Date / Time
- May 27, 2020
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Discover the hidden histories of 20th century queer luminaries through their writings and artwork–both published and private.
Upcoming Events
Virtual Behind the Bookcase | 20th Century Gay and Lesbian Lives
Date / Time
- May 28, 2020
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Our Behind the Bookcase tours are going digital! Get a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the rare and important objects in our collection and get the chance to talk directly with our experts during these virtual sessions.
Cancelled Behind the Bookcase | The Modern Emily Dickinson: the Anti-Belle of Amherst
Date / Time
- May 29, 2020
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The century-long public image of Emily Dickinson was confined to that for a vulnerable recluse. In truth, Dickinson was far more audacious and lively, with adventurous ideas that continue to resonate today.
Cancelled Behind the Bookcase | Civil War
Date / Time
- May 31, 2020
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
From the writings of Abraham Lincoln, to the wartime letters of Col. Alexander Biddle of the 121st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, to a Confederate children’s textbook, this tour provides a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of those who shaped and survived America’s worst conflict.
CANCELLED | Behind the Bookcase | Lewis Carroll
Date / Time
- June 2, 2020
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Mathematician and cleric Charles Lutwidge Dodgson published children’s books under the pen name Lewis Carroll. This tour will explore both the man and the author, drawing on letters from Dodgson to his publishers, original drawings by John Tenniel (the illustrator of the Alice books) photographs of children taken by Carroll, and, of course, copies of his books.
CANCELLED | Behind the Bookcase | Dialogues: Native American History
Date / Time
- June 5, 2020
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
American history is the history of dialogues among the many peoples who have called—and call—America home. Highlighting The Rosenbach’s remarkable collection of books, manuscripts, and printed documents that reveal how Native Americans engaged with European and Euro-American peoples, this Behind the Bookcase Tour will invite attendees to think in new ways about American culture.
CANCELLED | Behind the Bookcase | Book Arts
Date / Time
- June 7, 2020
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Do you prefer to judge a book by its cover, or does the inside matter more? In this tour of book arts, we’ll take a look at various rare books in The Rosenbach collection, their aesthetics, their functions, how the processes in creating books inform how we use them today, and vice versa.
CANCELLED | Behind the Bookcase | Ruff-ly Speaking: A Brief History of Neckwear, Illustrated by The Rosenbach’s Portrait Miniatures
Date / Time
- June 11, 2020
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
In this tour, we’ll look at the history of neckwear through our vast collection of miniature portraits to explore its power to denote strength, status, sexuality, and more.
CANCELLED | Behind the Bookcase | James Joyce & Irish Authors
Date / Time
- June 12, 2020
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Along with James Joyce’s handwritten manuscript of his modernist masterpiece Ulysses, we’ll also read and handle works by Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and more! These Irish authors have connections and influences extending from Thomas Jefferson and Moby-Dick to the present day.