| The fall issue of the Elihu Burritt Library Newsletter is available. The new issue profiles LSC 150, the 1-credit library research skills course taught by Burritt librarians, the National Library of Medicine’s traveling Harry Potter exhibit now on display through November 14, 2009, as well as much more news and opinion! |  |
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Rex Brasher’s Birds and Trees of North America
Rex Brasher’s Birds and Trees of North America is currently on display on the main level of the Burritt Library.
Rex Brasher was an American artist who produced a set of books entitled The Birds and Trees of North America in the 1930’s. Brasher was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1869, and by the age of 16 he started painting birds in their natural surroundings. He traveled to every corner of the North American continent and by 1924, after painting thousands of birds, considered his task done.
Mr. Brasher purchased a farm in Kent, Connecticut in 1911, where he continued to work. When his eyesight failed him, two years before his death in 1960, he stopped painting. Brasher’s work contains 875 painted prints of over 1200 species and subspecies of North American birds. Brasher could not afford to print his work in color, therefore he ordered black and white prints and then, using an airbrush and a stencil, hand colored each plate.
There were 100 sets of 12 volumes of The Birds and Trees of North America produced, including almost 90,000 hand colored reproductions. Burritt library currently exhibits volume 1 out of 12 volumes which are housed at the Special Collections department.
Library Renovation and Asbestos Abatement
The first phase of the long-awaited renovation of the first floor of Burritt Library has begun. During this time only certain areas of the first floor will be accessible while asbestos abatement is ongoing.
The main level of the library can be accessed by the interior and exterior stairways located at the front of the building. Restrooms can be accessed only by the southernmost interior or exterior stairways (the side toward Copernicus). Those who require elevator access from the first floor may enter the building through the side door adjacent to the parking lot, and then use the phone across from the elevators for access.
We thank you for your patience as we undergo an exciting transformation! When completed the first floor of Burritt will be the main entry to the Library.
