“This thing is a movement,” E.B. White, an American writer best known for his children’s novels “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little,” wrote in a 1939 telegram to express the powerful spirit of The New Yorker. Now, decades later, the New York Public Library’s (NYPL) “A Century of The New Yorker” is bringing this movement to life by digging up hundreds of archives and presenting the magazine’s evolution.
The exhibition is on the third floor of the Stephan A. Schwarzman Building’s Rauner Special Collections Wing & Print Gallery on 5th Avenue, running through Feb. 21, 2026. If any students have studied at the NYPL, they know the third floor is known for its beautiful study rooms, and this free exhibition occupies the hallway directly across from those rooms, making it perfect for a short and sweet break. For much of The New Yorker’s history, its offices were just a few blocks from the NYPL, so it became a great resource. Since the magazine is renowned for its cover and cartoon art, artists, in particular, utilized the library’s Picture Collection often. The exhibit is divided into two sections: the first reveals The New Yorker’s origin stories, and the second explores its evolution into the modern, digital era. One of the most compelling sections of the exhibit is the “Anatomy of a Magazine” display, which shows the intricate processes behind every single issue.
The New Yorker was conceived in 1924 by journalists Harold Ross and Jane Grant. It debuted on Feb. 21, 1925, with a small, ambitious editorial team. By the 1930s, The New Yorker became intertwined with New York City life. Throughout the exhibition, a central theme is the magazine’s commitment to high-quality and sophisticated journalism. From the get-go, Ross ensured, “The New Yorker will be interpretive rather than stenographic. It will print facts that it will have to go behind the scenes to get.” During World War II, the magazine became a nationally influential publication. In fact, The New Yorker was among the first publications to address the rise of Adolf Hitler and condemn Germany. The exhibition also highlights the publication of John Hersey’s “Hiroshima,” a 30,000-word narrative in which Hersey, one of the first American journalists to reach Hiroshima after the bombing, documented the experiences of several survivors. However, before The New Yorker hit this trajectory of influence and recognition, the magazine was on the brink of failure due to financial difficulties. It’s almost unbelievable to consider, given that it’s one of the coolest and favored magazines of popular culture. Without failure, one person is always reading a New Yorker on the subway. Even my father refers to it as his “bible!”
The NYPL exhibition also engages with The New Yorker’s publication of civil rights activist James Baldwin’s “Letter from a Region in My Mind.” The essay was published in two parts and activated a massive response from the magazine’s readership. Prior to Baldwin’s essay, The New Yorker had only published two Black writers–Langston Hughes and Ann Petry–and its staff was predominantly white. Baldwin’s work catalyzed a turning point that forced the magazine to confront its limitations and respect the need for greater representation. Women artists and writers also started to gain the recognition they deserved, and in 1992, Tina Brown was the first woman to be appointed editor of the magazine.
The exhibition is a free mini-history lesson and an important reminder about the power of journalism. The New Yorker has delivered a prestigious level of reporting, writing and cartoon art that’s hard to find anywhere else. Over its first century, The New Yorker has published over 5,000 issues. It’s easy to see the finished product, but the exhibition reveals the human element of it all, and why not satisfy the mind by learning something new?
