Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Yale University Library’s principal repository of literary archives, early manuscripts, and rare b
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A sketchbook kept by John Trumbull, who was born on this day in 756. Trumbull was an American painter and military offic...
06/06/2026

A sketchbook kept by John Trumbull, who was born on this day in 756. Trumbull was an American painter and military officer, best known for his paintings of scenes of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran.

This sketchbook contains sixty-six pages of undated ink and graphite exercises, which include landscapes, classical figures, facial exercises, and four pages of diary entries made between December 1783 and January 1784.

Call number: GEN MSS 967

Happy World Environment Day! We recently celebrated the opening of "Silent Springs, Windswept Seas: Rachel Carson's Envi...
06/05/2026

Happy World Environment Day! We recently celebrated the opening of "Silent Springs, Windswept Seas: Rachel Carson's Environmental Vision," curated by James Kessenides and Carla Baricz.

This exhibition explores Rachel Carson's career, traces the influences of earlier thinkers on her life and writing, and delves into the social and cultural realities of her time. Presenting nearly 100 objects from Yale Library collections—including handwritten manuscripts of her famous Sea Trilogy, photographs, previously unpublished personal letters, and various notebooks—the exhibition introduces viewers to Carson’s life and legacy and invites a fresh consideration of her cause today.

Visit "Silent Springs" through October 4, 2026. Photographs by Harold Shapiro.

"Mihr o Mushtari" (the sun and Jupiter) by the poet Assar Tabrizi (1325-1390) from Tabriz, Iran, ca. 1580. This lengthy ...
06/04/2026

"Mihr o Mushtari" (the sun and Jupiter) by the poet Assar Tabrizi (1325-1390) from Tabriz, Iran, ca. 1580. This lengthy poem recounts the romance of Mihr (the sun), the son of the Shah, with Mushtari (Jupiter), the son of the Shah's vizier.

The shah opposes the relationship between the two men, and banishes Mushtari from his kingdom. After a series of obstacles and a long period of separation, Mihr and Mushtari reunite.

A paper dress designed by Harry Gordon with a poem by Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg was born on this day in 1926. This dress ...
06/03/2026

A paper dress designed by Harry Gordon with a poem by Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg was born on this day in 1926. This dress was made in London in 1968.

Call number: 2010 Folio 2

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas photographed by Man Ray. Although Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas both grew up in ...
06/02/2026

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas photographed by Man Ray.

Although Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas both grew up in California, they met in Paris in 1907. The two presided over one of the most famous salons in Paris, and their home became a gathering place for avant-garde writers and artists. With the publication in 1933 of "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," Stein reached a wider audience, and she and Toklas became literary celebrities.

The Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas papers at the Beinecke consist of selected manuscripts, letters, photographs, printed materials, personal papers, and art and objects which document the life and work of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, principally up until 1946, the year of Stein’s death.

Call number: YCAL MSS 76

Join us on Thursday, June 4for a full day of programming featuring recent fellows whose research has drawn on the Rachel...
06/02/2026

Join us on Thursday, June 4for a full day of programming featuring recent fellows whose research has drawn on the Rachel Carson Papers.

This event is sponsored by the Beinecke Library Fellowship Program is in connection with the exhibition "Silent Springs, Windswept Seas: Rachel Carson's Environmental Vision."

Register at schedule.yale.edu/event/16853783

Join us on Sunday, June 7, for a special in-person materials session in partnership with the International Festival of A...
06/01/2026

Join us on Sunday, June 7, for a special in-person materials session in partnership with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. This session will explore what “home” has meant in New Haven over the last 250 years.

Curated artifacts and historical documents will be on view, offering a deeper look at everyday objects and community history. Together, we’ll draw connections to the Festival’s themes of Home & Belonging, the Beinecke archives, “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, and our own lives.

Photographs from the Laura E. Bailey collection of gender and transgender materials. These photographs date between the ...
06/01/2026

Photographs from the Laura E. Bailey collection of gender and transgender materials. These photographs date between the 1850s and 1910s. The Laura Bailey collection consists of visual materials including photographs, postcards, and many types of printed ephemera.

Call number: GEN MSS 787

Poem on the Tulsa race massacre by A. J. Smiterman. This was printed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ca. 1921. The Tulsa race massac...
05/31/2026

Poem on the Tulsa race massacre by A. J. Smiterman. This was printed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ca. 1921. The Tulsa race massacre was a two-day-long massacre perpetrated by white supremacists that took place in the historically Black Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event took place between May 31 and June 1, 1921.

Call number: JWJ Zan Sm686 +921D

For Yale Class Day festivities, Seung Min Baik Kang '26 was inspired by extensive research at Beinecke. He used his own ...
05/30/2026

For Yale Class Day festivities, Seung Min Baik Kang '26 was inspired by extensive research at Beinecke. He used his own pillow, Joan Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," opened to her final essay, "Goodbye to All That," and book weights on loan from the Beinecke. Congratulations to all graduates!

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