Cornell University Library Digital Collections

Cornell University is one of a handful of academic institutions in the United States with a collection of glass invertebrates created by renowned 19th century glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. Under the direction of former curator Dr. Drew Harvell, Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has undertaken the full restoration of this unique glass sculpture collection. A selection of restored sculptures is on view in the Albert R. Mann Library on the Cornell campus, among them some extraordinary jellyfish, sea anemones and nudibranchs. An additional display of restored pieces formerly housed in Corson Hall will be on display at Ithaca’s Museum of the Earth starting August 1, 2024. Collaboration between the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mann Library has also made an online gallery of the larger Cornell Blaschka collection available for use by scholars and educators.

Efforts to restore the full collection of Blaschka invertebrate models at Cornell are ongoing as a collaboration with the Corning Museum of Glass.

For questions about the Blaschka collection, please contact the current curator: Dr. Leslie S. Babonis (lsb257@cornell.edu), Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

For more information on the Cornell Blaschka collection and its importance to the study of ocean biology, please see a webcast of Dr. Drew Harvell's June 2016 lecture at Mann Library.