This profile is part of a continuing series of interviews chronicling the experiences of researchers who use The New York Public Library collections for the development of their work.

Timothy Gress is an MA student of English at New York University and an MSLIS student at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science.

Describe your research routine.

My research routine is nothing if not consistent. I take the 7 train to 5th Avenue, walk through the 42nd Street entrance, check my bag, and walk up the marble staircase to the research room I will be using that day with my laptop, black notebook, and pencil in hand. Recently, I’ve started to fill out call slips the night before, which helps me maximize my research time.

What's your favorite spot in the Library?

The Pforzheimer Collection reading room because the furniture there, like the books lining the room, dates back to the 18th century (the chairs are especially comfortable). I am also partial to the reading room of the Milstein Division, having previously worked there as a Library Page.

When did you first get the idea for your research project? 

Since I started utilizing the resources here more than two years ago, NYPL is the first place I start any research project. One of my more recent projects involved extra-illustrated books: a process, common in the 18th and 19th centuries, where owners would add prints, manuscripts, and even pages from other books into works they purchased, often extending a short work into several volumes. I got the idea from stumbling upon an extra-illustrated copy of the letters of the poet Anna Seward in my undergraduate institution's library before discovering, through the Pforzheimer Collection, that NYPL has extensive holdings of these important and interesting books.

What’s the most unexpected item you've encountered in your research?

A copy of W. B. Yeats’s poetry bound by his sister Elizabeth (who later ran the Cuala Press) in wallpaper, and presented by Yeats to the rare book collector W. T. H. Howe as a thank-you gift for a weekend spent at Howe’s home in Kentucky. Howe’s collection was later purchased by Dr. Albert Berg and still factors prominently in NYPL’s Berg Collection.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

That Louisa May Alcott accepted a publisher’s offer to write a girls’ book—what would become her now-critically acclaimed work Little Women (1868; second part, 1869)—only because she needed the money.

How do you maintain your research momentum?

Quite simply, writing everything down. There is nothing that stops momentum like having to backtrack to find a source you didn’t accurately cite the first time around. Working on the weekends also helps me keep my momentum going. NYPL is great in that, unlike many other major research libraries, all their divisions are open on Saturday. 

What's your guilty pleasure distraction?

Walking the halls of the Schwarzman building. Although it may sound like a cliché, one really can never become tired of examining the endlessly inspiring architecture of this more-than-century-old building.

Where is your favorite place to eat in the neighborhood?

I almost always pack a sandwich and eat on one of green tables in Bryant Park. The Red Flame Diner on 44th Street is another great option nearby, especially when it gets too cold to stay outside.

Is there anything you'd like to tell someone looking to get started?

Using a large and diverse research library can seem intimidating at first, especially for someone just starting out. Always be confident in your research, and in your ability to work with and interpret books, manuscripts, and other objects that cannot readily be found elsewhere.

Anything else you’d like to share with other researchers?

Make sure to visit all the research divisions in the Schwarzman building—so far, I’ve used materials from seven out of the nine! Each division possess unthinkable treasures and it is incredible to realize that almost all of it—with only a call slip and a library card—is available to researchers.