Collection Essays

In-depth explorations of humanities topics accompanied by primary source sets and discussion questions

17th Century, Collection Essays

Foods of the Columbian Exchange

How did the Columbian Exchange shape food culture in the modern world?

Sarah Peters Kernan
March 14, 2017

19th Century, Collection Essays

Abolition and European Imperialism in East Africa, 1845-1893

What were the links between abolition and imperialism in East Africa?

Nathaniel Mathews, Binghamton University
January 26, 2017

16th Century, Collection Essays

Tudor Visual Culture

How does studying visual culture help us to understand history better?

Libby Karlinger Escobedo, Ph.D.
January 12, 2017

16th Century, 17th Century, Collection Essays

Religious Change and Print Culture in the Reformation

How did the changes in religion during the Reformation shape the medium of print? How did religious leaders and thinkers attempt to interact with their audience(s)? How did the ways in which religious figures used print pave the way for modern mass media?

Dr. Chris Fletcher
December 6, 2016

20th Century, Collection Essays

Picturing the Century of Progress: The 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair

How did the creators of the Century of Progress illustrate and enact the fair's theme of progress?

Newberry Staff
July 12, 2016

20th Century, Collection Essays

Art In Chicago 1900-1935

What groups, organizations, and individuals influenced the arts in Chicago in the early twentieth century?

Newberry Staff
June 15, 2016

13th Century, 14th Century, 15th Century, Collection Essays

The Legacy of the Middle Ages in the Renaissance and Beyond

Left-hand page from a bound manuscript book with two columns of Latin text and visible guidelines. At the top of the left-hand column is a decorative capital. Parts of the text are decorated with a blue-and-red border.

Dr. Karen Christianson, Newberry Library
May 13, 2016

19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Indians in the Archives

What do historical images of American Indian peoples tell us about the evolving relationships between Indians and non-Indians? What valuable information about our past and ourselves can we glean from artworks that portray indigenous peoples and also the materials that artists used?

Newberry Staff
March 17, 2016

19th Century, Collection Essays

The Anti-Slavery Movement in Chicago and Illinois

What motivated the actions of abolitionists in Illinois? How did abolitionists attempt to transform public opinion on the issue of slavery? How did the abolitionist movement evolve and respond to national events that shook the nation in the 1850s?

18th Century, 19th Century, Collection Essays

Living in British Colonial India, 1750–1850

Why did British imperialism take the form it did in India? How did this change the lives of colonial servants in India? Why did individual Britons go to India? What did they expect to find there? What common experiences did they have?