In our final episode, artist John Wind returns for a conversation about the vital role research plays in the creative process. We’re joined by Elizabeth Fuller, librarian at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, who brings insight into the lives and legacies of John Frederick Lewis and Belle da Costa Greene—two towering figures in the world of rare books and collecting, whose stories are woven into the fabric of the DEAR JOHN installation. Together, we explore how deep dives into archives can uncover forgotten stories, inspire new artworks, and bridge past and present in meaningful ways. 

In this episode, we explore the intersection of faith, heritage, and artistic interpretation through the lens of Judaica. 

Curator and Director of Collections Emerita Judy Guston joins artist John Wind to discuss how Jewish ritual objects play a central role in the DEAR JOHN installation at the Rosenbach. Together, we examine how contemporary art can honor, reframe, and activate the spiritual and cultural meanings embedded in these sacred items.

In this episode, artist John Wind joins me for a roundtable conversation with exhibition coordinator Bill Adair and artists Teresa Jaynes and Gabriel Martinez. Together, we explore how artists are stepping beyond conventional boundaries to reinterpret historic collections and make archives more accessible, inclusive, and emotionally resonant. 

In this episode, we welcome Bill Valerio, the Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and CEO of the Woodmere Museum, for a rich conversation about the work of Cecilia Beaux, one of the most celebrated portrait painters of the Gilded Age. Known for capturing the personalities and inner lives of her subjects, Beaux’s work offers a window into the social and cultural fabric of her time.

In this episode, we continue our exploration of the DEAR JOHN installation at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, turning our attention to the role of family, heritage, and personal legacy.

In our first episode of Season 5, we step inside the Rosenbach Museum and Library, a hidden gem in the heart of Philadelphia known for its extraordinary collection of rare books, manuscripts, and historical objects. We begin our journey in the Treasures Gallery—a space dedicated to exploring the material text and the stories objects can tell.

Dive deeper into the Treasures gallery installation “DEAR JOHN” with your host Karen Grossman and special guest the acclaimed artist John Y. Wind.

In this episode of the podcast shines a spotlight on an important portrait hanging in the Rosenbach’s stair hall, just outside the Treasures galleries.

In this episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, Professor Sheila Sandapen of Drexel University introduces us to some of the key themes shaping postcolonial Black British literature and makes a few suggestions as to authors and book titles for those who wish to explore the subject.   

In this transatlantic episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, Dr. Alexander Lawrence Ames interviews Fran Baker, Archivist and Librarian at Chatsworth House Trust in beautiful Derbyshire, England, about the role of country house libraries in preserving some of Great Britain’s most spectacular bookish treasures.

Doctors Ames and Leavell discuss Moore’s family life, her approach to poetry, the fame she achieved relatively late in life—and why this iconic poet deserves our attention today. Leavell also describes her experiences doing extensive historical and literary research at the Rosenbach Museum & Library, and why collecting institutions like the Rosenbach matter for the flourishing of American society in the 21st century. 

In this episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, join podcast host Dr. Alexander L. Ames, Rosenbach researcher and de Acosta biographer Dr. Robert A. Schanke, and Isabel Steven, Coordinator of Public Programs at the Rosenbach, for a discussion of the amazing achievements and lasting legacy of this misunderstood figure in LGBTQIA+ history.

In this interview with Patrick Clark, director of James Buchanan’s Wheatland estate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we consider Lane’s remarkable public life—and how delaying marriage enabled her to achieve a level of influence and freedom that evaded most married women in her era. 

Modernist poet Marianne Moore, whose papers and personal effects reside at the Rosenbach, spent an early part of her career teaching at the “Carlisle Indian Industrial School,” an institution sponsored by the United States federal government as part of a larger effort to assimilate Indigenous children into white American society. 

Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach was more than a businessman.  He and his brother (and business partner) Philip were also civic activists who played an important role in American national life, and Jewish-American life in particular.

In this episode of The Rosenbach podcast, join host Dr. Alexander L. Ames in the West Library of the Rosenbach with musicologist and baritone Dr. Christopher Dylan Herbert for a discussion of the sounds of the Ephrata community of eighteenth-century pious mystics. 

In this episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, Carlos G. Obrador Garrido Cuesta, Head Consul of the Consulate of Mexico in Philadelphia, joins podcast host Dr. Alexander Lawrence Ames and Rosenbach Development Associate Sara Potts for a conversation about the history and present-day state of Mexican/U.S. relations, and the role of cultural institutions like the Rosenbach in helping bridge divides between communities. 

In this episode of The Rosenbach Podcast, host Dr. Alexander L. Ames visits Mark Dimunation, Chief of the Rare Bok and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress, for a look at Dr. Rosenbach’s wonderful donation and a conversation about the place of rare books and libraries in our national civic life. 

In this special Rosenbach Podcast episode, we’ll talk with author and historian Heather Darsie about how she discovered an important portrait of one of King Henry VIII’s wives at the Rosenbach, and how she made use of it in her recent book project. 

The Rosenbach’s Collections Department is responsible for stewarding the physical wellbeing of collections objects, meaning that we regularly work with conservators, who perform repair treatments on our objects to guarantee their safety for years to come.