Gates Classroom

Directions to classroom and lockers

Please wash your hands before handling special collections materials. Restrooms are located in the Wright Reading Room below the Nave and next to the Music Library.

Enter the Gates Classroom through the Linonia and Brothers (L&B) Room. Security or Help Desk staff in the Nave can direct you to the L&B Room. The door to the Gates Classroom is at the far end of the L&B Room.

1) Before entering the classroom, you must place personal items (coats, bags, etc.) in a locker. The lockers are through the last study alcove, at the back of the room to the left of the fireplace.

2) Then enter the classroom through the door in the paneling to the right of the fireplace.

Route to classroom through the Sterling Library Nave:

Route to Gates Classroom

Guidelines for Classroom Use

Please see the Beinecke Library Classroom Use Guidelines for information on permitted items and handling materials.

For Instructors

Yale Library welcomes Yale faculty and instructors as well as instructors from throughout the region to teach with our special collections. To plan or schedule a class using primarily Beinecke Library collections, or a mix of collections from multiple libraries, see the Beinecke Library’s Teaching with Special Collections.

For classes focused on materials from other Yale Library Special Collections, contact the relevant library to schedule your visit: Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Divinity Library, Gilmore Music Library, Haas Family Arts Library, and the Lewis Walpole Library.

The Gates Classroom is on the first floor of Sterling Memorial Library.

This space is reserved for classes viewing and handling materials from Yale Library Special Collections; it is not generally open to the public.

Originally known as the Grand Exhibition Room, it was designed to display Yale’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible (now on view at the Beinecke Library). In 2018, as part of a larger renovation, the space was transformed into a classroom and named in honor of Stephen F. Gates ’68.

Separated from the adjacent Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room by ornate wrought iron gates, the classroom features painted ceilings, carved woodwork, and a marble fireplace. Displayed above the fireplace is “Chords: Text (After Gutenberg)” by Richard Townsend Rose.

The Gates Classroom is scheduled and staffed by the Beinecke Education Program.

120 High St

New Haven

All Yale Library Hours