Campus Artifacts, Art & Memorabilia

About this collection

This digital collection includes images of a selection of the plaques, pictures, sculptures and other objects of artistic and historical interest that can be found across Cornell’s Ithaca campus. The artifacts have been photographed by Professor Howland and collaborators from the Cornell Association of Professors Emeriti (CAPE) and the Cornell University Library. The creation of this collection was supported by a grant from the Grants Program for Digital Collections in Arts and Science.

Historical context

Originally published in 1984, along with a 1990 addendum, Contributions to Cornell History: Portraits and Memorabilia by Elizabeth Baker Wells is a record of the University’s historical and artistic artifacts. The volumes are available as searchable PDFs in eCommons, Cornell’s institutional repository. This work is the basis of this digital collection.

Cornell’s memorabilia are the solid artifacts of its history, and essential parts of it. For example, lines from Whittier’s poem, "Barclay of Ury" , which are above the lintel of the main entrance of Warren Hall. The person responsible for putting these lines there is unknown; however, that it was possible it to inscribe the lines of a deeply religious poem of a Quaker poet on a State building, tells us much about the religious climate of the university a hundred years ago.

Using the collection

For questions about this collection, contact the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at rareref@cornell.edu or the Cornell Association of Professors Emeritus at cape@cornell.edu.

More information

Collection steward

Evan Earle, Peter J. Thaler University Archivist

Metadata creation

Cornell University Library

Funding

Grants Program for Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences, awarded to Howard C. Howland, Professor Emeritus, Neurobiology and Behavior, 2010.

Credits

This collection overview was adapted from a previous introduction to the collection and last reviewed in 2025.

Collection sources

• Campus Planning Department
• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• College of Art and Architecture
• Cornell University Library
• Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art