Field Trip: Birds and Books at the Clark Library

Fri, Jul 11, 2025

(Image from Chrzanowski 1586l, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA)

Leader: Rebecca Marschall

Did Tom Stephenson’s spring webinar on building better field guides pique your interest in the history of birds in print? If so, please join us on a visit to UCLA’s Clark Library in West Adams, to explore birds in books from the 1580s to the present. The advent of movable type and printing in Europe made widespread transmission of information and images about the natural world possible, and while these early books don’t bear much resemblance to our modern field guides, they aren’t totally dissimilar either. We will take a brief tour of the historic building, and have the chance to get up close with items including a 1586 hand-colored Elizabethan painting manual, first editions of the Lewis & Clark report, taxonomic studies by John Cassin, early 20th century photographic guidebooks, work by contemporary book artists like Rebecca Chamlee and Richard Wagener, and fun bird-adjacent things like early editions of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven.

UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library is a rare books and manuscripts library located 12 miles from the UCLA campus in the historic West Adams neighborhood. Built by William Andrews Clark, Jr. in 1926, the library has been part of UCLA since 1934 and specializes in 17th and 18th century British literature, history, and culture, Oscar Wilde and the turn of the 20th century, modern fine press printing, and the history of Montana and the Western US. Rebecca Marschall is the Clark’s resident birder, and has been the Clark’s Manuscripts & Archives Librarian since 2008.

This event is limited to 15 participants. More information about parking and logistics will be sent after registration.

All individuals under the age of 18 participating in a LAB sponsored event must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or an adult designated as responsible for their well-being including their safety, behavior, and compliance with all applicable rules and regulations during the course of the event, program, activity, etc.

Signup is limited to LAB members, who will receive an email with instructions for how to sign up.