Mann Library

From April through October, 2022, Mann Library Gallery presents a selection of Mud Paintings by Jenifer Wightman. When microbes living in the mud are exposed to light, they synthesize pigment. Each painting presents a site-specific transforming colorfield, reflecting the diverse species and the unique soil and water conditions of the mud sample. This show displays diverse compositions derived from the most pristine to the most toxic landscapes, illustrating the incredible capacity for microbes to make...

In 1932, Nikolai Vavilov, a brilliant plant geneticist of the early Soviet Union, visited Cornell University to attend the 6th International Congress of Genetics hosted by Cornell and the New York Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y. Recognized for key contributions to the study of plant genetics, including his pioneering work on global centers of genetic diversity, he achieved worldwide fame in his lifetime. Yet, only a few years after his Cornell visit, Vavilov died...

Though an ancient practice, attaching meanings to flowers probably reached the zenith of its expression in the books of the mid-nineteenth century printed in England, France, and the United States. What had started as simply applying connotations – a feeling, a broad concept – had, by Queen Victoria’s reign blossomed into a complex system of messaging that could convey a surprising amount of information in the arrangement of a bouquet.

A peek at select treasures from the collection of Cornell entomologist John G. Franclemont introduces the early history of a fascinating life science.

In 1912 Lucien Vogel started a new magazine dedicated to presenting the fashions of the most prominent Parisian design houses in the most luxurious way possible - la Gazette du Bon Ton. By 1925 he was running Condé Nast's VOGUE Paris. In between, a stable of brilliant young artists filled the pages of Gazette du Bon Ton with stylish pochoir prints which would help propel Art Deco to the forefront of the design world. Together,...

Prior to the 20th century, one of the few paths to scientific relevance for women was the pursuit of botany; a number of women achieved success and recognition through illustrating scientific works on plant life with accuracy, skill, and beauty. This exhibit celebrates the art and achievements of several woman illustrators of the 19th and early 20th centuries whose works are held by Albert R. Mann Library.

Chocolate has been described as being more than a food, less than a drug. This description points to the singular position this wildly popular confection plays in our lives. Popular to the tune of $74 billion annually, chocolate begins as a tiny blossom on a small tropical tree. Only three out of a thousand of these will produce the cacao pods that after a labor intensive and lengthy journey, with several chemically and technically complex...

Since they were first domesticated, nearly 10,000 years ago, in South and Southeast Asia, chickens have accompanied human beings everywhere on the planet. When the early European settlers arrived in the Americas, they unloaded crates of chickens - no doubt squawking in protest - from their crowded, stinking ships. For the next several hundred years, chickens chased bugs and scratched in the dust in farmyards and backyards all over the country.

This exhibit features books from the Phillips Beekeeping Collection, a testament to the hard work and vision of one man, the dedication of hundreds of beekeepers and the labor of millions of bees. In 1925, Everett Franklin Phillips, the recently hired professor of apiculture at Cornell, began to act on his desire to create a great central collection of beekeeping literature, an "accessible storehouse of our knowledge of bees and beekeeping."

Whole Earth Catalog presented a do-it-yourself approach to environmentalism against a backdrop of widespread pollution in the United States. At the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, that message of cooperation and education about environmental issues resonates stronger than ever.