Events
The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections will be open for extended hours over the Charter Day Weekend on Saturday, April 25 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 26 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. so that visitors can view and experience our Sesquicentennial exhibitions: Lincoln’s Unfinished Business and 150 Ways to Say Cornell, in addition to viewing the original Charter. University Archivist Elaine Engst and others will be on hand to host this “open house” and provide information about Cornell’s special collections and University history. The Division will also be open on Friday, April 24 and Monday, April 27 – Charter Day—from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Library exhibitions celebrating 150 years as the heart of the university:
150 Ways to Say Cornell
Rare & Manuscript Collections
Through September @ Carl A. Kroch Library
Blackness in the Academy: Black Students Creating a Voice at Cornell
Through August @ Africana Library
This sesquicentennial exhibit showcases Black student life at Cornell University during the Black Studies Movement. It features the 1969 occupation of Willard Straight Hall by students from the Afro-American Society, and the early days of the Africana Studies & Research Center. Also included in this display are a few key books which helped define and gave cause to the Black Studies Movement. Ten books featured are publications of graduate students who all successfully received their Master of Professional Studies degree from the Africana Studies & Research Center at Cornell University.
A Tradition of Advancing the World of Work
Through December @ Catherwood Library
This exhibition celebrates the Cornell University Sesquicentennial and the ILR School's 70th anniversary. Since its founding in 1945, ILR has advanced the world of work through teaching, research, and outreach. The School's archives at the Kheel Center offer a window into the history of student, faculty, and staff efforts to inform employment and labor policy and improve working lives.
You will find photographs, objects, and other materials from the history of extension, teaching, and the library in displays on the 2nd and 5 th floor. To learn more about the history of the school, visit the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives.
Cornell at 2015: Celebrating 150 years at the Law School
Through July @ Law Library
Myron C. Taylor: Cornell Benefactor, Industrial Czar, & Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Ambassador Extraordinary"
A feature of Cornell Law School's primary benefactor and building namesake as well as a celebration of many of the Law Library's donors of named endowments.
Knowledge with a Public Purpose: Portraits in Cornell's Land-Grant History
Through August @ Mann Library
Fostering knowledge as a public good has been a cornerstone of Cornell University's history from its earliest beginnings. In commemoration of Cornell's Sesquicentennial, an interactive exhibit at Mann Library highlights some of the remarkable threads in Cornell's history that have shaped this university's development as the country's only Land-Grant Ivy League university. Featured are both leading and sometimes lesser-known Cornell figures and programs that have laid the groundwork for a thriving culture of public engagement at Cornell today.
The History of the Home Economics Fellowship: Reflections on an Evolving Field
Through May @ Mann Library Lobby
This exhibition provides a special opportunity to celebrate the Dean's Fellowship in the History of Home Economics. Now in its 23rd year, the fellowship has led to a growing collection of scholarly works that trace the history of the field, challenge misperceptions of the past, and connect early efforts to understand the relevance of health, education, and consumer behavior to the College of Human Ecology's work today.
Famous Firsts: The History of the Cornell Math Department
Through December @ Math Library
To commemorate Cornell's Sesquicentennial, you're invited to visit our exhibit on the history of the math department at Cornell University, including such milestones such as the first women to be awarded PhD's in mathematics, the first African American to be awarded a PhD in mathematics, and other important historical events that happened right here at Cornell.
150 Years of Music at Cornell
Glee Club and Chorus, through June
Cornell Orchestras and Wind Ensembles,
July through December @ Music Library
This exhibit celebrates the history of Cornell's choral ensembles and features historical photographs from international tours.
The Heart of the University: Where Any Person Can Find Answers to Any Question
Through December @ Olin & Uris Libraries
This exhibition celebrates Cornell's sesquicentennial through a look at the history of Uris and Olin libraries since they opened in 1891 and 1961, respectively. Photographs, artifacts and maps demonstrate how research has changed over the years, and how the libraries remain "the heart of the university," as Andrew Dickson White memorably wrote. A special installation uses geospatial data to create original maps that locate where Cornell's students originated in its first, fiftieth and centennial classes. Maps from the library's Map Collection show the growing Cornell campus in those years.
Art and Science of Caring: Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing, 1877-1979
Through June @ Weill Cornell Medical Library, New York City
This exhibit honors all of the alumnae, faculty, and administrators of the Nursing School who have made a difference to the nursing profession, by documenting the history of the school. In 1877, the New York Hospital established the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses at the hospital's second location on W. 15th and 16th Streets. In 1932, the medical college and hospital formed the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. In 1942, the New York Hospital school affiliated with Cornell University and was renamed the Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing. The school closed in 1979.
A supplementary exhibit in the Samuel J. Wood Library features those nurses who responded to the call for nurses in the Spanish American and two World Wars. New York Hospital organized American Red Cross hospitals in World War I and World War II.
For a listing of general events related to the sesquicentennial, see the Cornell Sesquicentennial Website.