Rosenbach Museum & Library

Specialties

We specialize in making sure that there is something for everyone that walks through our doors. When you walk in, the first thing you’ll see is a desk that belonged to Herman Melville, of Moby-​Dick fame. There’s a historic house tour, featuring dozens of antiques and a library chock-​full of priceless books from bygone eras. Our four changing exhibition galleries host upwards of a dozen shows each year. Topics range from the Civil War to vampires to the work of Maurice Sendak. You’ll also see Modernist Poet Marianne Moore’s ENTIRE living room. (The contents were transported to the Rosenbach and reassembled on site.) The last thing you’ll see is probably our museum shop, which specializes in gifts and souvenirs for literary lovers of all ages.

Please note that no objects’ feelings were hurt in the writing of this description. After all, it would be Hugely Unfair of us to single out just a few pieces in a collection that is over 400,000 strong.

History

Established in 1954.

Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach and his brother, Philip, founded the museum in death by bequeathing their collections to the public. Renowned dealers in books, manuscripts, and antiques, you can bet that if the Antiques Road Show existed in the 1920s that the Rosenbach brothers would have been featured on your flat screen every week.

We like to joke that our collection is made up of the stuff the brothers couldn’t sell and the stuff they couldn’t bear to sell. Dr. R steered the business towards manuscripts and rare books. They remain a strength of our collection today.

What we have now is an incredibly eclectic collection that grew out of their collecting whims, smoothed by decades of curatorial refinement.

Part of our mission is to collect the Rare and Important. Among other Hugely Important pieces, the collection has since grown to include a massive collection of works by Maurice Sendak. So if you still like dressing up like Max from Where the While Things Are, we’re your scene.

Meet the Business Owner

You R.

Business Owner

Well, this is awkward. While you may not know it, YOU actually own a small part of the Rosenbach. We’re a nonprofit, which means no one here reaps the monetary benefits of our awesomeness. Ideally, YOU reap the benefits of your awesomeness, along with all of your friends, family, and the mail guy, when you come see our exhibits, take a tour, etc. Here’s the thing: the only way for you to reap the benefits of your ownership, is to come visit us… so do it!