It is always intriguing to discover different areas where liberal arts and science intersect and Professor Drew Harvell’s discussion and film, Fragile Legacy, about the Blaschkas’ glass models of marine life was no exception. Learning about the Blaschka models was really a unique experience for me as they were not really like anything I had seen before. While I had seen plenty of detailed paintings and sketches done of wildlife, I had never encountered a collection that had such a focus on exotic forms of marine life, all done in the form of delicate glass models. Considering also the degree of size of the collection, it was a remarkable achievement. What really struck me about the artwork was both how very unique the collection is in my opinion and how difficult it must have been to create something like that in the nineteenth century. Not only did the Blaschkas have to assemble these complex pieces from glass alone with the technology of that era, but also they must have spent a considerable amount of time and effort actually searching for the creatures and diagramming them in detail. Furthermore, when the film explained that the search to find many of the creatures depicted by the Blaschkas is ongoing, I was only more impressed with what already seemed like a herculean feat by the Blaschkas. The fact that we have not confirmed sightings of these creatures yet, while the Blaschkas were able to find them in the 1800’s without any advanced scuba diving equipment is astonishing. From my perspective, another incredible aspect of the story was that Cornell holds the biggest collection of these glass models in the world, commissioned by our first President, but after the early 1900’s they were forgotten about until relatively recently. Now that these incredible works of art are being rediscovered however, it seems that they have inspired people to seek out and protect some of the sea creatures that were common only 200 years ago and now appear to be rare or gone. Overall, learning about these glass models was a real pleasure and as the professor said, the magnificence of invertebrate creatures can only truly be captured with glass models and I look forward to appreciating that when they are put on display in the Johnson Museum.