LIBRARY NOTES
Library Exhibition
Edith Wharton's New York City: A Backward Glance
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 6:00 PM
Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery; free of charge; registration required
Exhibition Open March 15 to December 31, 2012
Opening reception with remarks by Roxana Robinson
Edith Wharton's New York City celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton. Born in New York City on January 24, 1862, Wharton lived abroad for much of her adult life, but 19th-century New York City inspired her great novels and short stories, from
The House of Mirth to The Age of Innocence. Wharton's writings brilliantly recreated her deep and unbreakable ties to the city and its complex architectural and social heart.
This exhibition, curated by Head of Exhibitions Harriet Shapiro, will reveal for the first time the intimate links between Wharton's world and the Society Library. Edith's father George Frederic Jones was a Library shareholder who often took out books for himself and his family. Many of Wharton's other relatives were also members, including her niece Beatrix Farrand, a well-known landscape architect.
Edith Wharton's New York City will showcase family photographs from various collections and books by Wharton, including several from the collection of Martin Hutner. The Mount, Wharton's home in Lenox, Massachusetts is generously lending historic family portraits and books Wharton read as a child. A catalog with essays by Ms. Shapiro and authors David Garrard Lowe and Roxana Robinson will accompany the exhibition.
THIS EXHIBITION IS GENEROUSLY FUNDED IN PART BY THE ACHELIS FOUNDATION AND DEBORAH S. PEASE.
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