New York Public Library celebrates 100

He's tattered and frayed, but for a 90-year-old, he hasn't lost any of his original charm.

The stuffed bear who became known as Winnie the Pooh resides with his pals Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Tigger at the New York Public Library in Manhattan, which is celebrating its 100th year.

And they've got plenty of company.

Long Islanders may be surprised to learn that among the materials meticulously stored, but not part of a special centennial exhibit, at the library -- which houses more than 50 million items within its vast, eclectic collections -- are some of famed beat writer Jack Kerouac's diaries and journals he kept while living in Northport for six years; meeting notes from the formation of the Long Island Rail Road; and manuscripts, notes and a lock of hair belonging to poet Walt Whitman, who was born in West Hills and taught school on Long Island.

The library -- which has 90 branches throughout the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island -- is displaying 250 items from its staggering collection of rare books, photographs, prints, maps and other artifacts in a free "Celebrating 100 Years" exhibit, open to the public until Dec. 31. Guided tours are offered at its landmark building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Separately from the exhibit, the library stores a fascinating collection of Whitman's poems and offers a rare glimpse into the lives of the Butler, Huntington, Smith, Cooke and Clinch families, who were united through intermarriage and included prominent lawyers, architects, doctors, judges, politicians, scientists and land owners. Their stories are told through an assortment of 19th- and 20th-century correspondence, financial and legal documents, photo albums, diaries, scrapbooks and photographs.

And a boxful of notebooks containing the handwritten minutes from meetings for the creation of the LIRR is just one part of a massive collection of such records, reflecting the decades of the 1850s through the 1930s.

This is merely a fraction of the treasures housed at the New York Public Library. In fact, the Manuscripts and Archives Division alone contains almost six miles of collections, according to William Stingone, assistant director of archives and manuscripts, and Charles J. Liebman, curator of manuscripts. Other special collections comprise printed materials, photographs, sound recordings, films, videotapes, artifacts and electronic records.

All of it is accessible to the public, free of charge. 

A free education
In his introduction of "Know the Past, Find the Future, The New York Public Library at 100", Paul Le Clerk, library president and chief executive, writes: "What sets The New York Public Library apart from all the libraries that have existed is not that it has amassed, over the past 100 years -- thanks to the taste and brilliance of its curators -- one of the greatest collections in history.

Rather it is that the Library has put this magisterial collection at the disposal of literally everyone on the planet. As opposed to all other great library collections, which are essentially closed to the public, ours is explicitly and deliberately made accessible to all."

Any items that are part of the library's collections, such as those mentioned in this story, can be viewed by appointment only, though, and library visitors can call, email or submit a request for an appointment.

The beat goes on
In addition to an appointment, library visitors will need a New York Public Library card (a simple item to obtain if you are a state resident) for direct access to Kerouac's materials, housed within the Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Among Kerouac's papers are his diaries and journals, including those written between 1958 and 1964, when he lived, on and off, in Northport. "On the Road" had been published in 1957, but he was working on "Big Sur" during his time in Northport, where he lived in three different houses. Kerouac (1922-1969) didn't own a car, which explains why each house was within walking distance of the village's Main Street and its pubs, which he frequented.

A tiny, red spiral notepad from the summer of 1960 offers a glimpse into Kerouac's life. Certain entries provide mundane reports of the weather, with references to raccoons or rats spotted on occasion outside.

For instance, a June 9, 1960, entry includes this humdrum tidbit: "Left crackers & chocolate for the mouse, he took a few crumbs -- left milk & Cheerios for raccoon & bluejays." However, the next day he wrote "still not drinking" within an entry about friends visiting.

Sloppy, almost illegible handwriting later that day reveals his battle with alcoholism: "Read the above -- see the pattern of my illness -- with Tom & Mickey I got smashed on gin . . . ended up sick on Sunday & gloomy on Monday."

A June 14 entry follows with, "I wake up in the morning horrified that I have to face somebody." The journal makes reference to amphetamines and heroin, but it was complications from alcoholism that ended Kerouac's life at age 47. He is regarded as a major American literary figure, even compared to Long Islander Whitman (1819-1892).

America's poet
The Berg Collection includes almost 35 Whitman manuscripts, or manuscript fragments and other related materials. Among them is the 1859 holograph "A Child's Reminiscence," later renamed "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking."

The poem pertains to Whitman's experience as a child living on Long Island, according to Isaac Gewirtz, curator of the Berg Collection. His most renowned work, "Leaves of Grass," was initially self-published in 1855 and not well-received, although today it is regarded as a masterpiece.

The "Blue Book," an original third edition of "Leaves of Grass," heavily edited with notes and alterations by Whitman, is part of the library's Oscar Lion Collection Rare Books Division. Whitman was born in West Hills (part of Huntington), moved away at age 4 but returned to Long Island periodically as an adult, teaching at several public schools here (Hempstead, East Norwich and Babylon, to name a few) and residing at various times in Smithtown and Woodbury.

In 1938, Whitman founded The Long Islander, a newspaper still in existence. The Walt Whitman Birthplace is a State Historic Site and Interpretive Center in Huntington.

 Discovering history
Further east in Setauket is the historic house of farmer and physician Samuel Thompson (1738-1811). During his day, doctors were few and far between. The house, now a public museum owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, features period furniture and interesting medical equipment.

What it doesn't include are Thompson's diaries and family papers, land deeds and letters. These are at the New York Public Library's Manuscript & Archives Division

. Among the papers: a household inventory listing livestock, furniture and indentured servants and slaves (by names and ages), their bills of sale and an intriguing 1807 letter pertaining to hundreds of dollars required for the release from prison of the doctor's son, Franklin. Franklin later became a Long Island historian and author, under the name Benjamin F. Thompson.

Scouring these papers offers a window into a particular era on Long Island, as does the library's astounding collection of maps. The Maps division has 10,000 maps published before 1900, according to library officials, and even more when considering those that are part of regular topographic or hydrographic series.

Among the maps are several pertaining to Long Island and showing altered town names -- Smith Town, Amity Ville, River Head. And maps dating from 1858 to the turn of the century reveal an area by Moriches and Mastic marked Poospatuck Indians, surrounded by teepee icons. One would be hard-pressed to find it on a modern map of Long Island, even though the Poospatuck Reservation still exists.

"Maps can help us uncover our individual and collective history. . . . On documents such as county maps and atlases produced in the mid- and late-19th century, for example, family names mark buildings and estates, and lithographic images of well-to-do local citizens often adorn the map edges," explains geospatial librarian Matthew A. Knutzen.

And as in the case of the Poospatuck Indians, "long lost features of the landscape appear throughout these rich documents," providing us with a wealth of information about our past.