Please be advised that the JCB will remain closed through Monday, January 19, 2026. We will reopen on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. A friendly reminder that our online platform, Americana, is available any time at americana.jcblibrary.org.

Please be advised that the John Carter Brown Library will be closed to the public on Monday, December 15, 2025 and will remain closed until Tuesday, January 20, 2026.

Please be advised that the John Carter Brown Library will close for Winter Break from Tuesday, December 23, 2025 to Friday, January 9, 2026. The Reading Room will remain closed until January 20, 2026. We look forward to seeing everyone in the new year!

Join us Monday (12/15) for a collections- and object-based conversation about the archive of the Haitian Revolution, highlighting the rich collections of the John Carter Brown Library that document Haitian history during the broad revolutionary period. Details and registration at jcblibrary.org!

Getting ready to plow through the last few weeks of the semester? Enjoy a cozy morning, afternoon or evening in a re-imagined JCB Reading Room! youtu.be/GQ_xpy3P4B8?...

We're in the final weeks of Elemental: Crafting Books from Nature, an exhibit curated by José Montelongo. Check out the YouTube playlist, and then come see it in person! www.youtube.com/@thejohncart... Open M-Th, 10am-12:45pm and 2-4:45pm, and F 10am- 12:45pm. (Photo credit: Rythum Vinoben.)

Join us TODAY at 12 p.m. for a virtual discussion of Casey Schmitt's The Predatory Sea, part of JCB Reads. Details at jcblibrary.org/events/jcb-r...

We look forward to seeing everyone next week!

We're excited to post the latest installment in our Journals of Congress series. Enjoy!

Our November 2025 newsletter contains all the latest news on JCB events, research opportunities, exhibitions, and more! Visit jcblibrary.org today and sign up for our newsletter, or click here: conta.cc/43PpUxd

Join us in welcoming our new Associate Director of Digital Asset Management, Meaghan J. Brown! In her new role, Dr. Brown will guide the ongoing development of our platform, Americana, oversee the digitization of library collections, and steward our digital assets. jcblibrary.org/news/jcb-wel...

We can all use a little brain break once in a while! The team at the JCB has been enjoying this jigsaw website, which allows users to upload an image and turn it into an online puzzle! This one is an image of the Library. Have fun, and happy Friday! jigex.com/ZCxZ5

We're very much looking forward to our Monday, December 1 JCB Reads session with Casey Schmitt! JCB Reads offers former fellows an opportunity to discuss recent book-length publications with our community. All are welcome! Details at jcblibrary.org/events/jcb-r...

Join us on Monday, December 1, 2025 at noon for a JCB Reads virtual discussion of The Predatory Sea: Human Trafficking and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean by Casey Schmitt. This event is online only. All are welcome! Register here! brown.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Today is Day 2 of the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Southwest Seminar at the JCB. Interested in learning more about JCB events? Check out our website! jcblibrary.org

Genealogy was both “an intimate practice that families and individuals” undertook and “a practice that governments and other institutions, like churches and corporations, were invested in,” Wulf said. Lovely piece by Ivy Huang in today's Brown Daily Herald! Read the article: shorturl.at/Ug5rv

The JCB is proud to host the 2025 meetings of the Southwest Seminar Consortium on Colonial Latin America. We will welcome conference participants to the Library on November 13 and 14. For more details, visit us at jcblibrary.org/events/2025-...

Today in person and online! Join the Brown Department of History for a conversation with Karin Wulf and Leslie M. Harris (Northwestern U.) on Wulf’s latest publication, Lineage: Genealogy and the Politics of Connection in Early America (Oxford UP, 2025). Details: events.brown.edu/event/321221...

The Library was busy today as we welcomed folks to our Critical Archives series as well as guests for 130 Years of Jewish Life at Brown. Associate Librarian Kim Nusco welcomed visitors and shared items related to Jewish culture including this book: americana.jcblibrary.org/search/objec...

Over the past few years the JCB’s team has grown, increasing our capacity to do the work of supporting research about the early Americas through our extraordinary collections. Over the past few months, we have added three new professionals the team. Details at jcblibrary.org/news/novembe...

Our latest installment of JCB Reads featuring Katherine Johnston's discussion of her recent book publication with Karin Wulf is now available on YouTube! Check it out at youtu.be/uYvOG7ABHDM

Our latest video from our Journals of Congress series features three different items from our collection. Learn more here! youtu.be/S7F_-R6LuoY?...

Happening soon! Join us at 12 p.m. EDT for our latest installment of JCB Reads. Today we will discuss Katherine Johnston's book "The Nature of Slavery: Environment and Plantation Labor in the Anglo-American World." Join us! brown.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Join us Monday, November 3 at 12 p.m. EDT for the latest edition of JCB Reads! This virtual discussion focuses on The Nature of Slavery: Environment and Plantation Labor in the Anglo-Atlantic World by Katherine Johnston (Montana State U). Details/registration at jcblibrary.org/events/jcb-r...

We've just launched the third video in our Journals of the First Continental Congress series, which we debuted earlier this month. You can access all three installments on our YouTube channel, or skip right to today's content: youtu.be/WNoCKlJNG3I !

Did you know that the JCB has committed to digitizing all of its collections? See the progress we've made so far at americana.jcblibrary.org! Details: Branch of a blackwood or Jamaican walnut with oblong fruit being eaten by a land crab. americana.jcblibrary.org/search/objec...

The latest edition of the JCB newsletter is live! Check it out at conta.cc/3WlVL4w!

Visit the JCB! Our current exhibition, Elemental: Crafting Books from Nature, is open Monday through Thursday from 10 am - to 12:45 pm and from 2 pm to 4:45 pm, and Friday from 10 am to 12:45 pm. You can also view it online at americana.jcblibrary.org/exhibitions/...

Save the date! We are looking forward to the next installment of JCB Reads. Join us online at noon EST on Monday, November 3 for a discussion of Katherine Johnston's The Nature of Slavery: Environment and Plantation Labor in the Anglo-Atlantic World. Details at jcblibrary.org/events/jcb-r...

TODAY! Join us online at 12 p.m. EDT for a conversation about Jordan B. Smith's book The Invention of Rum: Creating the Essential Atlantic Commodity. Details at jcblibrary.org!

Applications are now being accepted for long- and short-term fellowships at the JCB! Details at jcblibrary.org/fellowships/...

We are kicking off the Fall 2025 JCB Reads series this Thursday, October 16 with a conversation about Jordan B. Smith's book The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity. Join us at 12 p.m. EDT via Zoom. All are welcome!

The JCB will be closed on Monday, October 13 in observance of Indigenous People's Day.

TONIGHT at the JCB! The John Carter Brown Library is pleased to announce that it will host Dr. Colleen J. Shogan, 11th Archivist of the United States. This hybrid (in-person/Zoom) event will take place at 5 p.m. on Friday, October 10, 2025. Part of 2026 and Beyond at the JCB. All are welcome!

TONIGHT! Join us in person or via Zoom at 5 p.m. EDT for Dr. Bianca Premo's lecture "Children in the Early Modern Spanish Empire: Ethical Lessons from the Present." Details here: jcblibrary.org/events/2025-...

Join us Friday, October 10 for a conversation with Colleen Shogan, Ph.D., the 11th Archivist of the United States at the JCB! Details at jcblibrary.org!

Tomorrow! Join us at 5 p.m. EDT in person or via Zoom for the 2025 Bromsen Lecture. This year's lecture will be given by Professor Bianca Premo. Details at jcblibrary.org!

Join us Thursday, October 9 at 5 p.m. EDT in person or via Zoom for the 2025 Bromsen Lecture! Details at jcblibrary.org!

Join us Thursday, Oct. 16 at noon EDT for a virtual discussion of The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity (Jordan B. Smith, Widener U). This event is part of JCB Reads, a virtual series for former fellows to share recent book publications. Details at jcblibrary.org!

We're so excited to see this JCB broadside featured in @declarationstories today! What is that little hat floating at the top of the page? Why is this item shaped like that? Find out the answers to these questions and many more at www.declarationstories.org/stories/hang...

Join us on Thursday, October 9 at 5 p.m. EDT in person or via Zoom for our 2025 Bromsen lecture! Details at jcblibrary.org/events/2025-...

Join us in person or via Zoom on Friday, October 10 for a conversation about archives, civics, and history with Dr. Colleen Shogan, 11th Archivist of the United States. This event is part of the JCB 2026 and Beyond initiative. Details at jcblibrary.org!

Our September 2025 newsletter is live! Read all about our upcoming events, initiatives, and opportunities: conta.cc/42CVYUm

We have just launched our new application cycle for long- and short-term fellowships at the JCB! Details at jcblibrary.org/fellowships/...

The John Carter Brown Library's reading room is open Monday through Thursday from 10 am to 12:45 pm and from 2 pm to 4:45pm, and Friday from 10 am to 12:45 pm. Our current exhibition, Elemental: Crafting Books from Nature, can be viewed any time the reading room is open. Details at jcblibrary.org!

Save these dates for JCB Reads, our virtual discussions about new books written by former JCB Fellows! Curious about other opportunities to be part of the JCB community? Check out our events page! jcblibrary.org/events

(1/3) The John Carter Brown Library @jcblibrary.bsky.social, a history and humanities-centered research library of rare books, manuscripts, maps, and other primary sources at Brown University, is another example of the range of sources used to find unfree Native people across the historical record.

It's Constitution Day! Hello from Rhode Island, which by popular referendum rejected the Constitution and only agreed, very grudgingly, in 1790 and w addenda on rights. It was/ is a process; emblematic this tattered pamphlet (@jcblibrary.bsky.social) circulated in Massachusetts during ratification.

Calling all middle and high school teachers! Drawing inspiration from Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary, The American Revolution, join us for a full day of free, in-person professional development on Friday, October 17th at the JCB. Registration required! forms.gle/CT83ESjTZWeg...