Launched in 1998, the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s artist-in-residence program was one of the first of its kind. It commissions artists to create original works inspired by the museum’s collection of nearly 400,000 rare books, manuscripts, and decorative and fine arts objects.

The Rosenbach first commissioned Headlong Dance Theater, a Philadelphia-based company known for its witty take on contemporary culture. The company created Ulysses: Sly Uses of a Book by James Joyce, based on the Rosenbach’s manuscript to the modernist masterpiece. The Rosenbach has since worked with visual artists, musicians, poets, filmmakers, graphic novelists, photographers, and others, commissioning at least one artist each year.