Hive and the Honeybee

About this collection

The Hive and the Honeybee contains the first forty volumes of the American Bee Journal, covering the years 1861 through 1900, as well as nearly fifty monographs on apiculture. This digital collection originally started as a collection of ten titles deemed to be among the most historically important books in the Everett F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Cornell’s Albert R. Mann Library, one of the largest and most complete apiculture libraries in the world. Development of this digital collection was made possible by the support of beekeepers across the United States.

Historical context

The print collection was created by Everett Franklin Phillips, Cornell professor of apiculture, in 1925. Phillips envisioned the collection as an "accessible storehouse of our knowledge of bees and beekeeping." By 1926, Phillips had persuaded over 223 people from twenty-nine states and twenty-six foreign countries to donate thousands of books and pamphlets. Phillips' plan for raising the money necessary for creating the library's endowment was convincing hundreds of New York state beekeepers to set aside one of their hives for the library. When a hive had raised $50 from honey sales, the beekeeper's obligation was completed. From the initial $2,000 raised, income from this endowment fund continues to support the collection today.

Using the collection

For questions about this collection, please contact mann-ref@cornell.edu.

More information

Collection steward

Michael Cook, Environmental Studies Curator

Metadata creation

Cornell University Library

Funding

Eastern Apiculture Society; Michael Griggs; Blount County Beekeepers Association; Chemung Valley Beekeepers Association; Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County; Dadant & Sons, Inc.; Empire State Honey Producers Association; Finger Lakes Beekeepers Club; Inland Empire Beekeepers Association; Lane County Beekeepers Association; Maine State Beekeepers Association; Merrimack Valley Beekeepers Association; Mid-Ohio Valley Bee Keepers Association; Mid-York Beekeepers Association; Montgomery County Beekeepers Association; Nevada County Beekeeper's Association; New Hampshire Beekeepers Association; Ontario Finger Lakes Beekeeping Club; Pawtuckaway Beekeepers' Association; Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association; Seacoast Beekeepers of New Hampshire; Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association; Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association; Susquehanna Beekeepers Association; Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association; Warren County Beekeepers Association

Credits

This collection overview was last reviewed in 2025.

Collection sources

• Individually cataloged items from Cornell University Library's collections