Not For Sale: The Iconic Brooklyn Bridge Celebrates 130 Years
For 130 years, the Brooklyn Bridge has been an icon of the New York City landscape—longer if you account for the 13 years required to construct it. This beloved connection between boroughs is still in...
View ArticleRuth Prawer Jhabvala
Last month, while reading the ever-elegant obituaries in The Economist, I ran across RPJ's. I knew the name through the Merchant/Ivory movies, but she was a writer-writer as well as screen-writer. She...
View ArticleJohn Donne, Re-done
My colleague MN said she would be coming the 'my' next lecture. Of course I said what?? (your friends will come to your funeral, your real friends go to your lectures). She had just discovered John...
View ArticleZombies and Why They Won't Go Away
About a month ago, I was having a conversation with a colleague about the then upcoming film, World War Z. Our discussion turned to pop culture's fascination with zombies. Zombies have shuffled their...
View ArticleResearching Sex, Sexuality and Sexology
Sexology, the interdisciplinary scientific study of sex has been an integral component to the study of humanity. If you are currently researching any topics relating to the areas of sexology, sexuality...
View ArticleJack Baker and James McConnell
Given yesterday's historic Supreme Court decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, it's good to take a moment to look back at the struggles for marriage equality.In many current debates about...
View ArticleWhy Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was)
Between 1892 and 1954, over twelve million people entered the United States through the immigration inspection station at Ellis Island, a small island located in the upper bay off the New Jersey coast....
View ArticleMeet the Scholar: Nerina Rustomji
About 6 years ago, I was taking an undergraduate class on the history of the Modern Middle East taught by Professor Nerina Rustomji of St. John's University. The class opened my eyes to the complexity...
View ArticlePlaying With Matches: Jewish Deli Ephemera
Hot pastrami. Three decker sandwiches with chopped liver, corned beef, tomatoes and bermuda onion. Hungarian beef goulash with noodles. Stuffed derma with kasha. These artery-clogging delicacies are no...
View ArticleUSSC Processing Project: The United States Sanitary Commission Records Open...
We are delighted to announce that archival processing of the records of this important Civil War humanitarian organization has been completed. The collection will be available for research in the...
View ArticleMeet the Scholar: Melissa Forstrom
Museums. They are great. From Museum of Mathematics to Museum of Glass, there's so much to see and to learn about these topics in our shared history. Whenever I visit a new town or country, I am always...
View ArticleTransmissions from the Timothy Leary Papers: Greatest Hits
There are so many worthwhile topics to highlight in the Timothy Leary papers that I don't have time to cover in this blog. Should I delve into his notes on prostrate cancer? The "Leary circle? Tom...
View ArticleX-Ray Vision: Not Just For Superheroes
It's time to be blinded with SCIENCE...We do some pretty cool things in the Barbara Goldsmith Conservation Laboratory, but one of the coolest happened recently when we used x-rays—or rather X-ray...
View ArticleFrom Sanitary Fairs to "The Settlement": Early Charity Cookbooks
One hundred and fifty years ago, as the Civil War raged, the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was busy raising money to improve conditions for Union soldiers. Early on in the war, people...
View ArticleTrain Travel Menus
When it comes to romantic ways to travel across the United States, the train gets short shrift. Cars, even Greyhound buses, are the usual setting for burgeoning love affairs, quiet introspection, and...
View ArticleBrain Pickings @ the NYPL
I'm sure my boss wouldn't want to know how often I check Brain Pickings's 20+ daily Twitter posts but I never imagined I would actually meet Maria Popova, the "curator of interestingness." Lucky for me...
View ArticleResearching Japanese Culture and History
Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a series of research workshops organized by the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC) held at Harvard. It was a great...
View ArticleHow to Search The New York Times
Over the years working at the reference desk, I get this question a lot: "Do you have the New York Times on [given date]?" I reply, "YES! Which formats are you interested in seeing? We have some bound...
View ArticleRomantic Interests: Peacock's Science of Cookery
Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866), novelist, poet, trade company official, steam engine expert and gourmet—a Renaissance man of the Romantic age—once convinced his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe...
View ArticleHands-On Art History: The Treasures of the Pamphlet Files
Since the NYPL Art & Architecture Pamphlet Files have recently been updated, it is a good time to revisit this great resource. These files contain ephemeral material relating to over 4,200 art...
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