Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Source: https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/exhibitions-visiting/special-exhibitions Parent: https://beinecke.library.yale.edu
Special Exhibitions
Unfurling the Flag: Reflections on American Patriotism
March 16–September 27, 2026
Marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Unfurling the Flag: Reflections on American Patriotismexplores the complex ideological and political power of patriotism in the United States. Over time, conceptions of loyalty, allegiance, and national belonging have evolved, and patriotism has been likewise reimagined and reinvented through national conversations, policies, protests, and bloodshed. This presentation explores the distinctive ways that leaders and common citizens alike have revisited patriotism through historic writings, speeches, maps, photographs, drawings, and other items from Yale Library’s collections.
Additionally, the exhibition highlights the implications of marshaling patriotism to justify foreign interventions, establish hierarchies for national priorities, register dissent, and draw boundaries of civic inclusion and exclusion. What is at stake when we talk about patriotism? How are its ideals informed by the country’s founding documents and expressed in today’s conversations? Unfurling the Flag makes visible the varied meanings that citizens, officials, activists, intellectuals, artists, and others have assigned to national allegiance, and invites gallery visitors to reflect on how our notion of patriotism might continue to unfold in the future.
Curator: Joshua Cochran
Textured Stories: The Chirimen Books of Modern Japan
September 2, 2025–May 3, 2026
Chirimen-bon, or crêpe-paper books, were a type of Japanese illustrated book produced between the 1880s and the 1950s and made with textured, fabric-like paper. They came into existence alongside textbooks for Japanese learners of Western languages, and often served as souvenirs for Western visitors to Japan. They covered a wide range of Japan-related topics—fairy tales, folklore, cultural traditions, holidays, festivals, performing arts, and scenes from everyday life—in English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and other languages.
Despite their unassuming appearance, chirimen books served as a crucial medium for disseminating knowledge during a tumultuous moment, as Japan, after more than two centuries of limited contact with the West, was rushing toward Westernization while also striving to establish a unique national identity. This exhibition introduces the history of chirimen books—their production and distribution, the stories they tell, the novel forms of international collaboration that brought them into being, and their enduring legacy—while also showing how they drew upon long-standing traditions from Japan and East Asia more broadly.
Curators: Haruko Nakamura and Yoshitaka Yamamoto
Above image: Detail from Miss Dulcie Harmony [Akiyama Aizaburō], Musical Japan. Tokyo: Akiyama Aizaburō, 1895. Gilmore Music Library
We also invite you to explore our ongoing exhibitions.
Please check the Hours and Accessibility pageon this website for detailed information.
Public Gallery Hours
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 9am – 7pm
Wednesday, 10am – 7pm
Friday, 9am – 5pm
Saturday and Sunday, noon – 5pm
Past exhibitions are listed below.
Search Special Exhibitions
Artists’ books are a creative medium in which the conventional materials and approaches of book production—for instance paper and ink, graphically compelling...
Tuesday, September 2, 2025 to Sunday, March 1, 2026 - ### Taught by the Pen: The World of Islamic Manuscripts
The Qur’an declares that God taught humanity the use of the pen. Taking this commandment to heart, Muslim scholars systematically organized and extended almost...
Monday, February 24, 2025 to Sunday, August 10, 2025 - ### In the First Person: The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Marking the forty-fifth anniversary of the first videotaping by the Holocaust Survivors Film Project, a grassroots New Haven community initiative that evolved...
Thursday, July 25, 2024 to Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - ### Douglass, Baldwin, Harrington: The Collections of Walter O. Evans at Beinecke Library
An exhibition exploring extraordinary materials collected by Walter and Linda Evans now in the Beinecke’s care, “Douglass, Baldwin, Harrington” celebrates...
Friday, January 26, 2024 to Sunday, July 7, 2024 - ### Art, Protest, and the Archives
ART? It is hard to miss the role of art in protest these days. Bold acts of performativity; vulnerable bodies marching and dancing in the streets; songs,...
Friday, August 4, 2023 to Sunday, January 7, 2024 - ### Revisiting the Past—Imagining the Future
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library hopes to inspire an engagement with the past to transform the future. Our mission, as part of Yale Library, is to...
Friday, January 27, 2023 to Sunday, July 9, 2023 - ### The World in Maps, 1400-1600
Manuscript Maps in Beinecke Library Collections
Friday, July 22, 2022 to Sunday, January 8, 2023 - ### Brava! Women Make American Theater
The Queen of the Cakewalk! Vera Wilson and her trademark toe-posing! The prettiest woman ever charged with murder in Chicago! Industrial pageants and labor...
Friday, January 28, 2022 to Sunday, July 3, 2022 - ### Road Show: Travel Papers in American Literature
Open weekdays to Yale students, staff, and faculty authorized to be on campus beginning September 1, 2021. All are invited to explore the exhibition virtually...
Wednesday, September 1, 2021 to Monday, January 10, 2022 - ### Subscribed: The Manuscript in Britain, 1500-1800
Exhibition brochure & videos available through links below! View and download the exhibition brochure Watch exhibition videos on YouTube Join the...
Saturday, January 18, 2020 to Sunday, March 8, 2020