For centuries, humanity has had a complex relationship with birds, which have often been seen as pests or resources to be exploited, impediments to progress and threats to well-being. At the same time, Enlightenment thinkers made great efforts to study, depict, and classify birds as a means toward better understanding the cosmos. And birds have been a source of inspiration and meaning across eras and cultures. Our upcoming exhibition, Winging It: A Brief History of Humanity’s Relationship with Birds, shares examples from the Newberry's collection and how birds persist today oftentimes in spite of encroachment on their land, water, and air.
Curator
Bob Dolgan, Director of Communications, Newberry Library
Related Programming
Professional Development for Educators
Winging It: The Art and Science of Birds, July 16-17
A unique two-day journey blending science, art, and exploration, indoors and out, in partnership with the Field Museum.
Adult Education Class at the Newberry (registration opens to all May 21)
Winging It: Humanity's Relationship with Birds, August 6-27, 6pm
This class will tell the story of birds through the Newberry’s collection, including the works of Mark Catesby and Thomas Bewick. We will also look at the evolution of conservation in the United States and the troubling history that led to multiple extinctions.
Public Program at the Newberry (registration opens July 1)
The World of Monty and Rose Film Screening, August 21, 6pm
The World of Monty and Rose is a 2021 documentary film that tells the story of a pair of federally endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers as they attempt to nest on the “busiest stretch of the busiest beach” in Chicago.
About the Space
The Hanson Gallery is a small, intimate space. Exhibitions mounted there typically include 12-24 items, allowing visitors a glimpse of what the Newberry’s vast collections have to offer. Hanson exhibitions are often modest thematic presentations that draw from a range of the library's collections or interpretive explorations that are built around single items. Examples of past exhibitions include: Wheels and Indigenous Portraits Unbound. Click here to view a photo of the gallery.
