Exploring Ragtime: E.L. Doctorow’s New Rochelle

“For a long time after finishing his novel “The Book of Daniel,” E. L. Doctorow sat at his desk in his home in New Rochelle, N.Y., contemplating what to write next. “I became aware of the room in which I was sitting, and I began the first line — ‘I live in a house built in 1906. Teddy Roosevelt was President.’

                                                — Mel Gussow, The New York Times, July 11, 1975

The New Rochelle Council on the Arts proudly presents an exhibit celebrating E. L. Doctorow and his great novel, Ragtime. The highly acclaimed late author wrote his masterwork while living in New Rochelle, mining historical gems and gaining inspiration while digging deep into the New Rochelle Public Library’s local history collection.  In anticipation of the installation of a new statue of E.L. Doctorow later this year, this exhibit will illustrate Doctorow’s perfectly crafted words with fabulous bits and pieces from the library’s treasured archives—all illuminating early 20^th century New Rochelle, America’s Ragtime Era. At the Lumen Winter Gallery, located in the downtown branch’s lobby.

On view March 20 to April 6, 2022 during regular library hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 9 am – 8 pm
Wednesday: 10 am – 6 pm
Friday and Saturday: 9 am – 5 pm
Sunday: 1 pm – 5 pm