The Newberry Library in Chicago

by Cecilia Kleiner 12/24/2024

 

 

The Newberry Library is an amazing place to visit. It offers people the ability to learn and do research in the humanities. They have an amazing collection of rare and historical materials dating back more than 600 years.

Walter L. Newberry, a businessman and civic leader in Chicago, left a provision in his will calling for the creation of a “free public library.” 

The Newberry is a research library; it is not part of the Chicago Public Library system.

 The Newberry was founded in 1887; it had no collection to offer visitors. Walter Newberry’s own book collection, which might have served as a foundation for the library, had been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. So, the Newberry’s first librarians grew the library’s collection from the ground up.

In 1893, the library moved into its permanent home across from Washington Square Park, at 60 West Walton Street.

Today, the Newberry collection extends across 27.5 miles of shelving in the library stacks. And it's still growing. The library acquires and preserves materials that represent a range of perspectives and experiences.

We found this picture on the library's website; it's a postcard of the library from 1910.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cecilia Kleiner

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