Left: Letter to "GMHC Supporter" from Madonna. Right: AIDS Dance-A-Thon flyer featuring artwork by Keith Haring.

Left: Letter written by Henry DeWolf Smyth to his father Charles Henry Smyth Jr., written from Cambridge, dated May 7, 1922. Includes the line “Also in the lab I did a job that rather pleased me.” Right: Broadside with heading “The official narrative – (the “Smyth Report”), Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: A General Account of Its Development under the Auspices of the United States Government, 1940-1945, By Henry DeWolf Smyth.” Announces that the report will be released “about September 15.”

Left: Poster with text: "CHILDREN Tired of Being Harrassed by Your Stupid Parents? ACT NOW! Move Out, Get a JOB, Pay Your Own Bills, While You Still KNOW EVERYTHING!” Right: Print with text: “Once you learn to READ, you will be forever FREE. (FREDERICK DOUGLASS).”

Our newest blog post features reflections from RBML's archives staff on processing some now-available collections! Visit the following link to learn more: wordpress.library.illinois.edu/rbx/2026/04/...

Graphic with text: "Your 2026 RBML Madness Winner: Clay tablet with Sumerian cuneiform script, ca. 2200 BCE. Shelfmark: F. Pre-1650 MS 0272."

The results are in! After 15 rounds, you chose RBML's oldest item, the Clay tablet with Sumerian cuneiform script, as the winner of RBML Madness 2026. 🥇🏆

You can check out the completed bracket at the following link: go.library.illinois.edu/RBMLMadness2...

Thanks for playing along!

Graphic with Text: "What is this Place? An Exploration of the RBML and Its Collections—A Pop Up Exhibit." On Display at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. April 1st–30th."

Did you know RBML's holdings extend far beyond books and manuscripts?

Our new pop-up exhibit, “What is this Place? An Exploration of the RBML and its Collections,” is now up and ready for visitors. Stop by and discover all the unique items RBML has to offer! 💫

Carl Sandburg on the Lombard basketball team in 1898 Group photograph of the Lombard basketball team in 1898. Carl Sandburg is the man on the far left in the front row.

See more of the Carl Sandburg Collection from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social in the Digital Special Collections: go.library.illinois.edu/SandburgBask...

Graphic with text: "Global Book History Lecture: Textual Materiality in the Medieval World. Friday, April 17 3-5pm in the RBML. Dr. Warren C. Brown (Caltech). This talk is free and open to all audiences!"

Join us on Friday, 4/17 from 3-5 pm for a Global Book History lecture by Dr. Warren C. Brown (California Institute of Technology), titled "Textual Materiality in the Medieval World."

All are welcome and refreshments will be served.

Shelfmark:
Cary's Traveller's companion (1806) - 912.42 C258c1806

Image of a hand holding a small wooden pencil.

Red wraparound portfolio binding showing a slot for a small pencil.

Left: map of England and Wales. Right: index of the market and borough towns of England and Wales.

This 1806 pocket atlas, with engravings by John Cary (1754?-1835), contains detailed maps of the counties, towns, and roads of England and Wales. Accompanying these are an index of each town and its distance to London, and possibly the cutest little pencil, which captured RBML's collective heart.

Vote by heading over to Instagram and clicking on our profile picture here: www.instagram.com/illinois_rbml/. You will have 24 hours to vote for each round. The bracket is available to view at the following link: go.library.illinois.edu/RBMLMadness2... 🏆️

Graphic with text: "RBML Madness 2026."

In the spirit of March Madness, so begins RBML Madness! ✨️

Each weekday at 12 PM CDT (3/17-4/6), check out our Instagram story to vote for your favorite item from some of RBML’s most popular materials. The winners of each round will compete until only one item remains (in the contest, don't worry)!

Graphic with text: "Dr. Anastassios Antonaras. Of Colored Glass: Luxury, Loss, and Imitation from Antiquity to Byzantium. Thursday, March 26, 3-5 pm in the RBML. Learn about the emergence of Byzantine glass as a powerful medium of splendor, authority, and sacred presence. This talk is free and open to all audiences!"

Join us on Thursday, March 26 from 3-5 pm for a talk by Dr. Anastassios Antonaras (Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki).

This event is sponsored by the Department of Classics and hosted at RBML. It is free and open to all audiences, and refreshments will be served.

Shelfmarks:
The Delafield affair (1909) by Florence Finch Kelly - Baym 813 K29d
Adele Doring on a ranch (1920) by Grace May North - Baym 813 N8113a
The biography of a prairie girl (1902) by Eleanor Gates - Baym 813 G224b
The giants (1905) by Mrs. Fremont Older - Baym 813 Oℓ17g

Baym was an English professor at Illinois who amassed an 800 volume collection on the female perspective of the American West. Baym was dedicated to recovering the voices of these 19th- and 20th-century women writers, ensuring that their significant literary contributions are recognized.

Color illustration from "The Delafield Affair" featuring a man and woman on horseback in the American West, with the caption "It had come, this question she had not meant to let him ask."

Cover for "Adele Doring on a Ranch" by Grace May North, featuring a woman wearing a cowboy hat riding on a horse with cacti in the background.

Cover for "The Biography of a Prairie Girl" by Eleanor Gates, featuring a white flower and green leaves.

Cover for "The Giants" by Mrs. Fremont Older, featuring an oil rig with flames coming out of the top.

In honor of Women's History Month, we are highlighting materials from the Nina Baym Western Women Writers Collection, which includes Western novels (many of which feature female protagonists), memoirs, and scholarship on women in the American West.

This talk was recorded and will be posted on our YouTube channel in the coming weeks!

This item is one of many gorgeous botanical texts housed at RBML, and as spring approaches we encourage you to come by and take a look!

Shelfmark:
Exactissima descriptio rariorum quarundam plantarum (1625) - IUQ05097

The book contains 16 chapters that each cover a different plant, including information about medicinal and culinary properties and engravings. Pictured here are the Hyivcca canedana and two states of the Flores Maracot.

Book open to display the chapter on "Hyivcca canedana" on the right page, and an illustration of the plant on the left.

Left: single page with an illustration of a flowering plant with the label "Flores Maracot." Right: single page with an illustration of a fruiting plant labeled "Flores Maracot."

Exactissima (1625), by Italian physicist and botanist Petrus Castelli, is one of RBML's oldest illustrated botanical texts. Featuring beautiful woodcuts and plate engravings of exotic plants, it is more than just a scientific textbook. 🌸

Shelfmark:
Lithographic reproductions of war horses of the Tang Dynasty (19--?) - F. 709.51 L713

Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is a time for gathering with family and welcoming an auspicious start to the new year. A wide variety of customs are celebrated by cultures across Asia and diaspora communities.

How will you be celebrating Lunar New Year? 🐎

Taizong commissioned six large stone panels to commemorate the warhorses he rode during his military campaigns. The reliefs of the “Six Steeds” were located at his mausoleum in Shaanxi, China, for centuries, and those depicted here are now at the Beilin Museum in Xi’an.

Close-up of a black-and-white lithograph of a galloping horse wearing a saddle and bridle.

Black-and-white lithograph of a standing horse wearing a saddle and bridle.

Black-and-white lithograph of a galloping horse wearing a saddle and bridle that has been struck with five arrows.

Happy Lunar New Year! 🌑✨

To celebrate the Year of the Horse, we are featuring four images of horses from the tomb of Tang-dynasty Chinese emperor 太宗 Taizong (r. 626-649 AD). These lithographic reproductions, however, were created in the 20th century.

@illinoisrbml.bsky.social on the road!

Shelfmarks:
"Whooping Crane" drawing by John James Audubon - X 598.2 AU21840
Twenty love poems and a song of despair (1969) by Pablo Neruda - Broomfield 0115
Never Been Kissed press kit - MSS00030, Box 21, Item 1574

Photorealistic color drawing of a Whooping Crane.

Book cover for Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair (1969) by Pablo Neruda.

Press kit images for Never Been Kissed (1999) starring Drew Barrymore.

Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️

Love can be found in all corners of RBML's collections, from drawings of birds that mate for life to collections of love poems to rom-com press kits and more!

In his lecture, Dr. Petrou will explore the evolution and transmission of the Greek book from East to West, the preservation and transmission of classical Greek knowledge through manuscripts, and how this inherited book culture was transformed through the new technology of print.

"Dr. Elias Petrou. The Evolution of the Greek Book: From Byzantine Manuscripts to Renaissance Incunabula. Thursday, February 26, 3-5 pm in the RBML. Learn about the evolution and transmission of the Greek book from East to West, and how this inherited book culture was transformed through the new technology of print. This talk is free and open to all audiences!"

Join us on Thursday, February 26 from 3-5 pm for a talk by Dr. Elias Petrou (Literatures and Languages Library), titled "The Evolution of the Greek Book: From Byzantine Manuscripts to Renaissance Incunabula."

This event is free and all are welcome. Refreshments will be served.

Shelfmarks:
Broadside Press storefront negative (circa 1975) - Gwendolyn Brooks collection, Box 334, Folder 3a
"All of us are all of us" (1974) by Lucille Clifton - Q. 811.08 B78 no.81
Broadside memories: Poets I have known (1975) by Dudley Randall - Modern Poetry Q. 928.1 R15b

Broadside Press initially sought to republish, distribute, and promote the poetry of established Black poets, but soon broadened its focus to also feature works by emerging Black writers and artists, making it a remarkable vehicle for the Black Arts Movement.

Photo of the Broadside Press storefront with a 10th Anniversary book display.

Broadside Series No. 81: "All of Us Are All of Us" by Lucille Clifton.

Page from Broadside Memories highlighting Dudley Randall with text titled "Broadside Press: A Personal Chronicle..."

Page from Broadside Memories featuring an advertisement for Lotus Press.

In honor of Black History Month, we’re highlighting some of our Broadside Press materials! Broadside Press (now Broadside Lotus Press) is a Detroit-based publisher of Black poets and writers founded in 1965 by poet-librarian Dudley Randall.

Shelfmarks:
Le dignità de' consoli, e de gl'imperadori (1561) - Baldwin 2666
The graded-school first-fifth reader (1875) - TEXT. 428.6 VANBR1875 v.4
Excerpta quaedam ex Luciani Samosatensis operibus (1757) - Baldwin 0653
The third reader (1877) - TEXT. 428.2 AMBO1877