The Inaugural Exhibition of the Posner Center for Special Collections
The Posner Center is a cabinet of rarities and technological marvels: paper-and-string cipher machines, centuries-old books, cogwheel computers, and nineteenth-century “digital” images. Part museum and part laboratory, it is a site for discovery, research, and innovation with the materials of the past.
Rare Books & Ancestral Machines features more than thirty books and objects from the Posner Center’s holdings. Many of these materials are on view for the first time. The exhibition inaugurates the newly renovated Center, surveying its collections and tracing more than four centuries of scientific inquiry and learning. Organized into five thematic sections — mechanical computing, robotics, cryptography, artificial intelligence, and scholarly method — the exhibit explores the histories of these disciplines, uncovering abandoned prototypes and long-forgotten technologies.
What will you discover?
| Duration | January 13, 2026 13:56 - January 13, 2026 13:56 |
| Duration | 2 December 2025 - TBD |
| Location | Posner Center for Special Collections 4964 Margaret Morrison Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213 |
| Posner Center Hours | Monday, Closed Tuesday-Friday, 10AM-3PM Thursday, 3PM-7PM |
| Curator | Sam Lemley |
| Special Collections Coordinator | Catherine Blauvelt |
| Art Director | Heidi Wiren Kébé |
About the Posner Center
The Posner Center hosts exhibits, events, class visits, and scholars who work with materials in Special Collections. Objects and books in the collection are findable on the Libraries’ online catalog and available for research and instruction.
A New Center for Special Collections
In 2025, the Posner Center underwent a transformative renovation made possible by a gift from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh. The Center’s new design supports and promotes Special Collections’ core programs, including student engagement & instruction, exhibitions, collections storage and preservation, and research. Designed by Perkins Eastman architects, the renovated interior offers a welcoming and vibrant space for research and discovery.
Handbook
The exhibition coincides with the publication of Rare Books & Ancestral Machines: A Handbook to the Posner Center for Special Collections (Carnegie Mellon University Press, November 2025), an illustrated guide to the Center and its themes. Like the exhibition, the handbook presents a broad and richly illustrated survey of the collection alongside interpretive essays.