October 2026: National Arts & Humanities Month

Oct 1, 2026 | Announcements, Library

By Research Librarian Jessica Zaricki

October marks the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the United States, giving us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how much these fields enrich our society. What would the world be without music, art, literature, or culture? We invite you to join us in celebrating their lasting value by exploring this curated selection of titles from our circulating collection. Many of these works highlight the historic importance of the salon and the vital role women played in expanding culture among the intelligentsia.

Members, find the listed titles on display in the Sawtelle Reading Room through the month of October.

 

The Lioness of Boston: A Novel
FICTION

This work of historical fiction offers a portrait of American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts Isabella Stewart Gardner. It explores society’s expectations of 19th century wealthy women and how Gardner’s rejection of that norm made possible the opening of her home as a museum in 1903. Particular focus is given to the role travel played in her intellectual and artistic vision.

Franklin, Emily. The Lioness of Boston: A Novel. PS3606 .R396 2023

Demon Copperhead: A Novel
FICTION

This 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning novel echoes many of the themes present in David Copperfield as it explores the damage institutional poverty inflicts on children. In transposing this canonical work of literature from Victorian England to the present-day American South, we experience the importance of a well-told story in discussing those, like Demon and other lost boys, who are so often overlooked.

Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead: A Novel. PS3561 .I496 D46 2022

The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s
BIOGRAPHY

Doherty offers a unique group biography of poets Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, painter Barbara Swan, sculptor Marianna Pineda, and writer Tillie Olsen–members of an experimental program offered by Radcliffe College in 1960. The program, known as the Institute for Independent Study, offered paid fellowships to women with a PhD or “the equivalent” artistic achievement, and the women formed close friendships which influenced their creative work and contributed to a growing women’s liberation movement.

Doherty, Maggie. The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s. HQ1206 .D58 2020

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley
BIOGRAPHY

This dual biography explores the shared legacy of a mother-daughter pair of feminist visionaries whose lives only intersected for two weeks. As each chapter alternates between the two women, the narrative interweaves the lives of the two women, showing the influence of Wollstonecraft on Shelley and on the similarities between the two in their rejection of Victorian conventions.

Gordon, Charlotte. Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley.

Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk
BIOGRAPHY

While many of the women featured in this booklist are remembered for their unconventional approaches to the societies in which they lived, First Lady Sarah Polk gained power and influence through her understanding and exploitation of that world. Polk created an American interpretation of the Enlightenment Salon within the White House between 1845 and 1849, allowing her to network, gather intelligence, and bridge political divides without threatening the established social order. Her story is uniquely feminist while remaining socially conservative.

Greenberg, Amy S. Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk.

The Age of Conversation
NON-FICTION

Craveri presents an in-depth exploration of the Enlightenment era salons and the central role women played in their development. It examines the evolution of the art of conversation and manners, as well as the way these activities served to create a new definition of a social order among members of the aristocracy away from the French Court.

Craveri, Benedetta. Translated by Teresa Waugh. The Age of Conversation. DC121.7 .C73 2005

The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women’s Movement
NON-FICTION

This work explores the growth and development of English salons during the 18th century. Like their French counterparts, these groups were organized and presided over by women and often included women as active participants. Gibson offers a fascinating group portrait of some of the most influential women within this movement and the dynamic among them which could shift from supportive to exploitative.

Gibson, Susannah. The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women’s Movement. HQ1075.5 .E5 G53 2024

An Island Garden
NON-FICTION

Thaxter hosted a well-known literary and artistic salon in the parlor of her cottage on Appledore Island, one of the Isles of Shoals located off the Maine and New Hampshire coastline. This horticultural memoir follows the creation of the garden at that house and its growth. The book is illustrated by Childe Hassam, a frequent guest of her salon.

Thaxter, Celia. An Island Garden. SB466 .U7 T6 1978

Past Imperfect: Essays on History, Libraries, and the Humanities
NON-FICTION

A collection of essays from a historian and former head of the Newberry Library, one of the nation’s pre-eminent research libraries. His vision of the place of humanities, libraries, and scholarship in American life is the perfect addition to National Arts and Humanities month and will interest those concerned with the place of the humanities in modern society.

Towner, Lawrence W. Past Imperfect: Essays on History, Libraries, and the Humanities. Z675 .R45 T68 1993

IMAGE: View of Celia Thaxter’s parlor, circa 1880s. Artist, author, and poet Celia (Laighton) Thaxter (1835-1894) hosted a well-known literary and artistic salon in the parlor of her cottage on Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals, a small group of islands off the Maine and New Hampshire coastline. Isles of Shoals Photograph Collection, P0025_1811.