Plus a book signing and screening of “A Summer of Birds”

The LSU Libraries will host a viewing of the famed double elephant folio edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America (London, 1827-1838).
The viewing will be held in the McIlhenny Room of Hill Memorial Library on the LSU campus, on Saturday, January 23, from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.

The viewing celebrates the successful completion of more than a year of painstaking conservation work to restore and preserve this treasure, funded by a major grant from the Coypu Foundation. The Libraries held the last Audubon Day in 2007, when it was determined that the four volumes could no longer be shown safely due to structural damage to the bindings and other problems with individual plates. In 2008, the Coypu Foundation made a donation of $99,000 to enable conservation of this work by Etherington Conservation Services. The work was completed and the final volume returned to the library of December 28, 2009.

Audubon Day is free and the public is invited, but reservations are required. Viewings of the folio volumes are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 noon, and 1 p.m. Only 40 people per hour will be admitted, so that everyone has a chance to view the four folio volumes.

To request a reservation, visit the Libraries’ Special Collections website at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/audubon/index.html or call
225-578-6544 during business hours.

Screening of “A Summer of Birds” and Book Signing

While the four folio volumes are being shown in the McIlhenny Room, visitors will also be able to view the recently premiered LPB documentary, “A Summer of Birds,” in the Hill Lecture Hall. Copies of Danny Heitman’s book of the same name and the DVDs of the documentary will be on sale. Danny Heitman will be on hand to autograph books from 10 till noon.

A renowned masterpiece of natural history art, the Birds of America records the rich bird and plant life Audubon saw and drew first-hand when he lived in Louisiana in the 1820s. The edition is known as the “elephant” folio because of its large size, with each page measuring 40 by 27 inches. Publication took eleven years, from 1827 to 1838. LSU’s copy of the Birds was purchased with a grant from the Crown Zellerbach Foundation in 1964. It is one of the Libraries’ greatest treasures, and thanks to the Coypu Foundation, it is now restored to fine condition.

Contact:

Special Collections

LSU Libraries

Louisiana State University

225/578-6544

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The institute will not occupy its own facility, but will be a “virtual center” that will provide the roadmap needed to support new biofuels and bioprocessing endeavors in the state and prioritize pathways for integration of those industries into the mainstream, according to John Russin, AgCenter associate vice chancellor and institute director. The institute is expected to link Louisiana’s agricultural base with emerging bioenergy initiatives, which will expand the state’s role in developing renewable energy sources, while expanding the economic base for crop producers in the state, according to the proposal submitted to the Board of Regents.”

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