The Bard Graduate Center Library is at the heart of its academic building, and its workshops, field trips, events, and curated displays of materials from BGC’s collection are often at the heart of the student experience. Polly Cancro, research services librarian, makes biweekly social media posts that appear in BGC’s Instagram feed; here they serve as journal entries from the spring semester.
January 16, 2026
New year, new books!
The BGC Library has some exciting new additions to its collection, including one from our very own PhD candidate Kenna Libes (Fashion’s Missing Masses: The representation of marginalized populations in collections and exhibitions of dress), with contributions from her PhD program colleagues, Angela Hermano Crenshaw and Emma McClendon, and a foreword by Sarah Scaturro (PhD ‘25).
January 30, 2026
The library invited the BGC community to learn even more about Viollet-le-Duc and Gothic Revival architecture with its mini pop-up library on the fourth floor of the Viollet-le-Duc Drawing Worlds exhibition that includes a selection of BGC library books related to the show, including, of course, the exhibition catalogue itself!
February 13, 2026
Things have been busy in the BGC Library!
Top row: Students in Prof. Freyja Hartzell’s course “Seize the Stem! Art Nouveau in Europe” had the chance to browse a selection of relevant rare books and periodicals in the Reading Room for assignment inspiration.
Middle row: The library hosted its annual Valentine’s Day Crafternoon, featuring a new button maker.
Bottom row: Now on view in the BGC Library: “Comics! (…And Other Stories in Pictures)”, a new display of books and Study Collection objects celebrating a range of visual narrative forms.
February 27, 2026
New library acquisitions alert!
These are just some of the recent acquisitions on display in the third-floor alcove of the library.
March 13, 2026
BGC students recently had the opportunity to visit Fashion Institute of Technology Special Collections for a tour and show-and-tell with head of special collections and college archives Tiffany Nixon, organized by the BGC Library.
This specialized repository of primary source materials related to fashion and design includes rare books, periodicals, designer scrapbooks, manuscripts, works on paper, oral histories, and so much more.
Students were introduced to the research space, given a behind-the-scenes tour of the storage areas, took a close look at a range of selected items, and learned about accessing material.
April 3, 2026
A new display on the 3rd floor of our academic building brings together Study Collection objects, library books, and a quilt by our very own Tenesha Carter Johnson (MA ‘26) to complement an upcoming Horowitz Book Prize Symposium celebrating past awardee Lisa Gail Collins’ Stitching Love and Loss: A Gee’s Bend Quilt.
In the spirit of Collins’ book, the display pays homage to African American quilting traditions in the American South and explores several themes central to histories of African American art making: community, lived experience, intergenerationality, and stylistic variety.
April 17, 2026
The BGC Library has some new additions to the Special Collections, including several items from past exhibitions!
2-3. Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1888)
4-5. New & Rare Beautiful Leaved Plants [1870]
6. Die Reklame der Kaffee Hag Gesellschaften (1928)
7-9. The Journal of Indian Art & Industry (1884-1886)
May 1, 2026
The BGC Library has been all abuzz for reading week and finals week! Esmé Read (MA ‘27) has been working closely with some of the library’s rare periodicals as part of a final project for the course Seize the Stem! Art Nouveau in Europe taught by Prof. Freyja Hartzell.
Students, faculty, staff, and outside researchers are welcome to consult items from our special collections by appointment during staffed hours.
May 20, 2026
This spring, BGC students had the opportunity to design and print personalized bookplates during Materials Day workshops on ex libris printmaking.
A new display in the library showcases the students’ unique bookplates alongside those from the library’s collections, woodblocks and a lithographic stone from the Study Collection, books related to ex libris and printing, as well as printmaking tools and materials with an explanation of different techniques.
The phrase “ex libris” (Latin for “from the books/library of”) commonly appears on bookplates – a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, usually on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership – and has therefore become a synonymous term. With historical roots in similar practices of signaling book ownership (e.g. portraits, heraldry, marginalia), an ex libris often features a personalized motif, such as a motto, crest, coat-of-arms, or other unique design.
January 16, 2026
New year, new books!
The BGC Library has some exciting new additions to its collection, including one from our very own PhD candidate Kenna Libes (Fashion’s Missing Masses: The representation of marginalized populations in collections and exhibitions of dress), with contributions from her PhD program colleagues, Angela Hermano Crenshaw and Emma McClendon, and a foreword by Sarah Scaturro (PhD ‘25).
January 30, 2026
The library invited the BGC community to learn even more about Viollet-le-Duc and Gothic Revival architecture with its mini pop-up library on the fourth floor of the Viollet-le-Duc Drawing Worlds exhibition that includes a selection of BGC library books related to the show, including, of course, the exhibition catalogue itself!
Photos by Polly Cancro.
February 13, 2026
Things have been busy in the BGC Library!
Top row: Students in Prof. Freyja Hartzell’s course “Seize the Stem! Art Nouveau in Europe” had the chance to browse a selection of relevant rare books and periodicals in the Reading Room for assignment inspiration.
Middle row: The library hosted its annual Valentine’s Day Crafternoon, featuring a new button maker.
Bottom row: Now on view in the BGC Library: “Comics! (…And Other Stories in Pictures)”, a new display of books and Study Collection objects celebrating a range of visual narrative forms.
February 27, 2026
New library acquisitions alert!
These are just some of the recent acquisitions on display in the third-floor alcove of the library.
Photos by Polly Cancro.
March 13, 2026
BGC students recently had the opportunity to visit Fashion Institute of Technology Special Collections for a tour and show-and-tell with head of special collections and college archives Tiffany Nixon, organized by the BGC Library.
This specialized repository of primary source materials related to fashion and design includes rare books, periodicals, designer scrapbooks, manuscripts, works on paper, oral histories, and so much more.
Students were introduced to the research space, given a behind-the-scenes tour of the storage areas, took a close look at a range of selected items, and learned about accessing material.
Photos by Polly Cancro.
April 3, 2026
A new display on the 3rd floor of our academic building brings together Study Collection objects, library books, and a quilt by our very own Tenesha Carter Johnson (MA ‘26) to complement an upcoming Horowitz Book Prize Symposium celebrating past awardee Lisa Gail Collins’ Stitching Love and Loss: A Gee’s Bend Quilt.
In the spirit of Collins’ book, the display pays homage to African American quilting traditions in the American South and explores several themes central to histories of African American art making: community, lived experience, intergenerationality, and stylistic variety.
April 17, 2026
The BGC Library has some new additions to the Special Collections, including several items from past exhibitions!
2-3. Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1888)
4-5. New & Rare Beautiful Leaved Plants [1870]
6. Die Reklame der Kaffee Hag Gesellschaften (1928)
7-9. The Journal of Indian Art & Industry (1884-1886)
May 1, 2026
The BGC Library has been all abuzz for reading week and finals week! Esmé Read (MA ‘27) has been working closely with some of the library’s rare periodicals as part of a final project for the course Seize the Stem! Art Nouveau in Europe taught by Prof. Freyja Hartzell.
Students, faculty, staff, and outside researchers are welcome to consult items from our special collections by appointment during staffed hours.
May 20, 2026
This spring, BGC students had the opportunity to design and print personalized bookplates during Materials Day workshops on ex libris printmaking.
A new display in the library showcases the students’ unique bookplates alongside those from the library’s collections, woodblocks and a lithographic stone from the Study Collection, books related to ex libris and printing, as well as printmaking tools and materials with an explanation of different techniques.
The phrase “ex libris” (Latin for “from the books/library of”) commonly appears on bookplates – a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, usually on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership – and has therefore become a synonymous term. With historical roots in similar practices of signaling book ownership (e.g. portraits, heraldry, marginalia), an ex libris often features a personalized motif, such as a motto, crest, coat-of-arms, or other unique design.
