A Century of the New Yorker

The New York Public Library's new major exhibition A Century of The New Yorker draws on NYPL's collections, including the voluminous archives of the magazine and the papers of many of its contributors, to bring to life the people, stories, and ideas that made The New Yorker.

Over the past 100 years, The New Yorker has created a world of its own. Guided by the founding vision of Harold Ross and Jane Grant, and built upon by generations of staff, the magazine has set the bar for effortless style, thought-provoking prose, journalistic rigor, and playful art—delivered with a dash of snootiness, and a wink.

In ways we see and don’t see, The New Yorker has informed our understanding of almost every aspect of society: war and violence, race and gender, the environmental movement, the distinctiveness of American fiction writing, and more. In its contributors and its content, the magazine has reflected both the lofty ideals and the profound inequalities that have defined the American experience in ways that continue to shape our social and political landscape today.

The story of The New Yorker—and the brilliant, funny, obsessive, imperfect people who made it—is told, in part, in the pages of the 5,057 issues that have gone to print in the magazine’s first 100 years. But a deeper history can be found in the magazine’s voluminous archives, in the collections of The New York Public Library. Through correspondence, manuscripts, memos, artifacts—and yes, cartoons—A Century of The New Yorker uncovers the unsung stories of prickly editorial relationships, diligent typists, fastidious fact checkers, and talented artists.

Listen to behind-the-scenes stories from New Yorker writers and editors past and present, from David Remnick to Jhumpa Lahiri, and learn more about the items on display in A Century of The New Yorker.  

The audio guide is also available on Bloomberg Connects, a third-party mobile app developed by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The app is not owned or operated by NYPL. See the Bloomberg Connects privacy policy for more information.