Treasures

Inside the walls of its three research library buildings, The New York Public Library is a palace of wonders containing diverse collections of 55 million objects including rare books, maps, paintings, prints, sculpture, photographs, films, recorded sound, furniture, ephemera, rare and important historical documents, and more. In Fall 2020, in honor of the NYPL’s 125th anniversary, the library will open its first ever permanent exhibition in the exquisite Gottesman Hall on the first floor of its iconic 42nd Street Building: The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures.

Treasures, the official book to accompany the exhibition, is a sumptuous four-color volume that showcases the depth and breadth of the library’s holdings. Filled with the creations of history-makers and influencers who changed the world, Treasures includes the Declaration of Independence written in Thomas Jefferson’s hand; the original Bill of Rights; Charles Dickens’s desk; George Washington’s handwritten farewell address; manuscript material from authors such as Maya Angelou, Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot, Jack Kerouac, Vladimir Nabokov, Mary Shelley, Virginia Woolf, and many others; a Gutenberg Bible; Malcolm X’s briefcase; the original Winnie-The-Pooh dolls; a letter from Christopher Columbus to King Ferdinand, and a Sumerian cuneiform tablet ca. 2300 BC. Treasures is The New York Public Library’s gift to the world.

Author Biography

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations-including research and branch libraries-throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming, and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. The NYPL serves more than 18 million patrons in NYC and millions more around the globe who use resources at www.nypl.org.