Posts from the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room

For 25 years the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism has highlighted in-depth, investigative reporting. It was established in 1987, through a gift from Joseph Bernstein to the NYPL, in honor of journalist Helen Bernstein (now Helen Bernstein Fealy). The award plays an important role in safeguarding the first amendment and raising public awareness about significant world events and important issues. The 2012 finalists have all garnered acclaim this past year for stories that criss cross the globe and inform us about everything from Afghanistan, pirates, and pensions to the war against al Qaeda and drifting ducks. Here's a crash course on the 2012 finalists along 

March is Women's History Month. This year, the theme of Women's History Month is Women's Education — Women's Empowerment. This blog post will explore how one can conduct research in women's and gender studies and history.

For the past several weeks, the world has been eyeing a young rising athlete named Jeremy Lin. Lin plays as a point guard for the New York Knicks. At age 23, he has been captivating the globe with his personality, skills, and victories.

As 2011 slowly comes to an end, many of us are anxiously waiting for 2012 to arrive! Usually around this time — for some of the ambitious ones — we make New Year's resolutions. Can we actually keep them through the end of the year? Maybe. It depends on your resolutions and the goals you create to achieve them. Some have many resolutions for the year, such as creating and maintaining a new exercise routine, like yoga; learning to play a musical instrument, like the piano; planning a stress-free wedding; seeking employment or better career opportunities; becoming more active in a particular faith; or developing a stronger spiritual connection. 

The Periodicals Division has been collecting alternative press publications pretty much since the Library opened its doors in 1911. The alternative press, a general term that includes small, independent and underground presses, documents social, political and literary movements, popular and not so popular causes, and issues that are often neglected by mainstream media. Collecting and  preserving this material is at the core of the Library's mission to build diverse collections and provide free and open access to them.

In Sex and the City: The Movie, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) ascends the iconic marble steps of The New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street wearing a stunning Vivienne Westwood wedding gown. Her bridesmaids Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) — all wearing vibrant designs by Zac Posen — are at Carrie's side as she enters the landmark building and prepares to exchange vows with Mr.

First published on February 1st, 1963, The New York Review of Books has been hailed to be one of the world's leading intellectual literary magazines. Known for its sharp and critical insights, commentaries and book reviews on culture, literature and current affairs, The NYRB has had much success in gaining attention from and written contributions by eminent scholars, intellectuals and writers such as Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Harold Bloom, John Updike, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, (who also recently came to LIVE from the NYPL on November 21, 2011, to talk to Author Sloane Crosley) and Mary Beard (who will also be coming to LIVE from the NYPL on November 30, 2011, to 

As the holidays are slowly creeping in the corner, starting this week, we are often reminded of this unwelcoming annual maelstrom of booking trips, planning family gatherings and get-togethers with friends and loved ones at a time of maximum anxiety.  We find ourselves dangerously flirting with "stress" and "tension" as another year has come and gone. 

What do The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, The Velvet Underground, and Woodstock have in common?  They were cultural symbols and products of the Sixties. The Sixties gave birth to a popular culture in film and music that reflected and influenced the decade's social upheavals: the rise of Cold War politics, civil rights movements, student protests, and the Vietnam war all profoundly affected American society and culture. 

For the past four weeks, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Village Voice, Le Monde, El Pais, The Independent, El Diario-La Prensa, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Yomiuri Shimbun, World Journal East, Corriere Della Sera, Asahi Shimbun, The Nation, New York Magazine, and many other presses have been covering a small but growing political movement known as “Occupy Wall Street,” currently taking place in Lower Manhattan. All of these current local, national, and international newspapers and periodicals can be 

In NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, we have an extensive historical collection of regional, local, and international newspapers from Colonial America to Imperial Japan. This blog post will explore how one can find NYPL’s (print and non-print) historical newspapers. 

Well, the Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building has turned one hundred years old, and our intrepid attendees at May 7th's Handmade Crafternoon did their part to celebrate this special birthday by making amazing zines that express what they love about the Library.

This Saturday's Handmade Crafternoon is going to be a celebration of Library love!  On Saturday, May 7th, from 2:00 to 4:00pm, we'll welcome Ayun Halliday, author of the Zinester’s Guide to New York City; and Karen Gisonny, a fabulous librarian who wrangles the Library's amazing zine collection.

Sick of NYC’s cold weather?  Got the traveling bug in you?  Why not stop by the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to check out our latest travel magazines for the newest tips, trips, and activities abroad?  With over 100 international, regional and local traveling magazines, the DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Division can help you plan your next destinations! 

The Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism was established in 1987, through a gift from Joseph Frank Bernstein to the New York Public Library, in honor of journalist Helen Bernstein (now Helen Bernstein Fealy). The gift was in two parts and the idea was to focus on Helen’s love and appreciation of the crucial role that journalism and newspapers play in our society by establishing the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism and endowing the position Helen Bernstein Librarian for Periodicals & Journals (my job!).  Helen continues to be a working journalist today writing for the Palm Beach Daily News where she 

Would you like to learn how to knit or improve your bird watching skills? The DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Division currently holds over 100 hobbies and leisure activities magazines for hobbyists, amateurs and enthusiasts alike.  

Poetry and Thought with Fence Magazine

I'm really excited about the program for Periodically Speaking: Focus on Poetry tonight. The featured journal is Fence magazine and poetry editor Katy Lederer will be joined by poets Rodrigo Toscano, Gary Heidt, Ken Chen and Sarah Gambito for an in depth discussion of content, as distinct from form, in contemporary poetry.  The program begins with brief readings by the poets followed by conversation.

In 2002, we had our first public program in the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room, it was a collaboration with CLMP (Council of Literary Magazines & Presses) called “the Magathon”. The Library and CLMP shared the same goal, to support and celebrate literary magazines and what better place to hold the event then a beautiful public space, that collected and housed a vast collection of contemporary literary magazines.

"The Poet as critic" is the topic for the next Periodically Speaking: Focus on Poetry event and we'll appropriately be featuring the Mineapolis-based journal Rain Taxi. Rain Taxi is an eclectic, thoughtful publication, filled to the brim four times a year with literary criticism, interviews and reviews of poetry, non fiction & graphic novels. Although it covers the spectrum of American publishing at its heart are small presses and innovative publishing.