2002 Annual Report - New York Public Library

Sciences Library, which began in the early 1980s. In this
fiscal year, the restoration of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach
Division of Art, Prints and Photographs and the Sue and
Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery were also completed.
The renovation of the Wallach Division dramaticallyincreased
public and staff space, now consolidated on the
third floor. Collection space was centralized and expanded;
climate-control mechanisms were installed; electronic
infrastructure was introduced; and a more eªcient flow
was created between reference staff, readers, and materials
through the redesign of reference areas. Finally, the division’s
two reading rooms were restored to their former
glory. We are pleased to acknowledge our great gratitude
to Miriam and Ira D. Wallach for their generous gifts to
support this capital project and for their extraordinary support
for the collections, services, and digital programs of
prints and photographs.
Ira and Miriam Wallach.
The Wachenheim Gallery, just off Astor Hall on the first
floor, was transformed into an exquisite space, “as free from
outside distractions as Proust’s cork-lined room,” in the
words of New York Times writer Holland Cotter. The gallery
is ideal for the display of special items from the Library’s
collections. Its creation was made possible by a generous
gift from Trustee Edgar Wachenheim III and his wife, Sue,
to whom we owe great thanks.
ReCAP Facility
While digitization has increased global access to collections,
there is no substitute for viewing original source material.
And yet, with our research collections numbering 43 million
items and growing, a critical problem of storage arises. The
New York Public Library’s Research Libraries recently joined
with the libraries of Columbia University and Princeton
University – a collaboration known as ReCAP, or The
The restored and renovated
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division
of Art, Prints and Photographs.
L E T T E R F R O M T H E C H A I R M A N A N D P R E S I D E N T
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