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Exhibitions

Exhibitions bridge the past and present by telling timely stories from the Newberry collection. See what's on view at the library.

Visitors view "Handmaidens for Travelers: The Pullman Company Maids" in the Newberry galleries. The exhibition ran at the library in the summer of 2022.

Newberry exhibitions are always free and open to all.

A Show of Hands: Handwriting in the Age of Print

September 9 – December 30, 2022

For centuries, handwriting served as a powerful tool for communicating information, preserving knowledge, shaping identity, and building empires. In our digital world, however, fewer and fewer people can read handwritten words.

Handwriting has survived disruptive technologies before. The invention of printing didn't diminish the need for handwriting. Instead, it created new markets for ambitious printers and entrepreneurial writing teachers. These men and women used advances in print technologies to widen the influence of handwriting in everyday life.

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Celebrating 50 Years of Newberry Research Centers

October 4, 2022 – January 7, 2023

This exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Newberry’s first two research centers: the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography and the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies.

For half a century these centers have shaped scholarship in their fields through fellowships, publications, and convenings. They also have provided opportunities for the Newberry to engage the public through exhibitions, programs, and collaboration with many partners, including tribal communities.

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