Math problems
A schoolteacher’s manuscript exercise book containing a variety of simple and complex
mathematical problems, 1806, Pennsylvania.
including such all-time favorite as the two travelers
starting off from two points of origin traveling as such a speed . . .
under the category: “Promiscuous Questions”
[promiscuous meaning “random” in this era.]
Some ciphers lead to architecturally beautiful answers
A second manuscript volume accompanying the exercise book
is an account book recording the tuition payment for students.
And . . . on the inside front cover of the exercise book is a bird doodle.
False Stories Corrected
One tale from an 1822 collection for young readers
intent on disproving such mythic creatures as The Mermaid,
The Harpie, The Centaur, and this fellow, who is well known
in New England (especially this Winter).
Poetry in the (Fake and Real) News
Picnic
Dr. J.V. Lauderdale and his family seated on the ground, a blanket with their picnic near them, one daughter holding her doll.
Notebooks
Writers’ Notebooks
Walt Whitman, “Pictures” holograph notebook, corrected (YCAL 202)
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H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), “Hippolitus,” notebook draft (YCAL MSS 24)
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James Weldon Johnson, National Hymn (Lift Every Voice), Notebook 8
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J. M. Barrie, Notebook 20 (MSS Vault Barrie)
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Gertrude Stein, Harriet & Claribel (Page from Diagram notebook) (YCAL MSS 76)
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Thornton Wilder, [Manuscript notebook containing dialogue for Merchant of Yonkers and notes on “other projects”] (YCAL MSS 108)
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Langston Hughes, Notebook from trip to Russia (JWJ MSS 26)
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Olga Rudge, “Castia, Luisa” Rubrica notebook, (YCAL MSS 54)
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Ezra Pound, Notebook pages for Canto XX (YCAL MSS 43)
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Katherine Dreier Sketchbooks
Sketchbooks with drawings by Katherine Sophie Dreier, dating from 1909-1938, YCAL MSS 261 ; related materials can be found in the Katherine S. Dreier Papers / Societe Anonyme Archive, YCAL MSS 101
In Memoriam
Eartha Kitt (January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008), photographed by Carl Van Vechten on October 19, 1954.
Additional images of Eartha Kitt are available in the Beinecke’s Digital Collections. Photographs by Carl Van Vechten are used with permission of the Van Vechten Trust; the permission of the Trust is required to reprint or use Van Vechten photographs in any way. To contact the Trust email: Van Vechten Trust.
Fine Printing and Resolutions
A slightly belated Happy New Year from Room 26,
with some suggested resolutions at the end.
Items from a group of ephemera from the P.C. Darrow Printing Co.,
Chicago, Illinois, circa 1890-1910.
Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities 
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