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  • Beginnings

Items in Beginnings

  • Portrait of Benjamin Franklin wearing a grey suit and vest, he has a thin tired smile

    Beginnings Introduction

  • A Gutenberg Bible displayed open to show closely printed text in Latin in two columns, featuring an illuminated letter in the top left corner along with various handwritten annotations in the margins.

    The Gutenberg Bible

  • Handwritten copy of the Bill of Rights; slightly browned paper with faded text

    Bill of Rights

  • First printed edition of Plato’s complete works in Greek: Hapanta ta tou Platonos. / Omnia Platonis Opera.

    First printed edition of Plato’s complete works in Greek

  • Bronze bust of Voltaire by Jean-Antoine Houdon; item is dark brown in color; Voltaire is balding with a very slight smile on his face

    Houdon bust of Voltaire

  • Valentin Haüy (1745–1822) Essai sur l’éducation des aveugles (Essay on the education of blind children) Paris, Imprimé par les enfans-aveugles, 1786 Rare Book Division

    Essai sur l’éducation des aveugles (Essay on the education of blind children)

  • Open book with text on the left page and two engravings on the right; the top one shows three men working at different tasks within a printer’s shop, and the lower one how individual letters would be set into a lines of type

    Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot

  • A portrait of a white woman from the bust upwards, set against a dark neutral background.

    Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft

  • Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: item is a book open to two pages with small typed font

    Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

  • An open book spread, with the left page featuring an illustration of a large medieval-style kitchen and a person sitting near an open cooking flame, and the right page featuring drawings of several household product designs

    Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi M. Dell'arte del Cvcinare

  • Photograph of a rainbow arc from lower left to mid-right sweeping over a dark background, with a burst of orange light about a third of the way across

    John Glenn’s photograph of Earth from Friendship 7

  • Sheet of yellow paper with typewritten text beginning “Silent Spring, Chapter 1” and handwritten notes in pencil, including “Rachel Carson To be Edited Ms. 3-30-62” in the upper righthand corner. An “x” in blue colored pencil crosses the paper from corner to corner

    Draft of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

  • Book open to the title page, printed with black ink on off-white paper

    Pablo y Virginia

  • The right page of an open book, depicting a design schematic and three lines of Arabic script below the drawing

    “A Monumental Water Clock,” included in a collection of four treatises on Automata

  • image not available

    Rosa Parks arrives for trial

  • Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis; Franklin is wearing a grey suit and vest, he has a thin tired smile

    Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

  • Protest against the Bill to Repeal the American Stamp Act, annotated by Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin’s notes about the Stamp Act

  • First edition of Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations”; title page with typed text

    First edition of Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations”

  • Poster of the Trylon and Perisphere insignia and title of the 1939 World’s Fair, with smaller illustrations of airplanes, skyscrapers, an ocean liner and train, primarily printed in yellow, red, and light blue over a darker blue background

    “New York World’s Fair: The World of Tomorrow” poster

  • Broadside printed in black ink on off-white paper with the header “Cherokee Alphabet” above columns of letters

    Cherokee syllabary developed by Sequoyah

  • Emigrant Savings Bank Test Book no. 1, with handwritten list of account nos. 1 to 12,482;

    Emigrant Savings Bank Test Book

  • The wax cylinder is a dark brown tube, displayed upright. The containers echo the tubular shape of the cylinder. They are made of a lighter brown cardboard, with a round lid on the top. Some of them have handwritten notes written directly onto the cardboard, as well as paper labels and stickers.

    Lionel Mapleson's early opera recordings on wax cylinders

  • George Washington’s handwritten Farewell Address; script handwriting on browned, old paper

    George Washington’s handwritten Farewell Address

  • Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence; paper is browned and folded with script handwriting

    Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence

    Not currently on view

  • Historic print of the Goddard Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence with various signatures at the bottom of the page; item includes typed font and all names of the signers; at the bottom it says "Printed by Mary Katherine Goddard"

    The “Goddard Broadside” printing of the Declaration of Independence

    Not currently on view

  • Document printed in black ink on browned paper in two columns, surrounded by a decorative border

    Broadside of the Declaration of Independence

    Not currently on view

  • Printed document of black ink in two columns on cream-toned paper with a few handwritten signatures at the bottom of the page

    The Goddard Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence

    Not currently on view

  • Printed document on tan, creased paper, with newspaper title and header followed by “We the People…”

    First printing of the Constitution of the United States

    Not currently on view

  • first-edition copy of King James' treatise, A Counterblaste to Tobacco; item is printed and features the year, 1604

    Anti-tobacco treatise by King James I

    Not currently on view

  • Roll Call of the House of Representatives’ vote on the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution abolishing slavery; names are printed with handwritten checks and notes

    Roll Call of House of Representatives’ vote to abolish slavery

    Not currently on view

  • Letter from Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax concerning the House’s vote to abolish slavery; written on congressional letterhead

    Letter from Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax concerning the House’s vote to abolish slavery

    Not currently on view

  • Mary Wollstonecraft's handwritten manuscript draft of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; paper is ripped at the bottom with rough edges

    Handwritten manuscript draft of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

    Not currently on view

  • Montgomery Improvement Association Flyer promoting desegregated seating on buses ca. 1956 Ella Baker Papers, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

    Flyer promoting desegregated seating on buses

    Not currently on view

  • Narrow flyer on off-white paper with illustration of a bus with an “X” through it.

    Flyer in support of Montgomery bus boycott

    Not currently on view

  • Magazine cover of The Masses featuring largescale illustration of a woman’s head and shoulders, printed in brown, red, and green on a darker green background

    The Masses

    Not currently on view

  • Printed book with a dedication on the left-hand page “To the Afro-American women of New York and Brooklyn” and on the right the text of a letter from Frederick Douglass to Ida B. Wells.

    Southern Horrors: Lynch Law In All Its Phases

    Not currently on view

  • Printed document reading, across the top, “In Congress, July 4, 1776, A Declaration By Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled,” with the name of John Hancock printed prominently at bottom right

    Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence

    Not currently on view

  • A historic pamphlet that says: A Red Record. Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States in red font. At the bottom in black it says "By Ida B. Wells"; there is also a 25 cent price label on it

    Ida B. Wells’s A Red Record

    Not currently on view

  • Letter from Frederick Douglass  to Rev. R.A. Armstrong written on behalf of Ida B. Wells; paper is browned with a dark black script handwriting

    Handwritten letter from orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass

    Not currently on view

  • Paper toy perspective view of the Thames Tunnel: item is a small blue rectangle with a hole cut in the center and multiple panels

    Paper toy perspective view of the Thames Tunnel

    Not currently on view

  • Photographed at an angle from below, a series of colored illustrations of the Great Exhibition, connected by cloth and extended with some distance between each so that, when viewed through the peephole in the front layer, they create a composite view with a sense of depth

    Paper toy perspective view of the Crystal Palace

    Not currently on view

  • Historic paper document with infographic-type diagram; entitled: Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts, et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres

    Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot

    Not currently on view

  • Karl Marx’s manuscript notes for Das Kapital; cramped script handwriting with various editorial symbols

    Karl Marx’s notes for Das Kapital

    Not currently on view

  • Handwritten letter from Toussaint Louverture to the French Minister of Marine and the Colonies; browned paper with a mix of light brown handwriting and black typed font

    Handwritten letter from Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture

    Not currently on view

  • Mexican Declaration of Independence: La Regencia Del Imperio Se Ha Servido Dirigirme El Decreto Que Sigue...Acta De Independencia Del Imperio; typed black font

    Mexican Declaration of Independence

    Not currently on view

  • Berenice Abbott’s photograph of penicillin mold; a slightly fuzzy, circular grey image - resembles a sand dollar

    Berenice Abbott’s photograph of penicillin mold

    Not currently on view

  • Sheet of cream-colored paper with handwritten notes in blue ink dated 12-13-55

    NAACP minutes written by Rosa Parks

    Not currently on view

  • Black-and-white photograph showing Rosa Parks hitting the Liberty Bell with her left fist, smiling at someone off-camera

    Rosa Parks strikes the Liberty Bell

    Not currently on view

  • Black-and-white candid portrait of Rosa Parks, looking to the right of the camera and smiling slightly.

    Photograph of Rosa Parks

    Not currently on view

  • Initial printing of Voltaire’s Candide; book is opened to the title page which features an ornate crest

    Initial printing of Voltaire’s Candide

    Not currently on view

  • First edition of Thomas More’s Utopia; book is open to two pages: Hans Holbein the Younger’s brother, Ambrosius, designed a woodcut illustration on the verso of the title page, facing a table of the 22-letter Utopian alphabet

    First edition of Thomas More’s Utopia

    Not currently on view

  • Open book that on the righthand page has an inscription by Nella Larsen to Regina and William Andrews dated 1929 and describing her book as a “tale of pride, prejudice, and ‘passing’”

    Nella Larsen’s Passing

    Not currently on view

  • Printed program, shown open, with handwritten amendments on the left side to program order and details, and printed names of candidates for diplomas and certificates on the right side

    Library School of The New York Public Library Commencement Exercises

    Not currently on view

  • Printed document of black ink on browned paper with header “El General San Martin.”

    Broadside announcing the retirement of General San Martín

    Not currently on view

  • Illustration of Toussaint Louverture in military dress, holding up a sword and looking over his shoulder while mounted on a brown horse

    Toussaint Louverture, Chef des Noirs Insurgés de Saint Domingue

    Not currently on view

  • Vertical rectangular print with decorative borders and, at center, a circular portrait of Toussaint Louverture

    Toussaint L’Ouverture, Friedenstorer zu Domingo.

    Not currently on view

  • Portrait of Benjamin Franklin wearing a grey suit and vest, he has a thin tired smile

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