A Bell-jar of Victorians

In conjunction with the McGill Library exhibition, “Casey Wood: Birdman of McGill”, Professor David Lank, Director Emeritus of the Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Desautels Faculty of Management, will present an illustrated lecture, “A Bell-jar of Victorians”, in which he will introduce the society and the artists who created the priceless patrimony of art from the Golden Age of Natural History Illustration. He feels that the McGill Library, along with the British Museum and the Field Museum in Chicago, is one of the three greatest repositories of natural history books and original source material in the world.

Professor Lank has written and illustrated more than forty books and hundreds of articles, many on the history of natural history. Former Chairman of the McCord Museum, he curated the trans-Canadian exhibition, “The Wilderness Palette – The Birds of Canada by John James Audubon,” and produced the accompanying coffee-table comprehensive catalogue. He was asked to give the bi-centennial address for Audubon’s birthday to the New York Historical Society, and similarly for Thomas Jefferson’s birthday by the Natural History Society at the University of Virginia. A former Member of the Grolier Society, the American Antiquarian Society Professor Lank has served on many national and international conservation and academic boards. He is a Fellow of the Explorers’ Club of New York, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, and a member of the Atlantic Salmon Hall of Fame. For his varied contributions to conservation, teaching, and literature, he was named to the Order of Canada.

RSVP By September 18. rsvp.libraries [at] mcgill.ca | 514-398-5711.