FASHION AND FEATHERS explores the complex and nebulous space between inspiration and exploitation. Throughout the exhibition, we have endeavored to identify as many birds as possible, hypothesizing about abstracted representations of birds and identifying actual feathers. We invite you to “go birding” in this exhibition. Look closely at each item, identify birds, and in doing so, reflect upon the beauty and tragedy of fashion and feathers.

Treasures from the Franclemont Collection

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

The Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Cornell is a testament to human vision and dedication, and the labor of millions of bees.

Since they were first domesticated, nearly 10,000 years ago chickens have accompanied human beings everywhere on the planet.

Food of the Gods

Popular to the tune of $74 billion annually, chocolate begins as a tiny blossom on a small tropical tree.

The Voyage and Revelations of HMS Challenger

In late December of 1872, HMS Challenger left harbor to begin the great scientific voyage of her age.

The Life and Legacy of Robert Moog

Maps from the Collection of PJ Mode

Travel Imagery Before and After Photography

WOMEN EMPOWERED: Fashions from the Frontline chronicles how women have strategically and persistently used fashion to empower and uplift. From activists to politicians, academics to servicewomen, artists to athletes, entertainers and everyday unsung heroes, WOMEN EMPOWERED uses fashion to tell the stories of women on the frontlines. The exhibit is therefore organized according to physical spaces--The Street, The Government, The Stage, The Sports Arena, The Academy--where fashion transforms, at times transgresses, and ultimately empowers.

Early Women in Botanical Illustration

Prior to the 20th century, one of the few paths to scientific relevance for women was the pursuit of botany.

Ithaca & Silent Film Style

The Biggest Little Fashion City explored Ithaca’s silent film history through the lens of costume, style, and fashion by chronicling the influence of the actors and actresses who lived and worked in Ithaca during the heyday of film production. Secondly, the exhibit highlighted the ways in which the new medium of moving pictures more broadly transformed fashion trends from the 1910s through the late 1920s.

An eclectic exhibition, indeed. It grew out of a simple and (intentionally) vague prompt: texture. What resulted was a group of students and staff members selecting some of the most visually stunning and beloved items hidden in the corners of our costume and textile collection. TEXTURE is about how fashion and textile objects can ask questions beyond their selvedges and seams.

An Old Industry Takes New Root

An age-old beverage has returned to the forefront with New York and Cornell University leading the charge.

Go Figure explores perceptions and representations of Euro-American beauty ideals across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Through outerwear and undergarments, this historical costume exhibition shows how women’s bodies have been manipulated and shaped to fit fashionable silhouettes at different moments in time. From corsetry and girdles to diet and exercise, shaping the human body is critical to fashion change and illustrates the fluctuating and dynamic nature of socio-cultural conceptions of “beauty.”

Films, Mills, and Poets: Mid-Century Bombay was an exhibit that was shown at the Carl A. Kroch Library's Asia Collections between September and November 2017, in conjunction with 'The Archive and the City of Bombay', a symposium held September 15. This online version highlights the major areas of the physical exhibit, while also showing a selection of the objects from the collection that were on display.

The Interplay of Sound and Text

Visions of Witchcraft from the Cornell Collections

This exhibit focuses on the role played by two major American clothing workers’ unions, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) in defending the standards of living and the job security of their members through the use of the union label and the promotion of the fashion industry in collaboration with prominent American designers. Sewn into every union-made garment, the label signaled to consumers that the goods they were buying were produced by American workers who enjoyed “fair labor standards and the American way of life.”

Artists' Books in Context

Highlights from the Waxman Collection

The Art of Gazette du Bon Ton

In 1912 Lucien Vogel started a new magazine dedicated to presenting the fashions of the most prominent Parisian design houses.

Projects from the Summer Graduate Fellowship in Digital Humanities

Each summer Cornell's Olin Library offers a fellowship program focused on preparing humanists with digital expertise enhancing their abilities to analyze information and engage new audiences in their research. As a result of this fellowship, the fellows generate digitally-based projects using techniques developed throughout the summer fellowship. This exhibition highlights a selection of the projects from the previous four summers.

50 Years of Media Art in The Rose Goldsen Archive

Studying Religion at a Secular University

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Library's Human Sexuality Collection

Planning Solutions of the 1920s-1940s

A Dark History of Children's Literature

Opening the Doors of Education to "Any Person"

The First 50 Years of American Photography

From the Trojan Horse to Godzilla

Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott's Replicant Futures

Last Full Measure of Devotion

After the Origins

A History of Wine

Citizen of Two Worlds

The Ezra Cornell Bicentennial Exhibition

The Records of the Human Rights Campaign

Builders of the Cornell University Library

A Centennial Celebration

Cornell's Presidents