Treasures: The NYPL -The Polonsky Exhibit

Exhibit is in the 42nd Street Library – Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Gottesman Hall, First Floor

The New York Public Library has 56 million items of “treasure,” and how they culled it down to this exhibit one can only imagine. The items span 4,000 years, and as the literature states are exceptionally rare, and/or beautiful. The exhibit is free with donations accepted, that said, let’s take a peek.

Some poster memorabilia..

Other oddities..

Medieval Girdle Book – first portable book

Left – box with lock of Beethoven’s hair Right – Cole Porter 14kt gold cigarette case

Portraits..

John and Alice Coltrane, jazz great, and harpist, in their Englewood, NJ studio

Toulouse Lautrec – one of his jazz paintings

Interesting Books and Historical Folk

15th century English cookbook from the master cooks of King Richard II, oldest English manuscript in the library collection.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a British woman who fought for equality in the sexes in the 1700’s. Below appears her picture and draft work. “The end, the grand end of (women’s) exertions should be to unfold their own faculties and acquire dignity of conscious virtue..” Was pleased to overhear a father explaining this women to his 10 year old daughter at the exhibit. Maybe we have come a long way. Thanks to dad’s like this..

Another prominent woman – Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an investigative journalist/activist who did an expose on lynching in the South. She found between 1864 and 1894 more than 10,000 African Americans had been lynched. A copy of her work and photo.