Archived Exhibition Resources

What makes a monster? What is it like living on the margins of society? Is technology inherently good or bad? These questions guided Mary Shelley 200 years ago as she wrote her classic novel Frankenstein—they remain just as relevant today. Explore the connections between Shelley’s time and our own, seeing how the classics resonate throughout society and the breadth of NYPL’s offerings. Interact with the online version of this exhibition or download the Biblion: Frankenstein app for iPad.

Enter the World of Tomorrow through one of the Library's richest and most heavily used archival collections: the official corporate records of the 1939–40 New York World's Fair. The Fair has something for everyone, from technological innovation and classical music, to pop culture and a portrait of the world dealing with the crises of war and economic hardship. Interact with the online version of this exhibition or download the Biblion: World's Fair app for iPad.

On the Road with Candide uses The New York Public Library’s on-site exhibition Candide at 250: Scandal and Success as a jumping-off point for a unique online journey … inviting the involvement of students, scholars, artists, and more.

One hundred years ago, The New York Public Library opened its landmark building, now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, dedicated to preserving its varied collections and making them accessible to the public. Over time, the Library has radically expanded its holdings, but its founding goals are as central today as they were in 1911. Library curators past and present have been guided by the philosophy that all knowledge is worth preserving. This major exhibition of more than 250 thought-provoking items from NYPL’s vast collections celebrates how the Library has encouraged millions of individuals to gain access to a universe of information during the past 100 years.

On the American continent, the 19th century was witness to the rapid expansion of boundaries, the growth of existing cities, and the establishment of new urban centers, all copiously recorded by the growing numbers of printmakers active in the United States and its territories. The exhibition includes examples of 18th-century views of America's founding cities, as well as dramatic 19th-century formats such as the bird's-eye view.

Spanning twenty years of Cassatt’s career as a printmaker, from 1878 to 1898, this exhibition documents her first tentative steps in the medium and culminates with her highly accomplished and technically dazzling color prints.

Diversity Endangered, a traveling exhibition from SITES, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, examines the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to the loss of biological diversity. Included are reproductions of color photographs, artists' renderings, and text for 15 posters. Rain forest, coral reefs, and wetlands are among the issues covered. The Smithsonian material will be complemented by materials from the Science, Industry and Business Library's collections.

Tobacco has long been a subject of fascination and concern, for a variety of reasons. The New York Public Library possesses significant collections relating to the history of tobacco, containing materials that cross many different cultures and areas of research; these collections serve scholars from many fields, including literature, history, art history, the history of the book, and the sciences. Drawing upon these rich resources, Dry Drunk provides historical context for the uses and abuses of tobacco, showing, among other things, that it has been the focus of endless, if ever-shifting, controversy since the moment of its introduction into Europe from the New World.

The exhibition Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City features the work of five contemporary New York–based photographers drawn primarily from new acquisitions in the Photography Collection.

In conjunction with the Hellenic Festival in New York, The New York Public Library is presenting a highly selective exhibition of approximately 25 important manuscripts and printed books in Greek and other languages as enduring reflections of contributions from Greece to the world in religion, literature, philosophy, history, science, and art, shaping civilization over an enormous span of centuries.