Before attending the tour, I had already formed my preconceived notions about it. This was going to be another boring museum walkthrough where I was going to have to pretend that I actually cared about what the tour guide was talking about. As we reached the basement of Olin, I saw a new side of the library, a historical junction that celebrated the history of Cornell and that of America. The first attraction was more than enough to grab my attention. I was standing in front of the original copy of the 13th Amendment that had been passed 150 years ago with all the signatures of the representatives still on it.
Here are a few pictures that I took which include :
The first draft of the first chapter of Charlotte’s Web written by E.B. White
Ezra Cornell’s letter to his wife Documenting his experience of meeting Abraham Lincoln
The original paperback copies of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield
Shakespeare’s Collection of Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies
A Copy of Fredrick Douglass’s North Star
I was very impressed by the caliber of documents and manuscripts that were preserved in Olin. As a world history enthusiast, I was proud to know that my University had access to some of the world’s most famous and historical artifacts. Most importantly, I was impressed with how the University took care of all their historical documents and did not let them perish over the years that they were stored. I will definitely be returning to Olin on the future to check out some more of their exhibits.
I agree with you that Cornell does an excellent job in getting great documents as well as properly preserving them. During my freshman year I went on a tour to see the documents in Olin. I was pretty surprised just like you on the variety and the importance of all the documents.
Reading through everyone’s posts about this event, I realized how many interesting items Cornell has in it’s collection. I think I’ve been on three tours of Kroch, and each time, they bring out historically interesting items to show, and there are always new things that I didn’t know Cornell had. It’s crazy to think about just how many documents they manage to preserve underground. It would be a really cool to check out the full expanse of their collection.
I have been on this tour before, and I was completely amazed with what Kroch library had to offer as well. Being a student that can sometimes get lost in the homework that is in front of me, I sometimes forget that I am at one of the greatest research institutions in the world. It always fascinates me that I can walk into Kroch and have access to some amazing artifacts within minutes. It is nice to see Kroch and talk to some of the archivists and curators and get a sense of how much work is put into maintaining these artifacts in order for us to be able to use them for years in the future. Last year I went down and accessed the archives for a research project and it was one of my favorite things that I have done at Cornell.