Another “Cabinet of Curiosities”

Since I’ve been on the “Cabinet of Curiosities” kick as of late — you can check out our post on Joseph Steward’s Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities, if you haven’t already — I’ve been meaning to post something on a link my mother sent me.

This is about another cabinet, this one an online version with a Connecticut pedigree. Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities is a repository of wonderfully cool, rare and interesting things. From the website:

Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities features new acquisitions, unique documents, and visual and textual curiosities from the collections of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. This ongoing exhibition is curated by Tim Young, Curator of the Modern Books and Manuscripts Collection, and Nancy Kuhl, Curator of Poetry for the Yale Collection of American Literature.

You know we’re fans of the Beinecke, home of the mysterious Voynich Manuscript as well as a Gutenberg Bible and thousands of other rare texts.

The website, which appears to get updated about once a week or so, is a great outlet for the Beinecke to share some of its treasures that there isn’t always enough room to physically display. It also offers podcasts with authors, poets and museum curators.

Speaking of curators, here’s a nice article with the Beinecke curators Nancy Kuhl and Timothy Young about Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities, courtesy of the Yale Office of Public Affairs. From the article:

“I’m always exclaiming to Nancy: ‘Look at this great children’s book I just got!’ or sharing my excitement about some other new item for the collections, and she does the same with me,” says Young. “We realized that a blog would allow us to share with the outside world our own passion for the interesting or fascinating things we see on a daily basis at the library.”

Anyway, a lot of good stuff here, especially in the way of photographs. Warning: If you like books, literature or just cool images, don’t be surprised if you spend a bit of time here browsing the collection.

Again, a shout out to my mom for the link — thanks Barbie!