Birds of a Feather

January 28, 2010

On Saturday, January 23, 2010, some 150 visitors happily flocked together to welcome home the elephant folio first edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. The viewing celebrated 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.

Curator Elaine Smyth answers questions while visitors view volume three

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. Both visitors and staff thoroughly enjoyed the “welcome home” event!

Visitors look on while staff member Christina Riquelmy turns the pages of volume one. Volumes two, three, and four are being shown in the background.

Staff member Sarah Ferstel (right) pauses so that visitors can admire the white pelican depicted in volume 4.

Danny Heitman, author of A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House (LSU Press, 2008), visits with staff member Anne Smith, between book signings.

The LSU Libraries includes the LSU Library and the adjacent Hill Memorial Library. Together, the libraries contain more than 4 million volumes and provide additional resources such as expert staff, technology, services, electronic resources, and facilities that advance research, teaching, and learning across every discipline.