Dear Friends,

Greetings from Providence and the JCB!

You know I always have to comment on the weather, which may seem predictable, but here in the library we have such a wonderful sense of the seasons. The library itself feels changed as the light and the foliage outside our windows change, and we’re loving the beautiful magnolias next to the front doors just now.  

Petals and pollen aside, this has been an exciting season here at the Library. We have selected our class of 2024-2025 fellows, and have started planning a full range of programming for them, whether they join us in person in Providence or remotely, and for our wider community. Highlights will include a new initiative called JCB Reads, an online event series which will give former fellows an opportunity to present their new book publications and current and former fellows and our community near and far a chance to engage in conversation with them. 

Some exciting research news this week is that the finding aid for the extraordinary Brown Family Business Records–a collection of 1300 boxes of material documenting the activities of the merchant family across the 18th and 19th centuries, including some of the core histories at the heart of Brown’s Report on Slavery and Justice–is now online. A major feat, and we know expanded access to this collection will be of enormous research value.

This semester has been a busy one for events, including the 30th anniversary meeting of the Forum on Early-Modern Empires and Global Interactions (FEEGI), which took place April 19 and 20, and a discussion on Nahuatl texts hosted by Maury A. Bromsen Curator of Latin American Books José Montelongo. 

In the coming months, we will host more public programs, and hope that you will visit the Events page frequently to stay tuned to the latest information. Key highlights of the coming weeks include the evening of May 16, when we will host Maggie Blackhawk (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, professor of law at New York University), and the Archives of Revolution conference, which begins on June 20 and runs through June 22. Please be sure to save these dates!

Looking ahead, I want to remind you about our multi-year initiative, 2026 and Beyond. In 2026, the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of its founding. As a preeminent library of the early Americas with world-leading collections, research, and convening capacities, the John Carter Brown Library (JCB) is uniquely positioned to promote both scholarship and public engagement around the meaning of this milestone. In keeping with its mission to create, preserve, and share knowledge around the early Americas for the public good, 2026 and Beyond will engage the Library’s exceptional resources to create and share new insights that will serve scholars, students, global citizens, and policymakers today and for generations to come. We invite you to learn about the initiative, its three main focus areas, and the events that we will develop around each of them on our website.

As always, we invite you to support the JCB by making a gift, attend Library programs and events either in person or online, and explore all that our collection has to offer.

Best wishes,

Karin.