Annual Audubon Day showcases 19th-Century Audubon prints and live falcon encounter

The University of Pittsburgh’s Archives and Special Collections hosted its annual Audubon Day celebration on Nov. 10, featuring a rare showcase of “Birds of America” prints. The event was free and open to students and located on the third floor of Hillman Library.

The Audubon Day celebration featured two talks and a curated display of Audubon prints. Sean Morrissey, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Studio Arts, led the first talk, “Collaboration and Process: Producing the Birds of America,” from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Morrissey’s talk explored the intricate techniques behind the creation of the “Birds of America” collection. 

“The talk today focused on two aspects of Audubon and the sort of production and making of the Birds of America prints, which specifically focused on collaboration — Audubon working with printmakers and print producers in both London and in the United States,” Morrissey said. “It also focused on the process of how the prints were made, the technical aspects of it and an in-depth dive into showing people what they’re seeing today at Hillman.” 

Morrissey explained that his invitation to give the talk came right before the fall term began, which led him to dedicate the next few months to researching Audubon and the creation of “Birds of America.”

“I’m not someone who knows a lot about Audubon, and so I spent the last two and a half months deep diving into Archives and Special Collections here, the portfolio of ‘Birds of America’ that they have, and also reading a lot of material and connecting the history with the process,” Morrissey said.

The second talk took place from noon to 1 p.m. outside the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room, where Teri Grendzinski of the National Aviary presented “Birds and Conservation.” This talk discussed the challenges facing bird populations, the impact of conservation efforts and featured a live falcon demonstration. Throughout the day, attendees could view a selection of “Birds of America” prints displayed in the Archives & Special Collections Instruction Room from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Bill Daw, curator of the Curtis Theater Collection, explained his role in curating the selection of prints for display. 

“There are 435 prints in the collection, but we can only display a couple dozen at a time. We aim for variety in species, colors and sizes while avoiding repetition from previous events,” Daw said. 

According to Daw, the “Birds of America” prints are considered to be one of the most valuable sets of volumes in the University Library System collections, as only 120 complete sets are known to exist.

“The copy of the “Birds of America” came from the Darlington family, who were one of the early donors to the universities, as far as contributing to the library. Specifically, I believe the original donations came in the 1900s,” Daw said. “And so the core of what is now the rare book library is part of that original Darlington bequest of rare books relating to early American history and the French and Indian War.”

Daw emphasized the importance of collaboration in the Audubon collection as there were many collaborators who have added to the collection. 

“A really important point is, kind of anecdotally, we refer to this Audubon collection as the Audubon prints. But there are a lot of other artists, both named and unnamed, who contributed to the entire work,” Daw said. “That is the Birds of America. And, you know, they’re part of the process, which is illustrated in the prints too.”

Rachel Lavenda, rare books and special collections librarian, discussed an initiative to make the prints more accessible by partnering with the Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians (LAMP) to create tactile images of three Audubon prints. 

“For those with visual impairments, this would be another way to interact with the prints,” Lavenda said. “This was our first partnership with them, and I’m hoping we can expand that relationship to develop more tactile images in the future. Since this event is really about providing access to these prints, I think it’s a great direction to grow in.”

Lavenda also explained how she worked with Morrissey and other collaborators to effectively facilitate the event. She also discussed the organization of Grendzinski’s talk and the importance in planning ahead for the live falcon encounter.

“I think Jean Ann Haas, who used to be in my position, had a relationship with the aviary. And so that is where that came into being as we usually had an aviary presence pre-pandemic” Lavenda said. “So for this year, we just had that on our minds earlier to really properly give notice about setting up a bird encounter.”