On March 3, 2011, Special Collections and University Archives will open An Afterlife: The Literary and Cultural Influence of John Milton. Conceived as a accompanying exhibition to John Milton and the Cultures of Print, featured in the Special Collections and University Archives Gallery, An Afterlife will be on display in Gallery '50 on the first floor of the Alexander Library until July 1, 2011.

An Afterlife will follow the historical trace of Milton's thought on British and American culture from his death in 1674 through the major works of English and American writers beginning with the Restoration and extending to the present day. The exhibition showcases rare and early editions of works by Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, William Wordsworth, William Blake, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Alfred Lord Tennyson, James Joyce, Robert Graves, Allen Ginsberg, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Thomas Pynchon. The exhibition is co-curated by Thomas Fulton, Associate Professor in the Department of English, who also curated John Milton and the Cultures of Print; Kevin Mulcahy, English and American Literature Librarian; and Michael Joseph, Rare Book Librarian.

An Afterlife is the perfect complement to the exhibition in the lower level gallery, which focuses on Milton as a historical figure, placing him in the context of the turbulent times in which he lived.

The Rutgers University Libraries holds one of the largest collections of Milton's works at a public university in the United States. The collection was built in the mid-twentieth century by Joseph Milton French, professor of English at Rutgers from 1940 to 1960 and esteemed Milton scholar. Highlights of the collection include first editions of Milton prose works Areopagitica, Pro Populo Anglicano, his three pamphlets on divorce, and many editions of Milton's poetry, including a copy of Paradise Lost illustrated by William Blake, as well as a changing digital display of Milton's manuscripts. John Milton and the Cultures of Print will continue until May 31, 2011. Hours for both galleries are Monday through Fridays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the academic year.

On Thursday April 7^th at 4:30 p.m., exhibition curator Thomas Fulton will give a lecture about the historical Milton followed by a reception and tours of the exhibition. The lecture will be held in the Teleconference Lecture Hall in the Scholarly Communication Center on the fourth floor of the Alexander Library. For more information about this event or to arrange an exhibition tour, please contact Fernanda Perrone, Exhibitions Coordinator at Special Collections and University Archives, at hperrone@rci.rutgers.edu or (732) 932 7006 x363.

This exhibition was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations in the exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the national Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.