Fine & Rare VI: Rare Books and Ancestral Machines Online
Step inside the newly renovated Posner Center for Special Collections, a cabinet of rarities and technological marvels where paper-and-string cipher machines, centuries-old books, cogwheel computers, and nineteenth-century “digital” images sit side by side. Part museum and part laboratory, the Center is a space for discovery, research, and innovation with the materials of the past.
In this installment of Fine & Rare, Curator of Special Collections Sam Lemley introduces Rare Books & Ancestral Machines, an exhibition featuring more than thirty rare books, instruments, and early computing devices—many on public view for the first time. Organized into five thematic sections—mechanical computing, robotics, cryptography, artificial intelligence, and scholarly method—the exhibition surveys over four centuries of scientific inquiry, uncovering abandoned prototypes and long-forgotten technologies. Join us for an inside look at the Posner Center’s collections, its inaugural exhibition, and the future of research and teaching in this reimagined space.
- Date:
- Thursday, January 22, 2026
- Time:
- 4:00pm - 5:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Online
- Categories:
- Special Collections
- Online:
- This is a virtual event. Event URL: https://www.givecampus.com/schools/CarnegieMellonUniversity/events/fine-rare-vi-rare-books-and-ancestral-machines
Curator of Special Collections
Director of the Posner Special Collections Library