The Lilly

In 1960, the Lilly Library opened in the heart of Indiana University. It fast became one of the world's preeminent research libraries, a revered rare book, manuscript, and artifact library serving researchers and scholars around the world. Twenty years ago, in 2006, Jerry Slocum started donating his collection of 30,000+ mechanical puzzles, and the Slocum Puzzle Room was dedicated.

A prime motivation for Jerry selecting the Lilly for his donation was their "hands-on" policy, meaning visitors can examine, touch, play with, and solve the puzzles in the collection. That policy is what is enabling our special activities at the Library, and we're going to have some truly amazing puzzles to play with.

The Lilly's curators and staff are excited we're coming, and we've worked with them to give you a great experience which is only 1,000 feet from the front door of the Biddle Hotel!

The Slocum Puzzle Room

Rare and Unusual Puzzles

NPL-Specific Sessions

Thursday "Pop-Up": Items from the Special Collections

Friday: Lexicographers in Residence

Current Exhibitions

The Whole World in a Book

Micro-Mythologies

The Declaration of Independence:The Motives, the Moment

Library Hours

Lilly Library Policies and Guidelines

General Guidelines

Bags and Personal Items

Food and Drink in Public Spaces

Exhibition Galleries

NPL-Specific Sessions

Activity Room

Donations to the Lilly Library

The Reading Room

The Slocum Puzzle Room

The Slocum Puzzle Room, located right off the lobby, is open to the public and a great place to start your visit.

You'll find around 130 puzzles around the room, with explanations and historical notes, along with a bunch of puzzles that you can play with. These aren't the rare and unusual puzzles you'll see in the Activity Room, but it's a good intro for anyone not very familiar with physical and mechanical puzzles.

The "puzzle cart" in the room has puzzles that are available for people to play with. These are hands-on puzzles that Jerry Slocum included with the museum exhibitions that he curated before he donated his collection to the Lilly Library. The puzzles represent a variety of puzzle categories and a range of difficulty levels, and have hints and solutions available. Most should provide a good challenge for late elementary to high school students.

Rare and Unusual Puzzles

The Lilly Library Activity Room is where you'll get the opportunity to spend a couple of hours playing with rare and unusual puzzles from Jerry Slocum's huge collection. Curator Andrew Rhoda, with some assistance from us, is pulling out some really great puzzles. Jerry and his son Allan will be on hand for much of the time on Thursday and Friday to discuss puzzles and answer questions.

The Activity Room can fit up to 40 people at a time. In order to accommodate everyone, we are using a reservation system, where you can reserve up to two 1-hour blocks. You can reserve adjacent hours, but you might want to separate them to give yourself time to think about what you saw and played with before returning. Depending on signups and availability, we may allow people to reserve an extra hour.

The Exhibit hours are Wednesday to Thursday 11-4. Make sure to read the general guidelines and the specific guidelines for the Activity Room.

To register, go to https://cal.com/bloomingcon-activity-room/

NPL-Specific Sessions

We have arranged for two special sessions exclusively for NPL members.

Thursday "Pop-Up": Items from the Special Collections

On Thursday, we will have a "pop-up exhibit" featuring selections from the extensive rare book and manuscript collections of the Lilly Library. With over half a million rare books and 8.5 million manuscripts, the collections cover a wide span of time, geography, and subjects from medieval manuscripts to comic books, cookbooks to miniature books, and literary archives to historical documents. Curated by Head of Teaching and Research Maureen Maryanski, selections will include Shakespeare's First Folio, Marvel first appearance comic books, the papers of Sylvia Plath, Kurt Vonnegut, and Orson Welles, and much more. The exhibition will be available from 2-4 pm Thursday in the Reading Room, where you can also see the library’s new mural.

Space is a bit more flexible than the Activity Room, but still limited, so, we are using a "timed entry" system in order to accommodate as many people as possible. Once you are in the Reading Room, you may stay as long as you like, though we estimate most people will stay 10-30 minutes. Make sure to read the general guidelines and the specific guidelines for the Pop-up Exhibitions.

To register, go to https://cal.com/bloomingcon-popup/

Friday: Lexicographers in Residence

On Friday, between noon and 4 pm, experts from IU (curator Michael Adams, IU Provost Professor of English) and the NPL (Elf and Pandatron) will be on hand for a special look the exhibition of the Kripke dictionary collection, The Whole World in a Book (see details on the exhibition below). While you can explore the exhibition itself any time the Lilly is open, this is an opportunity to get a little more out of it than you can on your own, or ask follow-up questions if you already visited the exhibition. You don't need to register for this event, just drop in at a time which is convenient for you.

Current Exhibitions

Photograph of the current Kripke Collection Exhibit

The Whole World in a Book

The Lilly Library is thrilled to announce an exhibition honoring legendary dictionary collector Madeline Kripke. Her remarkable collection of over 20,000 dictionaries, as well as a rich manuscript archive about dictionaries makes its public debut with the exhibition The Whole World in a Book.

More info: libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library/whole-world-book

Micro-Mythologies

Micro-Mythologies presents a selection of miniature books from Lilly Library collections exploring global mythology and folklore.

More info: libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library/micro-mythologies

The Declaration of Independence:
The Motives, the Moment

As part of the IU Bloomington campus initiative America 250, the Lilly Library presents the story of the Declaration of Independence, showing how colonial Americans reached this juncture. Highlights include The Dunlap Broadside, one of only 26 surviving copies of the Declaration of Independence as well as books, letters, newspapers, and other documents drawn from the collections of the Lilly Library.

More info: https://libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library/declaration-independence

Library Hours

Each of our special activities have limited hours, as described below, but the library is open a bit earlier and later, from 9:30-5:30 Monday to Thursday, and 9:30-5:00 on Friday. These hours apply to the Slocum Puzzle Room, the Current Exhibitions, and other public spaces. The Reading Room will start closing 15 minutes earlier to allow all materials to be returned.

Lilly Library Policies and Guidelines

Like any library, and especially a library with rare materials, the Lilly Library has a number of important policies to ensure the integrity of their collection. Please review them. Because we are being given special access, and because there will be a lot of us, there are a few additional rules.

General Guidelines

Wear your BloomingCon nomtag at all times
The Activity Room and Pop-Up Exhibitions are for registered con attendees only, not guests; no children under 18 unless they are NPL members
Pens and other items with ink (including eraseable pens), as well as tobacco products, are not allowed anywhere in the library. Any such items that you bring will need to be stored in a locker or cubby while you are in the library. See details below.
We recommend that you leave bags, backpacks, laptops, tablets, and any prohibited items in your hotel room.
If you need an ADA accommodation which you do not think will be covered by the facilities and normal procedures, please contact the BloomingCon committee or the Lilly Library staff.

Bags and Personal Items

When visiting the galleries on the 3rd floor, you may keep your bags, purses, and personal items if you wish. You may also use the lockers on the 3rd floor if you want.
When visiting the Activity Room, you may take your bags downstairs. There is a cubby area near the entrance with 40 spaces for visitors to place personal items while taking part in the activity. At the tables the rule is “no food, no drink, no things with ink.” Personal items such as water bottles may be used by the cubbies.

Food and Drink in Public Spaces

No food or drink in the exhibition galleries.
Covered beverages can be consumed in the break area on the 2nd floor (at the bottom of the stairs outside of the Activity Room) or the 5th floor (at the top of the same set of stairs).
Water bottles are allowed in the Slocum Room.
If you arrive with food, you will be asked to finish it outside or place it in a locker or cubby.
If you arrive with a covered drink, you will be directed to where you may finish it or you can place it in a locker or cubby.
If you need to discard a food or drink container, please only use the trash can on the 3rd floor by the lockers.

Exhibition Galleries

These exhibits are open to the public.
Do not put anything on top of display cases.
Do not lean on display cases.

NPL-Specific Sessions

No food or drink is allowed in the NPL-Specific Sessions.
Follow all guidance given by library staff.
Unless otherwise specified by the library staff, photography is not permitted.

Activity Room

These rules are for use of the Slocum Puzzle Collection materials in the Activity Room.

Personal effects, including purses, bags, water bottles, laptops, tablets, and any devices larger than a phone are not permitted at the puzzle tables
You may look at one puzzle at a time.
Puzzles may be examined by more than one person at a time, but only if they are seated together. Puzzles should not be passed across or along a table from one person to another. Puzzles may only be moved by Lilly staff, and you should ask staff to bring a puzzle to you from another table or the carts.
Puzzles must be handled on top of the table (i.e., not in laps), over a flat sheet of either cardboard or foam as appropriate.
Follow all guidance given by library staff.
You will be informed if a metal puzzle requires the use of nitrile gloves to prevent corrosion.
Do not lift or carry puzzle vessels by their handles.
Please ask the staff or a member of conservation staff before removing puzzles from their original packaging. The staff may decline to allow original packaging to be altered or opened.
In general, puzzles do not require any force to be solved. If you think a puzzle needs force, ask a staff member before proceeding.
You are strongly encouraged to return each puzzle to its original (i.e., solved) state after handling.
Unless otherwise specified by the library staff, photography is not permitted.
Staff will check each puzzle after it has been handled by a visitor to make sure that all the component pieces have been returned.

Donations to the Lilly Library

The Lilly Library accepts donations of puzzles and other materials to expand and enhance its collections.

The Reading Room

If there is some non-puzzle research you wish to do at the Lilly while you are in Bloomington, you need to make an appointment and request any materials you wish to view at least two weeks in advance (some materials can take longer). More info here; you can email liblilly@iu.edu.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse