library and Librarians and Archivists to Palestine. There's a synergy between zinesters and libraries that's reflected in the growth of zine collections (thanks Barnard Zine Library) and a broader understanding of zines' inherent research value as cultural, social, political documents that reflect voices not frequently heard in the mainstream.

Come visit NYPL's zine collection in DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room (Rm 108).

Sometimes, in order to track down a photo of a certain place in a certain era, you will need to know the name of a photographer that was known for his or her work in those circumstances.  Berenice Abbott, Lewis Hine, Percy Loomis Sperr, Jacob Riis, Edward Steichen, Walker Evans, Weegee, Garry Winogrand, Leonard Freed, Diane Arbus, and Alice Austen are among examples of people who photographed New York City profusely. Their photos may be easier to locate by searching for their names rather than by what is depicted in their works. Books such as Cityscapes: A History of New York in Images are useful for identifying famous New York photographers and the time periods in which they worked. Use the Photography Division’s Prints & Photographs Online Catalog to search for photographers by name in addition to the library’s regular catalog. The Wallach Division of Art, Prints, & Photographs can provide assistance in researching particular photographers.

There are several institutions that are renowned for their photo archives and have rich collections of New York City images. In addition to the NYPL, you may want to reach out to the following organizations:

During World War I, the making of movies—even seemingly pro-American films—could be a dangerous proposition, given the wartime hysteria so prevalent on the U.S. home front.  Case in point:

Robert Goldstein, producer of the 1917 Revolutionary War epic The Spirit of ’76, was arrested under the Espionage Act, charged with making a motion picture that portrayed Britain, now America’s ally, in an unfavorable light.  Among other unflattering depictions, the film showed Red Coats bayoneting babies, raping women, and massacring Patriot soldiers. 

In building its case against Goldstein—ironically named United States  v. “The Spirit of '76”—the government asserted that Goldstein had knowingly made a pro-German propaganda movie with the intent to impugn the nation’s allies, foment disloyalty, and impede the U.S. military’s conscription efforts.  Goldstein countered, to no avail, that his main motivation in making the picture had been  financial—that he believed a movie dealing with America’s victory in the War of Independence would have broad box-office appeal, given the patriotic mood of the country.   The atrocities committed in the film by British soldiers were, he further contended, historically accurate and necessary to the plot.

In the end, a jury would have none of Goldstein’s arguments.   On April 15, 1918, he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison (later commuted to 3 years) and fined 5,000 dollars.  Said sentencing judge Benjamin F. Bledsoe at the trial’s conclusion, “Count yourself lucky that you didn’t commit treason in a country lacking America’s right to a trial by jury.  You’d already be dead.”

Upon his release, Goldstein moved to Europe and attempted without success to reestablish his film career.  After being expelled from Nazi Germany in the mid 1930s, he returned to the United States where, so far as is known, he died in obscurity.  Like a great many films of the silent era, The Spirit of ’76 is now considered lost, with no print known to survive.

Anthony Slide’s 1993 book Robert Goldstein and The Spirit of ‘76 remains the standard work on Goldstein’s film, legal woes, and overall bad luck.

The Library, indeed the worlds of thought, conscience and letters have lost a good friend. Long a user of this Library, Margot Adler wrote some of her first book, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-worshippers, and Other Pagans in American Today, in the Allen Room. In the preface she writes of it as "...a special room for writers with a very special atmosphere. The writers there gave warmth, support, and a companionship that is truly rare." "Warmth, support and companionship" also describe her.

I met her only a few years ago when she came back to use the study rooms. Later she generously presented her current work in a public lecture. About 2 minutes before the lecture was to begin, she whirled in, in blue jeans (she had been at Staten Island reporting on post-Sandy affairs) and without a note in her hand or a single illustration, wowed us all with a comparison of vampires and modern ecology, or rather, eco-apocalypse.

She was immediately 'present', always interested and interesting, compassionate. She was a Mensch.

NYPL Labs is pleased to announce the Library's first-ever Net Artist Residency, in partnership with local hardware startup Electric Objects.

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Based in the East Village, Electric Objects (EO) has an intriguing idea: what if there was a computer dedicated to the sole purpose of exhibiting digital artwork? To find out, they're making one. The E01 will be digital environment -- a screen -- that is free from the distractions and constant pings and alerts of our daily devices. A slowed-down part of the internet that you can display in your home, office, or what have you, as you would a painting or photograph.

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EO is in the early stages of designing and prototyping, and they're just wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to manufacture their first generation of screens. To begin exploring the possibilities of the platform, they've started an artist residency program. NYPL Labs is excited to be among their first partners.

As the first of what we hope to be many such opportunities, we're asking applicants to see what beautiful things can be made from our map and NYC history collections. This includes:

We're accepting applications until August 20 (2014). The selected artist will receive:

And we've assembled an awesome judges panel working at the intersection of digital maps and digital arts+crafts:

Get the full details at the Electric Objects artists page.

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My previous post detailed the Twentieth Century Fund’s relationship with New York City issues and its first task force on New York City’s economic troubles in the 1970s, the Task Force on Prospects and Priorities of New York City.

Despite being widely distributed and well-received in the press, the task force’s report ...A Nice Place to Live did little to influence the continuing decline of the city’s economic health. Correspondence in the Prospects and Priorities of New York City files dated after 1974 shows that interest in the task force’s report did not wane immediately after publication. Letters to the fund through 1975 and 1976 contain queries and suggestions for reconvening the task force, or updating the report, to speak specifically to the looming threat of the city’s bankruptcy. In the Fall 1978 Report to the Trustees, the staff conceded that ...A Nice Place to Live did not predict the imminent risk of default and bankruptcy, as it concentrated so narrowly on discrete problems. However, throughout the mid to late 1970s, other research institutes, such as the Urban Institute and the Community Council of Greater New York, had taken on projects to study the city’s financial collapse and propose solutions to lead to its budgetary stability. As the immediate, critical issues received attention, long-range planning for the future of the New York and its citizens was neglected. Therefore, TCF’s next task force would concentrate on development objectives for the city well beyond the 1977 mayoral election, into the 1980s.

In the 21st century, the Century Foundation continues its work on both domestic and international policy issues, and matters affecting New York City remain in its purview. Prior to last fall’s mayoral election, the Blog of the Century presented a series of posts that outlined priorities for the new mayor. While the city faces nowhere near the scale of crisis that Abe Beame and Ed Koch encountered in the 1970s, a resurgence of many of the same critical issues are present in 2014—the cost of maintaining the public sector, increasing job opportunities, and bolstering the population of young technical workers in New York City. In this way, the Century Foundation’s previous project files are not only useful for contextualizing our present-day issues, but also for providing primary sources that can enhance our understanding of these historical events. And further study of the 1970s fiscal crisis will be aided by accounts of the period from key players—notably, Richard Ravitch’s memoir So Much To Do: A Full Life of Business, Politics, and Confronting Fiscal Crises, published in April, explores in part the era and his many contributions to New York City, a prime reason his voice was sought for the 1973 Task Force on the Priorities and Prospects of New York City.

While I’ve selected here a subject and time period that I find interesting, the Century Foundation records boast files on hundreds of projects that document the progressive response to and policy solutions for many major political, social, and economic issues that affected our country in the 20th century. In addition to NYPL’s collection description, you can learn more about the fund’s history at the Century Foundation’s excellent timeline of their organizational history, Archives of the Century. We invite you to read more about the records, and email or visit our reading room to speak to an archivist about the collection.

The first and last images in this post are from DOCUMERICA, an Enrivonmental Protection Agency photography project that ran throughout the 1970s. The entire DOCUMERICA series is available from the National Archives and on Flickr.

Ultimately, the strike only lasted several days, though it left a lasting impression with the local papers and the Parks & Playgrounds Association President, who seemed quite disappointed with the playground strikers. In a response to their public apology, this president replied, “the success of the Bronx playground must depend upon boys like yourselves who have the manliness to admit when they have made a mistake.”

And what were Mr. Brown’s charges? He led children on unauthorized expeditions throughout all parts of the city. This may explain why the children were so unwilling to accept his departure. The children did, however, partially succeed in having their play leader’s status placed under “serious reconsideration.”

Further information on the history of New York City playgrounds can be found through historical newspapers, accessible through the NYPL databases: Proquest Historical Newspapers, America's Historical Newspapers, and others. 

Books and other relevant publications can be found through the NYPL Classic Catalog, under the subject headings: Parks -- New York (State) -- New York., Play -- New York (State) -- New York., Playgrounds., and Children -- New York (State) -- New York -- Social conditions. 

For photographs of NYC playgrounds, the NYPL Digital Collections can be searched by the topics: Playgrounds -- New York (State) -- New York, Children playing outdoors -- New York (State) -- New York, Boys -- New York (State) -- New York, and Girls -- New York (State) -- New York. 

The Museum of the City of New York Collections Portal also holds a wealth of playground photographs. 

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation also provides historical details of NYC playgrounds and parks, photographs included.

Poet Daniel Johnson and Journalist James Foley formed a bond nearly 20 years ago when they taught together in the Teach For America program. Together they made a pact that they would be writers. Foley was a groomsman at Daniel's wedding and went on to be godfather to Daniel's son.  They saw each other when they could and remained close friends until Foley was killed in Syria on August 19th.  

Today the Academy of American Poets features Daniel Johnson's powerful poem "In the Absence of Sparrows", along with an accompaning essay, honoring his close friend.  Johnson began the poem as way to remember Foley during his captivities, first in Libya and later Syria. Through Johnson's poignant and heartbreaking poem, we learn who James was: a young, fearless man with strong passions and dedicated to his beliefs.    

Learn more:

Special thanks to the staff at the Academy of American Poets. 

As you can see, printers’ marks can contain beautiful and entertaining designs.  They also offer us a window into the past—teaching us how people lived, what they made, and the principles they valued.  That’s a lot to get out of one block of wood!

If you would like to learn more about printers’ marks, try William Roberts' Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography, Hugh William Davies’ Devices of the Early Printers, 1457-1560: Their History and Development, or Bella C. Landauer’s Printers' Mottoes.  You can also browse the University of Barcelona's database of printers' marks or try making your own!

Image Credits: Rare Book Division. New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, Tilden Foundations.

On Thursday July 6, 1865,  just three months after the end of the Civil War, the first issue of The Nation  hit the newsstands. The Nation was founded by Anglo-Irish journalist E.L. Godkin and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, with financial support from scholar and cultural critic Charles Eliot Norton and abolitionist James Miller McKim. The goal of the Nation was to publish an American magazine where more thorough discussions of politics, race, freedmen, the south, the economy, and art and literary criticism could take place. 

In reading through the archive, one is reminded how many of the 19th and 20th century's greatest minds wrote for the Nation: Albert Einstein on the 1932 Disarmament Conference in Geneva ("Without disarmament there can be no lasting peace,")  W.E.B. Du Bois on his decision not to vote in the 1956 election ("There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say,")  Edward Said on the role of the intellectual ("The intellectual's role generally is to uncover and elucidate the contest, to challenge and defeat both an imposed silence and the normalized quiet of unseen power, wherever and whenever possible,") and Mary McCarthy on her birthplace, Washington State ("The state of Washington is ferment; it is wild, comic, theatrical, dishonest, hopeful; but it is not revolutionary.")

The Nation also regularly published series and roundtable discussions.  In a series of articles in August and September of 1934, Joseph Wood Krutch asked Is Europe a Success?  His article provoked a roundtable response in the October 3, 1934 issue from Albert Einstein, H.L. Menken, Bertrand Russell, James Burnham, and Aldous Huxley.  Martin Luther King, Jr. penned a yearly report documenting the American civil rights movement from 1961 until 1966, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader wrote about automobile safety in 1959, 1963, 1965, and 1969. Some discussions were less weighty: When We Americans Dine examined the American dinner, which, to one contributor, was considered as mysterious as "Miss Stein's Tender Buttons."

For Library users interested in more recent content, access to the Nation from January 11, 1975 to the present (save for the most recent month) is also available through the online resource Academic Search Premier, which is accessible at all NYPL locations and from home with a NYPL card. 

For more information about the history of the Nation, I recommend A History of American Magazines by Frank Luther Mott, Routledge's The Encyclopedia of American Journalism, and One Hundred Years of the Nation, edited by Henry M. Christman.  The database American National Biography has short, but thorough, biographies of Godkin, Olmsted, Norton, and McKim.  For anthologies of Nation writings, the Library has The Best of the Nation: Selections from the Independent Magazine of Politics and Culture (2000) and The Nation, 1865-1990: Selections from the Independent Magazine of Politics and Culture (1990).  And for a deeper dive into James Miller McKim's life, the Library's Manuscripts and Archives Division is home to the Maloney Collection of McKim-Garrison Family Papers. 

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When you're a reader, there's little better than a trusted book recommendation, and who is more trusted than a beloved author? That's why NYPL Ask The Author gets the skinny on author reading habits before Books at Noon and Live@NYPL events.  For our inaugural installment, Tom Perrotta discusses Tolkien, football stories, and how to eat alone. Perrotta is the author of two short story collections and six novels, two of which have been adapted into Academy Award-nominated films. His 2011 novel The Leftovers was turned into an HBO television series. When and where do you like to read?

I read in bed, on planes and trains, on my screened porch, and in restaurants, if I’m eating alone. I do most of my reading at night.

What were your favorite books as a child?

I loved sports books as a kid, things like Strange But True Football Stories. As  a teenager, I loved Rod Serling, Tolkien, and Vonnegut.

What books had the greatest impact on you?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a sublime experience for me. So were Dostoevsky’s The Possessed, The Stories of John Cheever, and This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. Would you like to name a few writers out there you think deserve greater readership?

Ann Hood, the late Thomas Berger, and Edith Pearlman.

What was the last book you recommended?

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher.

What do you plan to read next?

Wolf Hall.

​When you're a reader, there's little better than a trusted book recommendation, and who is more trusted than a beloved author? That's why NYPL Ask The Author gets the skinny on author reading habits before Books at Noon and Live@NYPL events. For this installment, we're doubling down with Joseph O'Neill and Hal Foster before they discuss O'Neill's new novel The Dog, which he wrote during his Cullman Fellowship in 2009-2010. O'Neill is the author of five books. His novel Netherland was named one of the "10 Best Books of the Year" for 2008 by The New York Times and won the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Prize. He'll be joined by fellow Cullman Fellow Hal Foster, a Professor of Art & Archeology at Princeton University.

When and where do you like to read?

O'Neill: I love reading on trains—especially during weekly riverine round trip from New York City to Rhinecliff, which is half way up the Hudson.

Foster: In a cabin in British Columbia on a rainy day.

What were your favorite books as a child?

O'Neill: I read constantly. I started with cheap Turkish comic books—Teksas, Tommiks, Kaptan Svift—that I barely understood; then came Tintin and Asterix and Lucky Luke (in French); and finally children's books, or books readable by children, that did not have (too many) pictures: Enid Blyton , Agatha Christie, Alistair MacLean, CS Lewis, Desmond Bagley, JRR Tolkien,…  All these visual and written texts were inexhaustibly mysterious, no matter how frequently or carefully I consumed them.

Foster: The Horatio Hornblower novels.

What books had the greatest impact on you?

O'Neill: The first real writing I read with appreciation (and mystification) was poetry and prose fiction that functioned poetically: Frank O'Hara, Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes, Ted Hughes, James Joyce, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Malcolm Lowry…

Foster: Gravity's Rainbow.

Take a moment to champion unheralded writers. Who do you think is not getting the readership or recognition they deserve?

O'Neill: I'm not sure what 'unheralded' means, but I'm pretty sure that the work of James Lasdun, Susie Boyt, Heather McGowan and David Gordon should be even more trumpeted and garlanded than it has been. Among academics, I particularly admire The Romantic Machine, by John Tresch (a former Cullman Center colleague), and Nico Israel's forthcoming Spirals: The Whirled Image of Twentieth-Century Literature and Art.

Foster: Claire Watkins.

What was the last book you recommended?

O'Neill: See Spirals above.

Foster: The Impossible Exile by George Prochnik.

You're hosting a dinner party for three writers. Who's on the invite list?

O'Neill: No f***ing way am I going to host a dinner party for three writers I don't know.

Foster: Rivka Galchen, Rachel Kushner, Lynne Tillman.

What do you plan to read next?

O'Neill: I've talked so often about reading JG Farrell's Troubles that I'm starting to feel that I've read it.

Foster: Colm Tóibín's new novel.

What excites you most about doing a live (and/or LIVE from the NYPL) event?

O'Neill: The extremely intelligent and attractive audiences.

Foster: Excites? Is fear exciting?

Summer is almost formally over and our fall work is already in full swing. There are a plethora of events at the New York Public Library revolving around dance to take you through the end of the year, including a conversation with choreographer and MacArthur Foundation Fellow Alexei Ratmansky and new Saturday brunch events at the Library for the Performing Arts! Get them on your calendar now!

David Vaughan will introduce and screen a 2012 revival of Cunningham’s Un jour ou deux, which he originally choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1974, with music by John Cage, and design by Jasper Johns. The 2012 revival, reconstructed by Robert Swinston and Jennifer Goggans, was performed again by the Paris Opera Ballet.

First come, first served.

Celebrating 30 years of Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum, choreographers Karole Armitage, Larry Keigwin, and Pam Tanowitz present archival videos of their past Works & Process programs. Dance Theatre of Harlem Artistic Director Virginia Johnson moderates a discussion with the choreographers, as they reflect on their time at Works & Process.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Works & Process at 30: Artists at Work, Artists in Process

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In the fifty years since Fiddler on the Roof first opened on Broadway, the shtetl of Anatevka has come to life on stages around the world. The words of “Tradition” and “Matchmaker” have been translated into a dozen languages, and families from many cultural backgrounds have sympathized with the story of Tevye, Golde, and their daughters. Lend your voice to this anniversary celebration and sing along with live performances of your favorite Fiddler songs. Discover the show’s fascinating history in a display of archival material from the Library’s collections. Sheldon Harnick, Fiddler’s lyricist, will be our guest of honor. 

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Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof's Broadway premiere with an evening of stories about the creation and legacy of one of history’s most beloved musicals. Guests include Fiddler lyricist Sheldon Harnick; cultural historian (and son of set designer Boris Aronson) Marc Aronson; Jerome Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill; and Alisa Solomon, author of the critically acclaimed new book Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. Rare materials from The Library for the Performing Arts's theatre, dance, and music collections will also be on display. 

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Alexei Ratmansky has performed with and choreographed for some of the world’s greatest ballet companies, including American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet. This time he’ll take to a very different stage to reflect on his life’s work, which earned him a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2013. Co-presented with the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University.

As part of a weeklong program of events to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Fred Herko, his biographer Gerard Forde talks with Herko’s friend and collaborator Billy Name about Herko, Judson Dance Theater, Warhol and the birth of the Factory.

Fred Herko (1936-1964) was a central figure in New York’s downtown avant-garde around 1960. A musical prodigy, he studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music before switching to ballet at the age of twenty. In 1956 he won a scholarship to study at American Ballet Theatre School and within a few years was dancing with established choreographers including John Butler, Katherine Litz, Buzz Miller, Glen Tetley and James Waring. He was a founder member of Judson Dance Theater, presenting six of his own works in the group’s concerts between 1962 and 1964 and dancing in works by Al Hansen, Deborah Hay, Arlene Rothlein, and Elaine Summers. He was a co-founder of the New York Poets Theatre, which staged one-act plays by poets and provided a podium for happenings by Ray Johnson, Allan Kaprow and Robert Whitman; dances by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown; music by La Monte Young, John Herbert McDowell and Philip Corner; and films by Brian De Palma, Stan VanDerBeek and Andy Warhol. Herko starred in seven of Warhol’s earliest cinematic experiments in 1963, including Jill and Freddy Dancing, Rollerskate/Dance Movie, and Salome and Delilah. His untimely death in 1964, at the age of 28, robbed New York’s underground scene of one of its most exuberant and versatile performers, equally at home performing Comb Music by Fluxus composer George Brecht or camping it up in Rosalyn Drexler’s musical comedy Home Movies.

Billy Name is best known for creating the silver interior of Warhol’s Factory, for lighting Warhol’s films and for his iconic photographs of Warhol’s superstars. Prior to working with Warhol, as William Linich, he designed lighting for James Waring’s dance company, Judson Dance Theater and for Herko’s dances Edge – A Work for Dancers and Actors (1962), Garden (1962) and Little Gym Dance Before the Wall – for Dorothy (1963). He co-starred, with Herko, in Warhol’s films Haircut #1 and Haircut #2. A book of his photographs entitled Billy Name: The Silver Age: Black and White Photographs from Andy Warhol's Factory is due for release in November. 

Gerard Forde is an independent scholar and curator. He has curated exhibitions at the Design Museum in London and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Over the past twenty years he has lectured widely on art and design history. He is writing a book about the New York Poets Theatre and a biography of Fred Herko. 

Initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni in 2004, Artist Dialogues Series provide an open forum for understanding and appreciation of contemporary art. Artists are paired with critics, curators, gallerists, writers or other artists to converse about art and the potential of exploring new ideas.

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Some of the best dressed dancers in New York City, including Harlem’s famously fashionable Lana Turner, show off their personal collections of vintage, swing era outfits. Learn about social dancing in the 1920s and '30s, and the fashion that truly made folks hop, jive, and swing.

Reserve your seat online starting October 8.

David Vaughan will introduce and screen Conservatoriet, plus historic films of other ballets and of Bournonville classes.

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The pointe shoe is essential to the art of ballet, and a well-fitted, well-maintained pointe shoe is essential to the health of a ballerina. New York City Ballet Shoe Supervisor Dara Faust, discusses her work maintaining and organizing the precious footwear of world’s greatest dancers.  Watch a live pointe shoe fitting, tableside in the Cafe at LPA.    

Reserve your seat online starting November 6.

Alastair Macaulay, chief dance critic for The New York Times, leads a conversation exploring the various versions and interpretations of the much-loved ballet, Swan Lake, with The Wall Street Journal writer Robert Greskovic and dance historian David Vaughan. Enjoy rarely seen, historic video excerpts and photographs of Swan Lake from the Dance Division’s collection.

Reserve your seat online starting November 8.

David Vaughan will introduce and screen La Mort du Cygne, (released in the U.S. as Ballerina), starring Janine Charrat, Mia Slavenska, and Yvette Chauviré, directed by Jean Benoît-Lévy. In French, with English subtitles.

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September 21 – 27 is Banned Books Week, when libraries and other members of the book community support the freedom to read and raise awareness of challenges to this freedom.  Sadly, the banning of books is not a new phenomenon—while Catcher in the Rye or Huckleberry Finn come to mind, you can find books banned as early as the sixteenth century in the Rare Book Division.

The Catholic Church began printing the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1559, and versions of it remained in effect until 1966.  The Index listed books that went against the teachings of the Church, condemning their circulation and encouraging authors to edit their content in order to gain papal approval.  Many foundational thinkers, such as Galileo, Copernicus, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Flaubert, were banned in the Index. The Rare Book Division holds many of these formerly heretical texts, as well as multiple editions of the Index itself.

Defenders of the written word can take heart from the fact that as long as books have been banned, others have fought for intellectual freedom.  To protest the restriction of book printing in seventeenth century England, John Milton wrote the Areopagitica, and its words resonate as much today as they did in 1644:  

"Read any books what ever come to thy hands, for thou art sufficient both to judge aright, and to examine each matter."

What happened to Milton’s Areopagitica?  It was banned by English law.

To learn more about banned books, try Nicholas Karolides' 120 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature.  Or, attend a Banned Books Week event at an NYPL library!

Image Credits: Rare Book Division. New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, Tilden Foundations.

Once, in the words of a late-thirteenth-century song,

There lived a good man who had a little son whom he loved as his own life. This child caught a fever and died on the third day. The father, with grief for him, smote his cheeks

and pulled out his hair and made great mourning for him, saying 'Woe is me, my son, how lonely I am without you. I wish that you could see me as I saw your grandfather, my father, who did many generous favors for me'.

So begins the tale of one of the Cantigas de Santa María, a widely recorded song-cycle produced at the court of Alfonso X, el Sabio, who ruled the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and León between 1252 and 1284 (see the late Kathleen Kulp Hill's translation Songs of Holy Mary, 2000). King Alfonso was one of the most reflective and cultured of all medieval rulers, and appears to have written a number of the songs himself. In the tranquility of the NYPL's Allen Room, I have been writing and carry out research for a book on Alfonso, provisionally entitled The Wise King (Basic Books, NY): a biography interweaving his life story with his thoughts on themes ranging from table manners, sexuality, the intellectual responsibility of rulers, hunting, laughter, friendship, healing, and anger… to fatherhood, a subject that is only now beginning to gain the attention it deserves from historians.

For medieval fathers, as for their twenty-first century equivalents, there was no greater trauma than the loss of a child (see Ronald Finucane's study of children in medieval miracles, The Rescue of the Innocents, 1997). For King Alfonso, who experienced this trauma more than once, the act of writing and musical composition was a necessary form of therapy.

Images : University of Pennsylvania SCETI Cantigas de Santa Marias Project.  These images are from the 1974 Las Cantigas de Santa María: edición facsímil, el «Codices Rico» del Escorial (ManuscriImages : University of Pennsylvania SCETI Cantigas de Santa Marias Project. These images are from the 1974 Las Cantigas de Santa María: edición facsímil, el «Codices Rico» del Escorial (Manuscrito escurialense T-I-1), Madrid: Edilán, 1979, 2 vols. to escurialense T-I-1), Madrid: Edilán, 1979, 2 vols. 

Now through January 31, come visit the NYPL’s exhibit "Somebody Come and Play:" 45 Years of Sesame Street Helping Kids Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.