Event box

The University Library System's (ULS) annual Audubon Day will be held on Monday, November 5th and is open to the University community and the public. This event will feature a display of twenty original prints from John James Audubon's Birds of America and programming that celebrates birds and the Audubon Society, both locally and nationally.  In addition, the ULS has partnered with the National Aviary, the nation’s premier bird zoo and the only independent indoor nonprofit zoo dedicated to birds to offer live bird meet and greets.

The display of twenty original prints from John James Audubon's Birds of America will take place in the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room, Room 363 Hillman Library, from 9:00am – 4:45pm.

All other programming will take place in Hillman Library, Room G-49 Digital Scholarship Commons and includes the following:

“Spare the Birds! Aududon, Grinnell, and the Birds of America,” presented by Dr. Carolyn Merchant, author of Spare the Birds! George Bird Grinnell and the First Audubon Society.  Book signing immediately following presentation– 10:00am

Dr. Merchant is Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics at University of California Berkeley.  Her teaching and research have focused on American environmental and cultural history in the overall context of Western history, philosophy, and the history of science. She is the author of more than a dozen books and 100+ articles.  Dr. Merchant is a frequent presenter on ecofeminist philosophy and ethics, history of science, and environmental history.

Live Bird Meet and Greet – 11:00am

“A Century of Birds:  The History of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania,” presented by Chris Kubiak, Education Director, Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania– 1:00pm

In 2016 Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania (ASWP) celebrated its’ 100 year founding. In those 100 years, ASWP grew from two different organizations to currently one of the largest Audubon chapters in the country. The organization drove bird conservation and environmental awareness during the height of industrialization in Pittsburgh, and helped foster interest in our local avian fauna. At a time when birds were viewed ambivalently or worse, this talk will examine the growth and history of the organization as a local leader in bird education and how it championed the triumphant return of the Bald Eagle to Western Pennsylvania.

Live Bird Meet and Greet – 2:00pm

Pitt’s copy of Birds of America, comprising 435 individual prints, is the single most-valuable set of materials in the University of Pittsburgh Library collection.  Audubon’s famous work was gifted to Pitt by the family of William McCullough Darlington as part of a much larger bequest of manuscripts, books, maps and atlases.  We celebrate Pitt’s Audubon Day by sharing this national treasure with the students, faculty, and community members in the western Pennsylvania region, who will also have the opportunity to learn more about the history of our region through the Darlington family’s collecting interests.   

For more information, please contact Jeanann Croft Haas, Special Collections Coordinator, Archives & Special Collections at 412-648-8199 or jeanann@pitt.edu.

Date:
Monday, November 5, 2018
Time:
9:00am - 4:45pm
Location:
Hillman Library, Digital Scholarship Commons, G-49
Campus:
Pittsburgh
Presenter:
Dr. Carolyn Merchant & Chris Kubiak
Categories:
Event

Event Organizer

Michael Thompson