1. How did the pigeon get to NYC? Carmen Nigro at the library’s Milstein Division shares all…

    How did the pigeon get to NYC? Carmen Nigro at the library’s Milstein Division shares all…

  2. The world of entertainment lost a giant today as the great composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch died at the age of 68. We found in the archives of The Billy Rose Theater Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts this image of Hamlisch during rehearsals for A Chorus Line in 1975. RIP.

    The world of entertainment lost a giant today as the great composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch died at the age of 68. We found in the archives of The Billy Rose Theater Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts this image of Hamlisch during rehearsals for A Chorus Line in 1975. RIP.

  3. Just a reminder that tonight at 6:30pm at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street) we are doing a free screening of Brian De Palma’s disastrous film adaptation of the classic Tom Wolfe novel THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES!!! The real treat is that BEFORE the screening tonight there will be a conversation between The New York Times Arts journalist Dave Itzkoff and author Julie Salamon whose book The Devil’s Candy details the fascinating and deeply troubled production of the film. Following the screening Ms. Salamon will take questions from the audience! 

    Just a reminder that tonight at 6:30pm at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street) we are doing a free screening of Brian De Palma’s disastrous film adaptation of the classic Tom Wolfe novel THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES!!! The real treat is that BEFORE the screening tonight there will be a conversation between The New York Times Arts journalist Dave Itzkoff and author Julie Salamon whose book The Devil’s Candy details the fascinating and deeply troubled production of the film. Following the screening Ms. Salamon will take questions from the audience! 

  4. History has secrets - and you can unlock them at the Library. That’s the theme of this pretty darn amazing new “suspense trailer” highlighting our incredible Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy (which is often featured on the show “Who Do You Think You Are?” and can be used to trace family histories). Just watch it - it’s awesome.

  5. You never know what you are going to find in the collections of The New York Public Library. The New York Times wrote a fascinating piece on Valerie Solanas - the feminist loner best remembered for shooting Andy Warhol - who actually came to The NYPL in the 1970s and marked up her own book the S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting Up Men) MANIFESTO with edits and annotations. The book is now preserved in our Manuscripts and Archives Division at The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 40th Street and 5th Avenue. Solanas story was depicted in the 1996 film I SHOT ANDY WARHOL starring Lili Taylor as Solanas.  Today is also the 25th Anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death. This is not the only Warhol related material we have at The New York Public Library as The Times reported a few weeks ago about a Christmas Card that Mr. Warhol drew and gave to our fascinating Art and Picture collection. RIP Andy.

    You never know what you are going to find in the collections of The New York Public Library. The New York Times wrote a fascinating piece on Valerie Solanas - the feminist loner best remembered for shooting Andy Warhol - who actually came to The NYPL in the 1970s and marked up her own book the S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting Up Men) MANIFESTO with edits and annotations. The book is now preserved in our Manuscripts and Archives Division at The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 40th Street and 5th Avenue. Solanas story was depicted in the 1996 film I SHOT ANDY WARHOL starring Lili Taylor as Solanas. 

    Today is also the 25th Anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death. This is not the only Warhol related material we have at The New York Public Library as The Times reported a few weeks ago about a Christmas Card that Mr. Warhol drew and gave to our fascinating Art and Picture collection. RIP Andy.

  6. There was a time when men were kind, And their voices were soft, And their words inviting.There was a time when love was blind, And the world was a song, And the song was exciting.There was a time when it all went wrong… ACTUALLY that time was 1987, 25 years ago, when the musical Les Miserables made its first US tour. In honor of that anniversary we are posting this photograph from our Broadway Theater Marquees Collection from The Billy Rose Theatre Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 

    There was a time when men were kind, And their voices were soft, And their words inviting.
    There was a time when love was blind, And the world was a song, And the song was exciting.
    There was a time when it all went wrong… ACTUALLY that time was 1987, 25 years ago, when the musical Les Miserables made its first US tour. In honor of that anniversary we are posting this photograph from our Broadway Theater Marquees Collection from The Billy Rose Theatre Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 

  7. What do Sam Shepard, Bernadette Peters, Edward Albee and Al Pacino all have in common? It was called the Caffe Cino and it is credited as the birthplace of the Off Off Broadway theater movement in the nineteen sixties. The New York Times writes about the new and fascinating Caffe Cino collection that was recently donated to The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The  New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Read all about it here 

    What do Sam Shepard, Bernadette Peters, Edward Albee and Al Pacino all have in common? It was called the Caffe Cino and it is credited as the birthplace of the Off Off Broadway theater movement in the nineteen sixties. The New York Times writes about the new and fascinating Caffe Cino collection that was recently donated to The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The  New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Read all about it here 

  8. Happy birthday, George Washington Bridge! Today in 1931, the famous bridge opened to traffic for the first time. To mark the occasion, NYPL’s own Jeremy Megraw did a blog about his love of the 80-year-old G-Dubs, and above is a cigarette card from sometime between 1931 and 1940 documenting the early years of the bridge. It is from our George Arents Collection. Enjoy!

    Happy birthday, George Washington Bridge! Today in 1931, the famous bridge opened to traffic for the first time. To mark the occasion, NYPL’s own Jeremy Megraw did a blog about his love of the 80-year-old G-Dubs, and above is a cigarette card from sometime between 1931 and 1940 documenting the early years of the bridge. It is from our George Arents Collection. Enjoy!

  9. Want to go back in time? Check out this photo from 1978 of an apartment in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. It’s one of a collection of very cool images taken by photographer Dinanda Nooney back in 1978 and 1979. She snapped the interiors of about 200 homes across Brooklyn, from Park Slope to Bed-Stuy to Bushwick and so on. It’s amazing to look at these images now and see how things have changed.  We have a bunch of the photos on our Digital Gallery, and today, Gothamist highlighted 21 of them in a very nice blog post. So if you love real estate, take a look!

    Want to go back in time? Check out this photo from 1978 of an apartment in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. It’s one of a collection of very cool images taken by photographer Dinanda Nooney back in 1978 and 1979. She snapped the interiors of about 200 homes across Brooklyn, from Park Slope to Bed-Stuy to Bushwick and so on. It’s amazing to look at these images now and see how things have changed.  We have a bunch of the photos on our Digital Gallery, and today, Gothamist highlighted 21 of them in a very nice blog post. So if you love real estate, take a look!

  10. Today is President William Howard Taft’s birthday, so we thought we’d remind everyone that back on May 23, 1911, he presided over the opening of our landmark building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue (above is a Digital Gallery photo of the building’s iconic Reading Room as it was being built in December 1909). At the ceremony, Taft said: “This day crowns a work of National importance. The dedication of this beautiful structure for the spread of knowledge among the people marks not only the consummation of a noteworthy plan for bringing within the grasp of the humblest and poorest citizen the opportunity for acquiring information on every subject of every kind, but it furnishes a model and example for other cities which have been struggling with the same problem, and points for them the true way.” Happy birthday, Mr. President. 

    Today is President William Howard Taft’s birthday, so we thought we’d remind everyone that back on May 23, 1911, he presided over the opening of our landmark building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue (above is a Digital Gallery photo of the building’s iconic Reading Room as it was being built in December 1909).

    At the ceremony, Taft said: “This day crowns a work of National importance. The dedication of this beautiful structure for the spread of knowledge among the people marks not only the consummation of a noteworthy plan for bringing within the grasp of the humblest and poorest citizen the opportunity for acquiring information on every subject of every kind, but it furnishes a model and example for other cities which have been struggling with the same problem, and points for them the true way.”

    Happy birthday, Mr. President.