A Library to Shout About

In just a few weeks, the newly restored Morgan Library & Museum originally built by Pierpont Morgan in 1906 will be reopened. The restoration means that one of his ultimate goals for the facility will be met. The new spaces will allow for rotating exhibits of what had long been tucked away in storage -- namely the original manuscripts in which some of most important ideas in human history were recorded.

Rooms that were previously empty or closed to the public will now be open and lined with treasures. On view in the East Room: Mozart's manuscript of Symphony No. 25 -- complete with the silver box in which it was presented to King Ludwig II of Bavaria -- and Alexander Calder's hand-written instructions on installing his work. And, not to be outdone, a Guttenberg Bible. "We have recently completed a project in which we digitized every page of every music manuscript in our collection," said director William Griswold. "I would like to go through and systematically complete the digitization of the collection of drawings. We have the greatest collection of its kind in this country, and it's still not accessible in its entirety by electronic means."