Yale University Library Research Guides: Ornithology Resources at Yale Library: Ornithology in Special Collections

Special Collections at Yale

The Science and Engineering Librarian team is happy to collaborate with any courses that would like to have a special collections viewing of materials related to their course — please contact us using the information in the sidebar to the right and share your learning goals for the session so we can match you with materials.

Some materials specific to ornithology are listed here — most in special collections, but some older works are still retained in the circulating catalog. We may be able to add additional materials in a variety of languages based on consulting with Area Studies librarians.

Systema Naturae, 1735, Carolus Linnaeus.
Systema Naturae is considered a major breakthrough work of natural history, covering animals, plants, and minerals. Its tenth edition dropped the minerals.
Birds Through an Opera Glass, 1889, Florence Merriam Bailey
Many of the articles herein contained were published in the Audubon magazine in 1886. These have been revised and largely rewritten. An interesting example of how to do birding the Victorian way.
Birds of the New York City Region, 1923, Ludlow Griscom
Ludlow Griscom was the assistant curator of ornithology at the Museum of New York. He produced this book in collaboration with the Linnæan Society of New York.
Moralitates de avibus, etc, c. 1190, Hugh of Fouilloy
Written by one scribe in bold gothic bookhand.
Eighteen colored drawings of birds, many of which have been retouched by a later hand. Well drawn initials in red or blue, with penwork designs of the other color, mark the beginning of each chapter; rubrics throughout.
Conr. Gesneri ... Historiae animalium. Liber III. Qui est de auium natura, 1604, Konrad Gesner
Book III of his History of Animals, covering "the nature of birds." Enriched with illustrations, diagrams, and brief marginal annotations.
The ornithology of Francis Willughby ... : In three books, 1678.
The title speaks for itself: The ornithology of Francis Willughby ... : In three books. Wherein all the birds hitherto known, being reduced into a method sutable to their natures are accurately described ... Translated into English, and enl. with many additions throughout the whole work. To which are added, three considerable discourses, I. Of the art of fowling ... II. Of the ordering of singing birds. III. Of falconry
XXXIV. An account of the lymphatic system in birds, 1768, William Hewson.
Contains some engraved folding plates. Letter to William Hunter and by him communicated to the Royal Society.
Morris Tyler family collection of John James Audubon
The Morris Tyler Family Collection of John James Audubon consists primarily of papers relating to the naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851) and other members of the Audubon family. Also included are research material and personal papers of Audubon's descendants, the Tylers, and a nineteenth century autograph collection gathered by a family member whose precise identity is not known. The papers span the years 1697-1982, with the bulk of the material covering the period 1820-1855. 19 boxes.
John James Audubon Collection
The collection contains letters written by John James Audubon to his wife and colleagues, one of his engraved visiting cards, and writings by Audubon and fellow naturalists Thomas McCulloch, Thomas Nuttall, and John Kirk Townsend. Prominent among the letters is a fair copy of two letters (4,000 words) from Audubon to his wife Lucy, written in Edinburgh in 1826, in which he describes the exhibition of his drawings and various social events in the city, with a transcription of a phrenologist's reading that he had received. Some of the letters are accompanied by typed transcriptions, and one includes an 1898 letter from ornithologist Leonard C. Sanford to the wife of collector Dean Sage. Prominent among the writings are some of Audubon's essays published as Ornithological Biography (1831-1839), describing plates included in his major work The Birds of America (1827-1838). Also included is one letter from Audubon's son, John Woodhouse Audubon to A. J. Crossman.
Henry Seebohm ornithological notebook and diary, 1860s
Manuscript field notebook and diary, describing bird watching and woodland walks in northern England, 4 May 1860-4 June 1866, by Henry Seebohm. The manuscript is a fair copy, neatly written in a single hand, in pen and black ink throughout. Text is accompanied by a number of simple ink drawings (or diagrams), along with two graphite drawings pasted in, one watercolor (a male Whinchat, page 2), and roughly 15 sets of feather specimens, lightly affixed to pages of the volume. Seebohm also provides an index (starting at page 123) and a "List of butterflies found near Sheffield" (pages 137-139).

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Ornithology Resources at Yale Library: Ornithology in Special Collections

Special Collections at Yale

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