yale university tour guides

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Yale University

Plan your visit

People of all ages are invited to visit the collections and enjoy the many public programs offered throughout the year. All of our libraries and museums are free, and most are open to the public. Check out their websites for hours and other key details.

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Yale Campus Tours: All Your Options on How to Tour Yale University

(Updated October 2022, Originally Posted March 2021) Whether you’re visiting New Haven as a tourist or as a prospective student, touring Yale’s incredible campus in the heart of the city is one of the best (and free) activities to do here. Catch a glimpse into what life is like as a student at this world-class institution and soak in the bustling atmosphere of thriving campus life.  Yale’s official campus tours are the perfect opportunity to find out what student life is like, what campus clubs are available and what special features each college has to offer.

Here are 4 key pieces of advice for taking a tour at Yale University:

• Get there early to ensure you have a spot on the tour!
• Dress appropriately for outdoor touring.
• Go to the restrooms in the Visitor Center or the Office of Undergraduate Admissions before your tour begins. The 60-75 minute tours don’t have pit stops!
• Speak to your student guides. They are super friendly and are happy to answer your questions about their experiences.

Tour as a prospective student

Take in the sights of Yale’s campus through the eyes of a residing student and see if you can imagine yourself becoming one! September through May, Monday through Saturday, you can tour the residential colleges, libraries, green spaces and historical landmarks all while chatting with your student guide.

The university also offers specialized science and engineering tours that are led by students studying in those fields. Find out about the exciting programs, projects and research currently taking place in their labs.

All the sessions for prospective Yalies start at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (38 Hillhouse Ave). If you’re walking there from New Haven Green, stop at the Blue State Coffee on Wall Street, a student hot spot opposite Silliman College, for a drink to go!

Alongside tours, there are many admissions events that you can join throughout the year including visiting a class and requesting an on-campus interview. Check out the admissions website for schedules and registration.

Tour as a visitor

From the Visitor Center on one side of New Haven Green (149 Elm Street), you can take your spot on one of the campus tours.  The tour starts with a very informative and playful video that gives a broad overview of what this university has to offer its students.  This 60-minute walking tour covers central campus and shares plenty of interesting details about Yale’s 300-year history as well as what life is like through the eyes of the student guide. Take a look in one of the 14 residential colleges, the impressive record-breaking libraries and walk the paths previously taken by Yale’s many famous alumni.

One of the best parts of the walking tours is getting to hear from the student guides!  Take advantage of your time to ask them questions and hear about their classes, extra-curriculars and student life in New Haven. Wondering where to go next for a snack or directions around the downtown area? Your guide will be happy to help!

Tours during the current COVID pandemic (updated July 2022)

Yale University once again offers in person tours! COVID-19 vaccination is required for visitors 5 and older.

You can book a tour online to register for a campus tour.

Whether it’s in person or virtual, Yale University is an impressive place to visit. When you get the chance, I highly recommend enjoying the sights in person! Even if it’s not through an official tour, Yale’s campus is a beautiful place to walk through all year round.

Frequently Asked Questions About Touring Yale University

Can i visit yale as a tourist, is the yale tour accessible, how much does it cost to go on the yale tour, does yale university offer virtual tours, can you walk around yale campus, does yale offer a self guided tour.

Please note: This post is for informational purposes only. Yale Tours are handled by Yale University and are subject to change according to the season. Please visit their website (listed above) if there is any questions.

Leasing 475.251.7451

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Visiting Yale

Travel arrangements.

Yale is located in New Haven, Connecticut, one of the best small cities in America, situated two-and-a-half hours south of Boston and one-and-a-half hours north of New York City. New Haven has many attractions including a thriving downtown district with parks, shops, museums, hotels, and restaurants. Its neighborhoods are home to historic buildings and diverse communities. Beyond the city limits lie beautiful beaches, peaceful lakes, charming New England towns, and pastoral suburbs. New Haven is easily accessible by car, train, bus, and airplane.

If coming from abroad, the easiest way to travel to Yale University is by air. There are a number of nearby airports serviced by international airlines.

Bradley International Airport  (BDL) in Windsor Locks, Connecticut

John F. Kennedy International Airport  (JFK) in New York City

LaGuardia International Airport  (LGA) in New York City

Newark Liberty International Airport  (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey

Tweed New Haven Airport  (HVN) in New Haven, Connecticut

Amtrak provides services from Newark airport to New Haven’s Union Station. For all other airports, private shuttle services are available through  Connecticut Limousine  (800.472.5466 ) and GO Airport Shuttle (866.284.3247 ). Please be sure to make reservations for shuttle services well in advance. Taking a taxi from any of these airports except for Tweed is not recommended.

If traveling from within the United States, it is convenient to take a train to New Haven Union Station, minutes from Yale’s campus.

Metro-North Railways  (800.638.7647) offers frequent train service between New Haven and New York City.

Amtrak  (800.872.7245) provides train service to New Haven from Vermont, Providence, Boston, and Washington DC.

Once you reach the station, we suggest that you use a local taxi service to reach campus. There is a taxi stand at the station; a taxi ride costs approximately $10. Alternatively, local shuttles and bus services are also available for travel between Union Station and Yale.

If traveling from within the United States, it is also possible to take a bus to New Haven Union Station, which also serves as a bus terminal.

Greyhound  (203.772.2470)

Peter Pan  (800.343.9999)

There are multiple driving routes that you can take to arrive on campus. As a result, we recommend entering your intended Yale destination into your GPS.

Immigration Services

Yale attracts a diverse set of international visitors – students, faculty and staff, and visiting lecturers and short-term guests. Foreign citizens traveling to the United States may need visas for temporary stays. Admitted students and visiting scholars should contact their program to learn more about the necessary immigration procedures.

Health insurance coverage

To access health insurance coverage at a reasonable rate for incoming short-term international students, scholars and other visitors to campus, individuals are encouraged to do their own research and read any plan documentation carefully before enrolling. One available option is Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI), which has experience working with academic customers and provides a plan that exceeds the requirements for J-1 visa holders. (Please note, this plan is not endorsed by Yale; the link below is provided for informational purposes only).

CISI for Yale University – International (culturalinsurance.com)

Tours: Visitor Center

The Yale Visitor Center, located at 149 Elm Street, offers visitors a glimpse into the history and architecture of the University. Hear about Yale’s rich 300-year history and aspects of student life within Yale’s twelve residential colleges.

International groups can request to have a tour given in a foreign language by contacting the Visitor Center at least two weeks prior to the tour. Call the Visitor Center (203.432.2300) or check their  website  for more information.

New Haven Attractions

New Haven is a vibrant cultural hub with renowned locally-owned restaurants, world-class theaters and museums, and an eclectic mix of shops and boutiques for visitors and locals to enjoy.

• Yale Museums and Exhibition Spaces

Local Accommodations 

The following hotels are in New Haven, Connecticut and are located within a short distance of the Yale campus:

• The Blake Hotel 9 High Street203.390.5352
• The Graduate 1151 Chapel Street475.207.7070
• Hotel Marcel 500 Sargent Drive203.780.7800
• The Study at Yale
• 1157 Chapel Street866.930.1157 
• Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale 155 Temple Street800.THE-OMNI or 203.772.6664
• Courtyard New Haven at Yale 30 Whalley Avenue 800.321.2211  or 203.777.6221
• New Haven Hotel 229 George Street800.644.6835  or 203.498.3100
• New Haven Village Suites 3 Long Wharf Drive866.458.0232  or 203.777.5337
• La Quinta Inn & Suites 400 Sargent Drive 800.753.3757  or 203.562.1111 

The  New Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau  maintains a complete list of area hotels to assist you in planning your trip to New Haven.

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Yale University Visitor Center Yale University Visitor Center Yale University Visitor Center Yale University Visitor Center

Yale Campus Tours, Yale Visitor Center, 149 Elm St., New Haven. Student-led walking tours of Yale Campus, last 1 hour and 15 minutes and covers history, architecture and student life. Visitors see the Old Campus, several residential colleges, Sterling Memorial Library and other locations of interest. Maps of the campus are available at the Center. Free. Center Hours Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tours Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m. & 2 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday 1:30 p.m. 203-432-2300, yale.edu/visitor

• Self-Guided Tours: Purchase a copy of the Blue Trail map, which includes a suggested self-guided tour route, and a brief history of the University.
• Special Groups by Appointment: Large groups visiting the campus can arrange to have a tour specifically suited to their group's interest and time schedule. For each group up to 25 people, there will be a $40 fee. Contact the Visitor Center at least two weeks prior to the tour.
• Kids Architectural Treasure Hunt: Parents taking the campus tour with children ages 6-11 can request a brochure that encourages the children to hunt for architectural details and designs. Call for group tour information.
• Public Art at Yale, start at Old Campus, College Street. Includes statue of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale and Maya Lin’s The Women’s Table. Pick up a self-guided tour booklet at Yale Visitor Center. yale.edu/publicart

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Yale University Visitors Center

City: new haven.

Yale College students provide a glimpse into the history and architecture of the university. The tours start at the Yale Visitor Center at 149 Elm Street . Hear about Yale’s rich 300-year history and aspects of student life at several of Yale’s fourteen residential colleges. The tour also includes the Gothic Sterling Memorial Library, Yale’s largest, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Constructed with more than one hundred panels of translucent marble, the Beinecke is home to one of the world’s preeminent collections of rare materials, including the Gutenberg Bible.

Tours last approximately one hour. Note that there are many Elm Streets in the region. The exact address is 149 Elm Street New Haven, CT 06511. Please check you are using the correct zip code 06511 .

Register for a Visitor Center Tour (registration is required)

Please note that the Visitor Center provides campus tours that are geared toward a broad audience of visitors. Undergraduate Admissions provides separate tours. If you are a prospective undergraduate student, you should consider attending an Undergraduate Admissions tour.

Kids’ Architectural Treasure Hunt

Parents taking the campus tour with children ages 6-11 can request a brochure that encourages the children to hunt for architectural details and designs.

James Pierpont House, 149 Elm St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

203-432-2300

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Yale University Tours

2-day from new york to rhode island, cambridge and boston tour tour code : gol-nyc-153.

Departure City : Brooklyn NY, Flushing NY, New York City NY

Available Days : Sat (2024-05-01 To 2024-10-31) | Sat (2025-05-01 To 2025-10-31)

Highlights : Visit three top universities in the U.S. at Harvard, Yale and MIT. Official in-depth campus tours of Harvard & Yale University guided by enrolled undergraduate students. Ride on the replica of amphibious military vehicle sightseeing around the city on the Boston duck tour. Visit the Breakers – one of the grandest summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America. Grab a bite of authentic local gourmet: Boston lobster dinner & clam chowder.

• A minimum of 2 passengers is required for this tour to be operated.

2-Day Boston to New York, Museum of Modern Art, Times Square, Newport and New Haven Tour Tour code : GOL-BOS-316

Departure City : Boston MA

Available Days : Friday

Highlights : Go to the Hudson Yards and climb to the top of The Edge with a 360 degree view! Walk around "The Crossroads of the World" at Times Square. Follow us and take a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. Official in-depth campus tours of Yale University guided by enrolled undergraduate students. Visit the Breakers – one of the grandest summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.

• For schedules departing from August to October, an additional fee of $50 per room will be charged.
• A minimum of 2 people is required to be operated.

3-Day Boston to New York, Times Square, Museum of Modern Art, New Haven, Newport and Boston Harbor Cruise Tour Tour code : GOL-BOS-318

Available Days : Thursday & Special dates

Highlights : Go to the Hudson Yards and climb to the top of The Edge with a 360 degree view! Walk around "The Crossroads of the World" at Times Square. Follow us and take a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. Put your taste buds to the test with the most authentic gourmet dishes. Visit the High Line, Chelsea Market, the Vessel, SOHO and Dumbo! Explore the true beauty of the Big Apple and visit the Grand Central, Bryant Park and Little Island.  Official in-depth campus tours of Yale University guided by enrolled undergraduate students. Visit the Breakers – one of the grandest summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.

• Additional Date: 05/25/2024, 07/02/2024, 08/30/2024

6-Day Boston to New York, Times Square, Museum of Modern Art, New Haven, Newport and Washington DC In-depth Tour Tour code : GOL-BOS-320

Available Days : Monday & Special Dates

Highlights : Go to the Hudson Yards and climb to the top of The Edge with a 360 degree view! Walk around "The Crossroads of the World" at Times Square. Follow us and take a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. Take a look at the American Dream Shopping Center, which is not only for shopping, but also has a water world, aquarium, and Lego Center!  Take a trip to Washington D.C. and Niagara Falls for an unforgettable trip!  Visit the nation’s capital at Washington, D.C., and check out its most iconic sites including the White House, Lincoln Memorial and so much more. Visit the Corning Glass Center and watch the exquisite glass craftsmanship. Explore the power of nature and take an in-depth tour to Niagara Falls! Official in-depth campus tours of Yale University guided by enrolled undergraduate students. Visit the Breakers – one of the grandest summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.

7-Day Boston to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Ausable Chasm, Thousand Islands and Niagara Falls US & Canadian Side Tour (Free Airport Pickup) Tour code : GOL-BOS-284A

Departure City : Newark CA

Available Days : Sunday & Special Dates

Highlights : Visit four spectacular famous cities in Eastern Canada: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec in five days! Experience an unforgettable waterfall view and enjoy the colorful night view of the Niagara Falls! Ride on the Hornblower Cruise to experience the waterfall views of Niagara Falls from multiple angles. Complimentary Skylon Tower ticket is included. Following, you will enjoy a delicious lunch. You may enjoy authentic French food in Quebec at your own expense.  Note： 1. If you hold a U.S. or Canadian passport: You must bring a valid U.S. or Canadian passport. 2. If you hold a U.S. permanent resident ID or Canadian permanent resident ID: You must bring a valid passport and a U.S. or Canadian permanent resident ID. Make sure your U.S. or Canadian permanent resident ID is valid and carry it with you. 3.If you do not hold the above documents: Please prepare the corresponding travel visa in advance according to the instructions of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). For details, please click here

• Ticket to Skylon Tower.
• Minimum of 2 people to be operated.
• Hotel for six nights with breakfast.  
• MoMA will be closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

7-Day Boston to New York, Washington D.C, Philadelphia, Corning and Niagara Whirlpool State Park Tour (Free Airport Pickup) Tour code : GOL-BOS-327

• Train ticket of Coach Seat from Boston to New York.

7-Day New York to Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Haven, Princeton, West Point, Cambridge, Boston and New England Aquarium Tour Tour code : GOL-NYC-572

Available Days : Wed & Special Dates

Highlights : Let’s have an in-depth tour in nine top schools: Columbia University, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and West Point! Each guest will receive a Penn University certificate with your name printed on it! Follow us and take a visit to two biggest libraries in the East Coast: the largest municipal public library in the US - New York Public Library and the largest urban public library - Boston Public Library. Explore two famous museums: Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the four major museums in the world and the Penn Museum. Enjoy the beautiful view of New York during the special morning tour and night tour! Enjoy delicious food in Hudson Yards, feast in New York's Chinatown and Flushing. You can even dine atthe Penn cafeteria and taste Boston lobster in Quincy Market! Comfortable suite hotels are carefully arranged during the tour, and hotel breakfasts are also provided!

• An admission ticket to Penn Museum.
• Breakfasts.
• Two special meals: a lunch in Penn dining hall + a Boston local lobster dinner.

7-Day Boston to New York, Times Square, Museum of Modern Art, New Haven, Newport and Washington DC In-depth Tour Tour code : GOL-BOS-321

Available Days : Monday

Highlights : Take a ride to the top of One World Trade Center while observing a stunning panoramic view of NYC! Walk around "The Crossroads of the World" at Times Square and take a Liberty Cruise to the icon of freedom. Tour along Fifth Avenue, go to the Times Square and Rockefeller Center, and quietly enjoy the charm of Manhattan's night view. Explore one of the greatest malls in all of the United States! Take a look at the American Dream Shopping Center, which is not only for shopping, but also has a water world, aquarium, and Lego Center!  Take a trip to Washington D.C. and Niagara Falls for an unforgettable trip!  Visit the nation’s capital at Washington, D.C., and check out its most iconic sites including the White House, Lincoln Memorial and so much more. Visit the Corning Glass Center and watch the exquisite glass craftsmanship. Explore the power of nature and take an in-depth tour to Niagara Falls! Official in-depth campus tours of Harvard & Yale University guided by enrolled undergraduate students. Visit the Breakers – one of the grandest summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America. Grab a bite of authentic local gourmet: Boston lobster dinner & clam chowder.

8-Day Boston to New York, Philadelphia, Corning and Washington D.C. In-depth Tour (Free Airport Pickup) Tour code : GOL-BOS-328

Available Days : Sun & Speciual Dates

8-Day New york to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Princeton, Cambridge, Boston,New Haven, West Point, Pennsylvania and Yale University Tour (Free Airport Pickup) Tour code : GOL-NYC-557

Departure City : Flushing NY, New York City NY, Newark NJ

Available Days : Tuesday

Highlights : Let’s have an in-depth tour in nine top schools: Columbia University, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and West Point! Follow us and take a visit to two biggest libraries in the East Coast: the largest municipal public library in the US - New York Public Library and the largest urban public library - Boston Public Library. Explore two famous museums: Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the four major museums in the world and the Penn Museum. Enjoy the beautiful view of New York during the special morning tour and night tour! Enjoy delicious food in Hudson Yards, feast in New York's Chinatown and Flushing. You can even dine atthe Penn cafeteria and taste Boston lobster in Quincy Market! Comfortable suite hotels are carefully arranged during the tour, and hotel breakfasts are also provided!

•  Breakfasts.
• Minimum of 2 people to be operated.  

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Beinecke Library hires six curators, launching a new era for Yale Library Special Collections

The Beinecke Library has hired a cohort of six new curators—more than half of its curatorial team—who will shape how Yale Library special collections are selected, taught, and used for decades to come. 

“Rather than hiring one curator at a time for a specific collecting area, we had an opportunity to reimagine how we defined curatorial boundaries when hiring a cluster of curators with intersecting and complementary specializations,” said Michelle Light, Yale Library’s associate university librarian for Special Collections and director of the Beinecke Library. “Combined with the deep knowledge of our existing staff, our  strategic priorities , and our  commitment to sustainable stewardship , their impact will be transformational.”  

The new curators—Michelle Al-Ferzly, Julia C. Hernández, Sarah Keyes, Agnieszka Rec, Sandra Xiomara Sánchez, and Shannon K. Supple—bring a combination of expertise in Indigenous history and culture, including North America; pre-1800 European history and culture; classics; Islamic art; medieval studies; U.S. history and culture; ethnicity, race and migration; history of science; environmental history; and material history, including print culture, book history, and critical bibliography. 

They will join Melissa Barton, curator of prose and drama for the Yale Collection of American Literature; Joshua Cochran, curator of American history and diplomacy; Nancy Kuhl, curator of poetry for the Yale Collection of American Literature; and Kevin Repp, curator of modern European books and manuscripts, under the leadership of Cheryl Beredo, the Beinecke’s chief curator and director of collections, who led the search process.  See a visual feature about the curators . 

Exceptional Diversity

Beyond their wide-ranging expertise, the new cohort brings exceptional diversity of experience and expertise in geographies, languages, cultural perspectives, professional backgrounds, and methods, noted Beredo. “We are developing a team of curators who can complement and extend each other’s work, build on the work of past curators, and collaborate with colleagues across Yale and beyond,” Beredo said.

Beredo joined Yale Library in 2023 from the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, where she was most recently associate director of Collections and Research Services. Along with a master’s degree in library science and a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa, she brings broad curatorial and administrative experience in research libraries. Her vision for Beinecke Library collections is one in which curators are constantly finding new ways to connect people with collections through teaching, writing, community engagement, exhibitions, and collaborations with colleagues inside and outside the library.

New curator Agnieszka Rec is already participating in one such collaboration, “ Taught by the Pen: The World of Islamic Manuscripts ,” an exhibition opening at the Beinecke Library in February. Rec is co-curating with Roberta L. Dougherty, librarian for Middle East studies, and Özgen Felek, a lector of Ottoman in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

“Building the Beinecke Library’s outstanding collections remains a critical part of the curators’ work,” Beredo said. “At the same time, partnership with students, scholars, and readers of all kinds—to explore the collections, create new work, and be surprised and transformed—is enduring and meaningful.”

For collections as vast and varied as the Beinecke Library’s, the possibilities are virtually unlimited. Beredo foresees, for example, that the famed Yale Collection of Western Americana  will reveal new facets when viewed through the lens of curator Sandra Xiomara Sánchez’s work in Native and Indigenous studies or the critical eye that Sarah Keyes deployed to bring readers a new history of the Overland Trail. The Beinecke’s extensive Modern English and European collections will be illuminated in new ways by the work of Julia Hernández on the early modern period in the Spanish-speaking world and Shannon Supple’s work in the history of science and the natural world. And faculty and students studying the history of the book will now be able to draw on the new and overlapping expertise of curators Michelle Al-Ferzly and Agnieszka Rec in the Islamic world, manuscript studies, and a broad conception of the Middle Ages.

The new curators will also help develop a more collaborative approach to acquisitions across Yale Library Special Collections, which, in addition to Beinecke Library, include rare and unusual materials held by the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, the Divinity Library, the Gilmore Music Library, the Haas Arts Library, and the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington. All curators will work closely with faculty to activate collections in support of Yale’s research and teaching priorities. 

Meet the Curators

Michelle Al-Ferzly  holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She is a specialist of medieval and Islamic art, with a focus on the cross-cultural encounter in the medieval Mediterranean and on the visual and material culture of health and foodways between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. She was previously a research associate in the Department of Medieval Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she contributed to the 2023 exhibition “Africa & Byzantium,” and has worked in a number of other museums, including the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto and the Dallas Museum of Art. Her research and curatorial work have been supported by the Mellon Mays Fellowship, the Center for Curatorial Leadership, and the Fulbright-Hays. She began her new position on Sept. 23.

Julia C. Hernández  is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work bridges the fields of classics and Hispanic studies. With training in both areas, she specializes in the history of ancient Greek—from its teaching to its translation to its reconstructed literary production—in the early modern Spanish-speaking world. Her teaching and research explore the intersections of classics, early modernity, and U.S. Latinx identity through the lens of book history. Julia will start at Yale Library on Oct. 1 having served most recently as visiting assistant professor of Spanish at New York University. She has taught the legacy of the early modern book to a diverse range of undergraduates, with an emphasis on student-curated exhibitions and other project-based learning. Hernández also serves as associate editor of the international early modern Spanish theater journal “Bulletin of the Comediantes” and is a co-founder and steering committee member of the international scholarly society “Hesperides: Classics in the Luso-Hispanic World.”

Sarah Keyes  is a historian who specializes in U.S. history and culture and environmental history with an emphasis on the nineteenth century and the U.S. West. She joined Beinecke Library from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) where she was an   associate professor. At UNR, she collaborated with Special Collections and university Archives and worked with K-12 educators and students across the state. She holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California and a B.A. from Pomona College. She previously held faculty positions at Texas Tech University and the University of California, Berkeley, and has experience in museums, including the National Museum of American History. Her work has been supported by numerous institutions including the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She is the author of “American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail,” published in 2023 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. She will begin her curatorial position in July 2025.

Agnieszka Rec  earned her doctorate in medieval history from Yale and her B.S., also from Yale, in mathematics and humanities. She returned to Beinecke as an early materials cataloger in 2021. Rec has pursued a consciously cross-disciplinary path through cultural heritage collections exploring the scientific materials at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Indigenous manuscripts recovered at the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS), and the wide-ranging scholarship published by the Medieval Academy of America and “Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies.” She brings broad expertise at the intersections of medieval studies, the history of science, and material history, especially in the paleography and codicology of early books and manuscripts. She can be heard discussing recent collaborations for  Material Evidence in Incunabula  and  Ottoman Turkish manuscript cataloging  on the Beinecke Library YouTube Channel. She started her new position in August.

Sandra Xiomara Sánchez  is a doctoral candidate in history at Yale working across the fields of immigration and Borderlands histories, and Native and Indigenous Studies. Their current work traces the ongoing legacies of deportation and border enforcement for tribes living along and across the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada border regions. A Guatemalan adoptee raised in the U.S., Sánchez’s curatorial work focuses on sustainable community engagement and stewardship, particularly of Indigenous materials and histories at Beinecke Library. Sánchez graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.A. in History and Chinese in 2018, and has worked in various museums and libraries, including the  National Museum of American History and the Yale Peabody Museum. An active member of the Yale Group for the Study of Native America, they have presented work internationally and at conferences for the Organization of American Historians, the Western History Association, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society. Sánchez will begin their position on Nov. 1.

Shannon K. Supple  is joining Yale from Smith College, where she served as curator of rare books for more than seven years. She previously worked at the Bancroft Library and Robbins Collection at the University of California, Berkeley, and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA.  Supple specializes in book history and the material and social contexts of texts in the early modern and modern worlds. Her approach is to ask what a particular book does, and what can be learned from its creation and use over time. She employs book historical methodologies to inquire into the early modern history of science, with a focus on studies of the natural world. She also has expertise in contemporary artists’ books. Her favorite professional organization is the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP). She will begin her position on Sept. 30.

Looking Ahead

As she builds her new curatorial team, Beredo notes that the emerging team reflects deep changes in the way cultural heritage institutions think about their work.  “The dream of total curatorial coverage is a fantasy,” Beredo said. “There aren’t enough curators in the world. Even if we had replaced exactly the areas of specialization that were here before, we would have gaps. Our understanding of the collections is always evolving.”

In contrast to a bygone era when leading cultural heritage institutions were seen as competing among themselves to acquire the most prestigious and comprehensive collections, Beredo sees a new emphasis on inter-institutional relationships and collaboration, including emerging ideas for collaborative and community-based collection development. 

“We recognize that there are many more players in a broader, more diverse ecosystem,” Beredo said. “It’s not just a handful of elite institutions, and it never was. The strength of collections is all of us.”

—Patricia M. Carey

Image: Clockwise from top left, Julia Hernández, Agnieszka Rec, Sandra Xiomara Sánchez, Sarah Keyes, Michelle Al-Ferzly, Shannon Supple (contributed photos)

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Summer Experience Checklist

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Congratulations on securing your experience! Now it’s time to plan your experience to make the most of your professional development.

Before Your Experience

Goals will assist with initial conversations with your supervisor, and serve as a guide in navigating your internship. Remember that you can always add to your initial goals and contact the Office of Career Strategy if you have questions or need support in identifying or accomplishing them.

• Reflect on your upcoming experience: why did you choose it and what do you hope to gain?
• Consider drafting a Learning Plan as a guide, which is described briefly  in this short video  to help you evaluate your goals, create a plan, and track your progress with your supervisor.

Schedule a meeting with your supervisor

The meeting can be by phone if you are not able to meet in person to discuss the logistics of your positions as well as mutual expectations. Topics for discussion include: start and end dates; daily hours; dress codes; your physical workspace; if you have access to a computer; identification needed for tax documentation; and any needed requests for time off (such as a wedding or other important event, keep these to a minimum).

Request a Mid-Summer Check In Meeting

Another item that OCS suggests you raise at this time with your supervisor is to request a mid-summer check in. The mid-summer check in is an opportunity for you to get feedback from your supervisor halfway through the summer. Establishing this at the start allows both parties to know that they will be meeting at the midpoint to discuss how things are going. This check in is strictly for the student’s personal professional development and not something that will be shared with anyone else. Ideally the student is receiving feedback throughout the internship and not just at this meeting.

Follow up on your conversation

Send an email summarizing your discussion and conveying your enthusiasm for the position. This will show you are serious about your position and establish professionalism from the start.

Is your experience abroad ?

Visit Yale’s International Travel Toolkit for additional considerations.

During Your Experience

Become oriented to the workplace.

Ask for a tour of the facility and ask if you will need keys or employee identification for access to the building. Inquire about the payroll process and how to keep track of your hours so you are paid in a timely manner. Eat lunch with your coworkers to learn more about their work in the organization (also a great way to network!).

Take Initiative and Ask Questions

Arrange a meeting with your supervisor to discuss the organization, including any specific challenges. Request reading material that may be insightful and further contribute to your understanding of the organization or division, helping you place your role in a better context. When given an assignment, ask for a clear sense of what is expected of you, a deadline for completion, and where the project falls among other priorities. You should never say “I don’t have anything to do,” seize the opportunity to assume new responsibilities and learn from professionals around you.

Be Professional

Arrive at work early and do not leave early (even if others are). Respect the organization’s dress code. Keep the conversation professional; you want to establish a reputation based on your work, not your personal life. Stay optimistic during stressful periods. Don’t engage in negative conversations about the organization or fellow colleagues.

Develop Your Network

• Connect with professionals and alums in your field of interest to enhance your experience and learn about different careers, organizations, and job opportunities. You can do this by conducting on-site informational interviews during your experience.
• Try to facilitate at least two informational interviews during your experience. Be sure to discuss this with your supervisor beforehand to obtain approval and ask if they may assist in connecting you to colleagues and/or other departments.
• View the  Informational Interviewing resource for more information and sample questions.

Keep a Journal

Keeping a journal will help you assess your experience, check in with yourself periodically to see where you are in your goals, and make it easier to update your resume. Journal entries can be brief and should capture the substance of your responsibilities, specific accomplishments, and insights into your work (new industry knowledge, new skills). Maintain your journal on a weekly basis by setting aside 15 minutes every Friday to write down a few key points. Consider some of the following prompts (adapted from Mary A. King and H. Frederick Sweitzer, The Successful Internship):

• How has your work changed since you first started?
• What do you think is your main contribution to the site?
• Has the experience to date been rewarding? Why or why not?
• What new soft/hard skills have you learned since the beginning of the experience, and how might they help you?
• Has the experience made you think about possible careers in this field? Another field?
• What feedback did you receive today or this week and how did it make you feel?
• What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of working in this field?
• What have you learned about yourself so far?
• Record key phrases you’ve learned on the job and the contact information of new people.

Mid-Summer Check In Meeting 

Curious as to how well you are doing since you don’t get much one-on-one time with your supervisor? Interested in discussing the idea of taking on an additional project (in addition to continuing to do your current work) to learn a new skill? Seeking advice on building your network before the summer is over? Perhaps your supervisor is always busy and you have questions you have been meaning to ask them. All of these are why the mid-summer check in has lots of benefits for your own professional development. Keep in mind that this is only for your personal use.

Addressing Issues During the Experience

Sometimes, even with the best planning, issues may arise: conflicts with coworkers or supervisors, lack of supervision, or too many administrative tasks instead of expected substantial projects. If you are faced with such challenges, we suggest the following action plan:

• Discuss the situation with an individual who does not work for the organization, such as an OCS career advisor, to obtain an objective viewpoint. Try to pinpoint where the problem lies.
• Brainstorm ways to improve the situation, including ways you can be flexible, and write down your ideas.
• Meet with your supervisor (or other individuals with whom the problem exists), explain the situation from your point of view, and review your ideas. Avoid accusations, and ask the individual(s) for their perception.
• Try to achieve a consensus and resolve the issue. Do not share your concern with others in the organization who were not involved in the meeting.

If you need help, contact the Office of Career Strategy to talk with a career advisor who will help guide you.

Finishing the Experience 

• Before leaving your experience, be sure you have fulfilled your responsibilities.
• Ask your direct supervisor for a recommendation letter or to serve as a reference at a later date. Making this request while still in the experience will yield a more effective recommendation as your performance will be fresh in their mind.
• After leaving the organization, send a thank you note to your direct supervisor and any other employees who served as mentors to you. Your letter should convey your appreciation for the experience, a sense of what you learned, gratitude for any references written on your behalf, and your contact information.
• Update your resume  as soon as your experience is complete and refer back to your journal for fresh content.
• Spend some time on your LinkedIn page by updating your LinkedIn Profile with the new experience; connecting with your summer colleagues via LinkedIn; and consider asking a supervisor or colleague from your summer experience to write a LinkedIn recommendation for you.

Connecting with the Office of Career Strategy

While you’re in the midst of your experience, remember that the Office of Career Strategy is open all summer and ready to assist you, so don’t hesitate to  schedule an appointment .  ( Yale Career Link  appointments are in EST).

Office of Career Strategy

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Yale’s most celebrated resident calls the Visitor Center home during the day and loves to meet new people. If he isn’t out making an appearance, you can catch Handsome Dan at the Visitor Center.

Become a Student Tour Guide

Interested in applying for the hottest student job on campus? We hire a new class of student tour guides each year and encourage you to apply. Applicants must undergo an initial interview and do an audition tour in order to be considered. Learn more by contacting Nancy Franco at [email protected] .