Rare and Manuscript Collections

New Mui Ho Fine Arts Library inspires by design

Historic collection gets fresh start

Marcie Farwell becomes the inaugural Gordon and Marjorie Osborne Textile Industry Curator.

Art-science collaboration spotlights pollinator health

PolliNation exhibit conveys scientific facts while prompting questions and conversations through art. 

Exhibit features first Commencement, first graduates

The first-ever Cornell diploma and other rare artifacts are on display at Cornell Commences exhibit.

Exhibit on labor movements features Kheel Center artifacts

With historical materials from Cornell University Library’s Kheel Center for Labor-Management and Archives, the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) opens the exhibit City of Workers, City of Struggle: How Labor Movements Changed New York on May 1. 

Fine Arts Library service to be interrupted May 20-Aug. 5

Fine Arts Library (FAL) materials in Annex unavailable May 20–August 5, and B56 Sibley Hall (the temporary FAL location) last day July 26

On its 25th year, Library’s Fuerst Award honors student workers

Cornell University Library honored its most dedicated student workers with the Fuerst Award at an April 16 ceremony attended by their cheering mentors and supervisors.

Cornell librarians help train researchers in Africa

Cornell University librarians go the distance to share knowledge that makes a difference—and, in January and February, two of them traveled to Africa to help researchers advance food security and legal scholarship.

Book marks Tompkins County’s place in suffrage movement

In their book, Achieving Beulah Land: The Long Struggle for Suffrage in Tompkins County, New York, Carol Kammen and Elaine Engst, MA ’72, gather historical images, first-person accounts and other artifacts that provide insights into the national struggle for women’s right to vote in the U.S.

JFK letter to professor donated to library

Rediscovering a pioneering botanical illustrator

Digitization efforts of Cornell University Library and the research of a Cuban-American historian bring attention to an unpublished masterpiece from the 1800s.

Apply for 2019 Digitization Grants

To build lasting collections for teaching and scholarship, Cornell University Library’s digitization grants program invites proposals from A&S faculty and grads.

How do you flourish in scientific publishing? Ask a librarian

To jump-start the careers of graduate students and postdocs, Cornell University Library held a free workshop, “Research from Start to Publish,” Jan. 7–8.

Celebrating arXiv’s growth at the library, future at CIS

A gathering honors arXiv’s 17 years with Cornell University Library and looks ahead to its future with Computing and Information Science.

Documentarian: Take down paywalls with open access to scholarship

Academic publishing is a $25 billion-a-year industry dominated by a handful of publishers with unfair business practices, claimed Paywall. Director Jason Schmitt screened his exposé at Cornell Cinema.

Hip hop and basketball icon shows documentary at Cornell

Bobbito Garcia shares his life story and pays homage to the people and places that defined his career.

Exhibit commemorates women’s right to vote

Woman Suffrage at Cornell is launched on Election Day 2018.

SPARK Talks 2018 brings specialized research to a general audience

Grads and post-docs deliver their “elevator” pitches at this yearly event.

“Beautiful” oddity unveiled at math library

Gömböc 1865, a gift from its co-inventor, finds its home at Cornell.

Library study named in honor of Isaac Kramnick

Elisabeth Boas and Art Spitzer—both from the Class of ’71—pay homage to a beloved professor.

Portal connects President Pollack to Afghan coding school for girls

Conversing with counterparts in Herat, Afghanistan, a small group of Cornell leaders and students discuss how to empower women in STEM . 

Conference explores migration, celebrates Wason Collection centennial

“What better way to mark this momentous anniversary than through a dynamic exchange of ideas that honors and continues the spirit of the Wason Collection,” said Gerald R. Beasley, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, during his welcome speech.

Library exhibit weaves together text and sound

How do you write a sound? A new library exhibit explores the criss-crossings of acoustic and writing technologies.

Seven projects awarded 2018 digitization grants

Faculty and graduate students collaborate with Cornell University Library’s curators and digitization experts to create online collections. 

New program lets students request textbooks for reserve

Students can now request for the Library to buy textbooks and make them available for short-term borrowing (typically two hours) if the textbooks are not already available on course reserves.

Railway records document seismic labor shifts

Comprising 380 boxes of records, photographs, correspondence and more, the 63 newly processed railroad collections support research in the ILR School and beyond.

Library receives collection on Jewish fables around the world

The books are in several languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish, Aramaic, Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and Judeo-Persian.

Notes from Cornell typewriters

The typewriters will allow Cornellians to connect with each other and the past.

Student workers honored for ‘outstanding service’

The Fuerst prize, named for William F. Fuerst, Jr. ’39, is awarded annually to students on the basis of their exceptional performance, initiative and service to the library.

Finding, using map data online just got easier

The Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository, known as CUGIR, now includes a powerful new search tool, making it easier for users to find and download a wide variety of geospatial data.

Library offers help protecting online privacy

Cornellians can find out how to make their personal data more secure, or learn more about how companies are tracking their online habits and physical movements, during the Digital CoLab’s new drop-in hour.

Elevator art contest winners

The winning entry depicts “how Cornell equips students with education in various fields of studies, and provides access to the latest technologies.”

Library ‘portal’ to connect campus with people worldwide

Users can have spontaneous conversations with people through the portal, and classes can reserve and use the portals for projects or assignments for global learning.

Legal information for developing countries

The goal of the Global Online Access to Legal Information program is strengthening the rule of law, evidence-based research, healthcare, policymaking and global justice in developing countries by providing access to free or low cost legal information. 

Create something at mannUfactory makerspace, opening Feb. 1

Among the tools and software available in the makerspace are soldering kits, sewing machines, mini-computing kits, hand tools, large-format printing on materials such as fabric or vinyl, and video and audio editing equipment.

Apply for 2018 Arts and Sciences digitization grants

The goal of the program is to build enduring digital collections in support of scholarship and teaching in Arts and Sciences. 

Cornellians can borrow from Ithaca College Library

“We value our partnership with Ithaca College, and look forward to welcoming the Ithaca College community,” said Wendy Wilcox, Cornell access services librarian.

Rand to house luminous, voluminous fine arts library

The Mui Ho Fine Arts Library will feature three dense stack levels providing shelving for approximately 125,000 volumes, a generous reading area, spaces for group and individual study on the main library level and office space on the side of the building near Milstein Hall.