Know the Past, Find the Future
Check out for NYPL's free Centennial book -- 25,000 copies have now been distributed on the streets and in the libraries of New York!
From Laurie Anderson to Vampire Weekend, Roy Blount Jr. to Renée Fleming, Stephen Colbert to Bill T. Jones—more than 100 luminaries reflect on the treasures of America’s favorite public library. Marking the Centennial of The New York Public Library’s Beaux-Arts landmark at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, now called the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Know the Past, Find the Future harnesses the thoughts of an eclectic assortment of icons as they ponder an even more eclectic assortment of objects. From among the Library’s vast collections, these writers, artists, philosophers, scientists, musicians, athletes, architects, choreographers, and journalists—not to mention some of the curators who have preserved these riches—selected an item and describe what it means to them. The result, in words and photographs, is a glimpse of what a great library can be.
Know the Past, Find the Future is available at all 90 NYPL locations! Or download it now in eReader version.
Graydon Carter, Zadie Smith, Lou Reed, Jonathan Franzen
Photos: Boewulf Sheehan
Who’s in the Book
|
Laurie Anderson
|
Zarela Martinez |
Photo Courtesy of Penguin Classics
Humorist Roy Blount Jr. ponders the original Winnie-the-Pooh. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan
Choreographer Bill T. Jones listens to Jesse Fuller’s, “San Francisco Bay Blues.” Photo: Beowulf Sheehan
Actress Mary Louise Parker explores “The Wild Swans at Coole” by William Butler Yeats. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan
