Cornell University Library

NYS invasive species illuminated by art and science exhibit

February 24, 2025

Students, scientists, and artists have joined forces to present a Cornell University Library exhibit designed to spread awareness about non-native plants and insects threatening ecosystems …

Librarians as teaching partners, libraries as laboratories

January 24, 2025

2024 was a busy year for Cornell University Library’s teaching librarians. In the fall semester alone, they taught 428 instruction sessions for various courses and …

Rare transcript, photos of MLK Jr. union speech discovered

January 17, 2025

Claire Deng ’22 was doing a survey of archival papers last summer at a library in the ILR School when she came across something unexpected. …

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Ties that Bind

Quilting at the Clarke Africana Library

This two-part exhibit celebrates quilting in the African American community.

This exhibition features art made with photosynthetic bacteria. This first painting, Winogradsky Rothko, appeared outside Mann Library in 2004. Winogradsky Rothko combines the work of a 19th century soil microbiologist -Sergei Winogradsky- with a 20th century colorfield painter -Mark Rothko. Since then, many pieces have been constructed to visualize the diverse liveliness of microbes in diverse ecosystems, ranging from pristine waterways to some of the most toxic superfund sites such as the Gowanus Canal in NYC. Of note, there is a new living painting (installed March 13, 2022) in the foyer of Mann Library. This project is made of mud from BeeBee Lake. The endogenous microbes will synthesize pigments and develop a transforming colorfield painting (March-September). This project connects back to my first 'mud painting' name Winogradsky Rothko (2004) also made from mud from BeeBe Lake. This time, the 2 vessel was made to reference two 19th century Japanese Landscape Paintings. One will have just Beebe Lake mud, the other will hold 10% biochar, a long-term carbon sequestration mechanism. Both frames will be outfitted with pH, eH and temperature sensors. As the outside visually changes, the chemical and physical characteristics will be logged here.

Cultivating Silence

NIkolai Vavilov and the Suppression of Science in the Modern Era

NIkolai Ivanovich Vavilov was one of the most brilliant geneticists of the 20th century - yet his life ended in a Soviet prison, jailed for his ideas.

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