The New York Public Library – or NYPL – is one of my favorite buildings in all of New York. And if you know how many buildings there are in New York, that’s saying quite something.
Maybe it’s the sheer beauty of the place or the fact that I spent many hours of my life in the research room as a student, the NYPL is one place I got back to time and again.
With more than 55 million volumes in its collection, the New York Public Library is one of the largest libraries in the world. It’s also been the filming location of some of New York’s most iconic movies.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about the New York Public Library!
Table of Contents
1. It was the biggest marble building at the time of its construction
The library’s main branch, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, opened on May 23, 1911. Over 530,000 cubic feet of marble, mostly from Vermont, was used in its construction. The building cost $9 million dollars – or nearly $3 billion in today’s prices.
2. The first book delivered from the main stack…
…was Nravstvennye idealy nashego vremeni (Moral ideas of our time: Friedrich Nietzsche and Lev Tolstoy) by Nikolai I. Grot. It was requested at 9:08am on opening day (May 24, 1911) and delivered seven minutes later.
3. The lions are named Patience and Fortitude
The two lions seated majestically at the entrance of the main branch are named “Patience” and “Fortitude.” They were so named by New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in the 1930s after the two qualities that he felt were needed to get through the difficult years of the Great Depression.
They weren’t the lions’ original names, however. Their original names were “Leo Astor” and “Leo Lenox” after two of the library’s founders. They were later renamed “Lord Astor” and “Lady Lenox” (despite both lions being male) before acquiring their current monikers.
4. The library is officially chartered as…
The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
The NYPL was founded thanks to a trio of wealthy New Yorkers: John Jacob Astor, James Lenox, and Samuel Jones Tilden.
Astor, a German immigrant who acquired his wealth investing in New York real estate, bequeathed $400,000 in his will for the foundation of a public library. Lenox donated his extensive collection of Americana and bibles. Former New York governor and presidential candidate Tilden willed most of his fortune to the library, although disputes with his family meant the library only received about half of the money.
5. There are an estimated 125 miles of shelves housing the library’s collection
Much of the shelving is below ground. About 4 million books and archival materials are located beneath the adjacent Bryant Park.
6. The library contains over 4,000 years of written history
The earliest examples of writing in the library’s collection are cuneiform tablets from Ancient Mesopotamia, dating from the 3rd-2nd millennia BC. They include documents of transactions such the sale of slaves and real estate.
7. The library has the first Gutenberg Bible in the Americas
In the 1450s, Johannes Gutenberg printed several copies of the Bible – they are the earliest major book printed in Europe using movable type.
James Lenox, a staunch Presbyterian and an avid collector of bibles, purchased one of the Gutenberg Bibles in 1847. It was the first Gutenberg Bible to be brought to the Americas.
8. The original Winnie-the-Pooh and friends are at the library
The library doesn’t only have books and other manuscripts in its collection. There are also other items such as Charles Dickens’ favorite paper knife (the handle is the embalmed paw of his favorite cat), Emily Brontë’s hair, and pieces of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s skull.
You can also find the original stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh and his pals Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, and Tiger, owned by Christopher Robin and the inspiration behind the beloved children’s stories.
9. The library’s most avid user was Norbert Pearlroth
When I was a graduate student, I felt I spent most of my waking hours at the NYPL, but there was no way I came remotely close to the amount of time Norbert Pearlroth spent there. The researcher for Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, Pearlroth practically lived at the library’s main branch, where he scoured an estimated 7,000 books per year for obscure knowledge. He did this for 52 years.
10. Norbert Pearlroth wasn’t the only prominent researcher to use the library
During World War II, the U.S. military used the maps from the library’s collection to survey foreign coastlines to come up with battle strategies, while scientists for the Manhattan Project – which produced the atomic bomb – did their early research at the Science and Technology Research Center.
How to visit the New York Public Library – main branch
The New York Public Library has over 90 locations, but the main branch and most famous building is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, located in Midtown Manhattan at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018.
Hours are:
10:00am – 6:00pm Monday
10:00am – 8:00pm Tuesday – Wednesday
10:00am – 6:00pm Thursday – Saturday
1:00pm – 5:00pm Sunday
The nearest subway stations are the 7 (purple line) 5th Ave stop and the B, D, F, and M (orange line) 42nd-Bryant Avenue stop.
You can also take the 4, 5, and 6 trains (green line) to Grand Central and walk two avenues west.
Admission is free – in fact, a visit to the NYPL is one of the best free things to do in New York City.
You will need to go through security on your way into the library building. There will also be a bag check on the way out of the library, to ensure you’re not taking any books or other items from the library’s collection with you as a souvenir.
Want to check out some of the other best things to do in New York? Check out the 24 Best Things to Do in New York here!
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