On October 21, 2019, The New York Public Library opened its new Center for Research in the Humanities, a nine-room space dedicated to quiet research, work with the Library’s research collections, temporary displays, and collections-related programming.
The over 8,000-square-foot Center—located on the second floor of the iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and designed by Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle—has 56 seats exclusively for use by authors, scholars, students, and others engaged in extensive research, doubling the number of seats available in the building for that purpose. At opening, 30 scholars had already applied to work in the Center.
In addition, the Center—created from space long used primarily for staff and storage—also includes revamped spaces for staff, short-term displays, class visits, and public programs, lectures, and panels related to research collections.
One of the spaces—The James Lenox and John Jacob Astor Room—is a lecture and programming space filled with 1,800 books and three paintings that belonged to and were gifted to the Library by philanthropist Brooke Russell Astor.
Planned regular public programming includes:
- “Research Instructional Series” to teach the public how to conduct various types of research
- “Collections Open Houses” on the first Wednesday of each month with small displays of collections materials
- “Scholarly Communications Series” for those in the research/scholar community looking to learn practical things such as how to copyright material or make citations
“The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is many things, but first and foremost a research library, dedicated to learning and the pursuit of understanding, knowledge, and scholarship,” said New York Public Library President Anthony W. Marx. “To restore these rooms to their original purpose—research and work with our collections—while ensuring that we are preserving the significant architectural elements is something the whole Library is extremely proud of.”
The Center was built as part of the Library’s master plan to restore, improve, and increase public space in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
Follow The New York Public Library’s Midtown renovation project by phase here.
Image copyright by Jonathan Blanc/NYPL.