The Sheridan Libraries
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What's Happening
\ At the Libraries
News
Archivists near milestone on processing papers of former Sen. Paul Sarbanes
Sheridan Libraries archivists have processed more than 900 boxes of Sarbanes’ papers, preserving decades of Maryland and U.S. political history for future research
Reimagining Eisenhower Library — Opening Early 2027
A multiyear renovation is transforming Johns Hopkins University’s flagship research library into a vibrant, welcoming hub for 21st-century research and learning.
While construction is underway, library services and study spaces are available in the MSE Library Annex, located in the former Johns Hopkins Club. Additional seating has been added to the Hutzler Reading Room in Gilman Hall and new study space is available in Hodson Hall.
Featured Collections
Explore the treasures of the Sheridan Libraries through highlighted special collections, archival materials, and online exhibitions.
Archives
Ethel Ennis and Earl Arnett Collection
Ethel Ennis (1932-2019) was an acclaimed jazz artist who graced some of the most prominent stages in the nation while maintaining a commitment to her hometown, Baltimore. Her husband and partner, Earl Arnett (b. 1940) is a former Baltimore Sun reporter, theater critic, and instructor at Peabody Conservatory. This extensive collection (155 linear feet) documents their careers, their production company ENE Productions, and their restaurant/cabaret Ethel's Place through recordings, musical arrangements, photographs, artifacts, and other materials.
Archives
American Prison Writing Archive
The United States holds nearly two million people in its prisons and jails—a larger share of its population than in any other nation on earth. Yet there remains widespread ignorance of conditions inside. Amid the unprecedented American experiment in mass incarceration, the American Prison Writing Archive (APWA) hopes to disaggregate this mass into the individual minds, hearts, and voices of incarcerated writers. By soliciting, preserving, digitizing, and disseminating the work of imprisoned people and volunteers, the APWA aims to ground national debate on mass incarceration in the lived experience of those who know prisons best.
Map
John and Linda Greene Map Collection
The John and Linda Greene Map Collection contains over 2,000 maps dating from the 1500s to the present. Its multi-century, global focus makes the collection a particularly rich resource for those who study maps used for diplomacy, education, and news.
Ephemera
Romance Comic Book Collection
While iconic characters like Batman and Spider-Man were mesmerizing readers, an alternate comic book timeline was booming, featuring the adventures of airline stewardess Bonnie Taylor, tragically unhappy actress Lisa St. Clair, and countless other female characters seeking love and fulfilling relationships in the pages of romance comic books. Popular from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, romance comic books introduced teenagers to the joys and heartache of love. The Sheridan Libraries holds over 200 issues, including such titles as "Falling in Love," "Girls' Love Stories," "Teen-Age Romances," and "Young Romance."
Ephemera
Comedias Sueltas Collection
The Comedias Sueltas Collection is a remarkable assortment of more than a thousand ephemeral editions of Spanish plays from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
View selections on Internet Archive
Archives
Johns Hopkins Biographical Archive
There is a thin evidentiary record of archival materials relating to the life of Johns Hopkins. For years, leaders and community members have centered their story of our founder on his benevolent gift to the city of Baltimore: a university and a hospital, and the accepted narrative that he was an early abolitionist. Under the auspices of Hopkins Retrospective and through the Sheridan Libraries, this archive explores and publicly presents archival materials related to the life of Johns Hopkins and his family, including newly discovered census records that provide evidence that Johns Hopkins was a slaveholder during the mid-1800s.
Archives
Oral History Collection
Documents the Hopkins history through recordings and transcriptions of interviews with members of the Hopkins community. The collection includes both audio and video interviews, and continues to grow as new oral histories are recorded and added.
Archives
Historical University Photographs
University Archives holds over 20,000 photographs documenting the visual history of Johns Hopkins University from its founding to present.
Manuscripts
Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection
The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music contains over 29,000 pieces of American popular music from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Rare Books
The Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery
The Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery is composed of hundreds of rare books and manuscripts documenting the trajectory of scientific thought from the 15th to 20th centuries. Highlights include the first edition of Galileo’s illustrated treatise on the discovery of sunspots (1613), the first appearance in print of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, in a rare paper printed by the Linnaean Society (1858), and a hand-colored copy of Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr's Atlas Coelestis (1742).
Recent News
Johns Hopkins News-Letter
Love in the Time of Tarot with Special Collections
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Sheridan Libraries Special Collections hosted Love in the Time of Tarot, featuring free tarot readings and vintage Valentine’s card-making.
Naomi Mao, A&S '28March 11, 2026
Rewatch
How Are Marine Robots Shaping Our Future? A Conversation with Dr. James Bellingham
Recording of program presented March 3, 2026 featuring Dr. James Bellingham, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Exploration Robotics and executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy Marine technologies expert and Arctic expedition leader James Bellingham discusses autonomous robots’ vital impacts in aquaculture management, climate data gathering, and deep sea energy source discovery as [...]
News TeamMarch 10, 2026
Milestone
95 Years of the Friends of the Libraries
As the Friends of the Libraries mark a major anniversary, the group continues to support acquisitions, community outreach, and the next century of scholarship at Johns Hopkins.
News TeamMarch 5, 2026