The mission of a rare book and manuscript library is to gather material to enable teaching and research. While large and comprehensive archives and book collections tend to attract a great deal of attention, curators are constantly on the lookout for interesting materials of any size or completeness. Many archives consist of just a single box – full of compelling evidence of a writer’s life or the history of a cultural moment. This exhibition highlights 15 small groups of material that have joined the Beinecke Library’s collection in the past five years.