Plant Based: Botanical Innovations from Paper to Poison
September 18, 2025 – August 28, 2026 | Hirshland Exhibition Gallery, Level 2B, Carl A. Kroch Library
Join us for an opening event on Thursday, September 18:
Emily Detrick, The Elizabeth Weaver Director of Horticulture at the Cornell Botanic Gardens, will give a lecture, 4:30 – 5:30 pm | 132 Goldwin Smith Hall
With a reception immediately following, 5:30 – 7:00 pm | Hirshland Exhibition Gallery, Level 2B, Carl A. Kroch Library.
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear, both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.
— William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey
For millennia, humans have looked to the botanical world for the practical and the profound, finding countless imaginative and innovative uses for plants of all kinds. The artifacts gathered in this exhibition demonstrate the essential role plants have played in human communication, health, clothing, and design across the ages, showing that the phrase “plant based” can apply to much more than food and diet. Plant Based explores multiple dimensions of our varied interactions with plants, and celebrates the earth’s florae, their myriad uses, and the inspiration humanity has discovered in their bounty.
This exhibition features items from across Cornell University Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections, as well as plant and insect specimens on loan from the L.H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium and the Cornell Insect Collection. Materials on view include handmade paper from as early as the Ming Dynasty, woodblocks created by artist and Cornellian Elfriede Abbe, herbals from around the world, ancient papyrus fragments, contemporary artists’ books, and much more – illuminating just how far the roots of the plant world reach into our lives.