About Us

Elizabeth Hardwick

Novelist, critic

The New York Society Library is a treasure of calm and usefulness in our city. Even though it charges a fee for membership privileges, it is not a "club" but a democratic institution. To roam the stacks in search of material for my profession as a literary critic is a necessity and a pleasure. The Library, although a handsome building, is a landmark, not of bricks and mortar, but of the intellectual and creative life of New York City.