This online exhibition was first published in 2006 by Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It accompanied and featured content from a physical exhibition of rare materials displayed in Cornell University’s Carl A. Kroch Library from June 8 to September 23, 2006. Cornell University Library archived the original version of the online exhibition in 2024 to preserve its earlier design. This version maintains access to the original images and text within an updated website.
On display from June 8 through September 23, 2006, In the Founders’ Footsteps celebrates contributions from the dedicated collectors and donors who have enriched Cornell University Library’s spectacular rare book and manuscript collections. Cornell’s first president, Andrew Dickson White, and first librarian, Willard Fiske, donated their unsurpassed collections to Cornell more than a century ago. Generations of devoted alumni have followed in their footsteps, building Cornell’s collections with gifts that have made the Library a vital center for the study, enjoyment, and preservation of our cultural heritage.
In the Founders’ Footsteps showcases rare books, manuscripts, and artifacts donated or funded by Cornell’s generous alumni and friends. Spanning three centuries of literature, history, and art, the exhibition features selections from magnificent collections on the history of science, woman suffrage, slavery in America, crime and punishment, food and wine, Russian fables, and Victorian fiction. Also on display are gifts to the Library’s remarkable literary collections, including original letters and documents by Vladimir Nabokov, E. B. White, and George Bernard Shaw.