American Literature

American literature includes first editions of Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, presentation copies of books by Herman Melville housed in a bookcase that once belonged to him; 19th-century dime novels; and first editions and letters of Emily Dickinson and Christopher Morley. The single largest collection, that of the poet Marianne Moore, encompasses her personal and literary papers, including correspondence with contemporaries such as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, and Langston Hughes; as well as her working library, which spans a wide range of subjects, including literature, religion, art history, natural history, and sports.

Collection Highlights

Related Posts

From the Director: Soulful Foodways and Literary Connections

As the new Director of The Rosenbach, and as someone who enjoys writing and thinking about history even in my spare time, I’m delighted to be sharing with you a monthly blog about my own discoveries in The Rosenbach’s collection.   The Rosenbach’s collection is vast, and while I’ve worked here for seven years, I’m still …

Stepping out in style with The Rosenbach…

This blog post was written by Andrew White  Sitting by the front and back door of the Rosenbach brothers’ Delancey Place home, these boots dreaded rainy days on which they suffered the discomfort of being used as umbrella stands. Phillip and A.S.W. Rosenbach—our museum’s founders—lived on Delancey Place from 1926 till their deaths in the …

Love, Marlene

This blog post was written by Andrew White  What would you say to a look at some tender and romantic love letters from Marlene Dietrich, the 20th century German American actress and singer whose life and art continue to inspire? It’s the 7th week of social distancing—counting from the Ides of March when the Rosenbach …

What Poet Changed Your Life?

When I was in third grade, I participated in a poetry-writing workshop that was held in my hometown’s art museum; the idea was for us third-graders to write and workshop a poem inspired by an artwork or artifact on display. I remember roaming around the museum with my classmates, all on our best church behavior, quietly and gravely examining the …

Unwrapping Poe’s Mummy

When we think of Edgar Allan Poe, we think of his horror tales.  His face is the icon of macabre fiction.  And so when we see that he once wrote a tale about a mummy, we expect the full panoply of a monster story: Egyptian curses, the dead revivified, perhaps a monstrous beetle that devours …

Romance at the Rosenbach

Love is in the library: over the holidays, two visitors got engaged while on a tour of the historic house. Admittedly, some of us were in on the plan. One of our artistic staff members created a library display case with a copy of the bride-to-be’s favorite book, Jane Eyre, opened to the page with the famous line “Reader, I …

Call me Rosenbach.

On November 14, 1851, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, or the Whale was published by Harper Bros. in the United States. Although not well-received by the critics and reading public at the time, this novel is now recognized as a masterpiece of literature. The Rosenbach has a substantial collection of Melville’s letters and first edition of his …

Reading Moby-Dick for the first time

I’ve never read Moby-Dick. I know! I work at The Rosenbach, where one of the world’s best collections of Herman Melville’s work resides, and I haven’t read his most famous book. I’ve admired his bookcase many times (if you haven’t seen it, come on one of our guided house tours!) but have always had the …

Yolanda Wisher’s Rent Parties celebrate creative communities

This Thursday, we’ll celebrate the first of Yolanda Wisher’s Rent Parties, a quarterly event that celebrates the literary past with readings by contemporary poets and music performance by Yolanda Wisher and her house band, The Afroeaters. The tradition of the rent party dates back to the Harlem Renaissance, when communal gatherings of artists and musicians fed the outpouring …