It’s the final day of #ColorOurCollections, a week-long special collections coloring fest we’ve organized on social media. We are sad to see it go, and thank everyone who participated. Enjoy the final day of sharing and coloring items from nearly 200 cultural institutions from around the world (see our ever-growing list).
Every day on our blog, we’ve featured #ColorOurCollections coloring sheets from our library, along with content from participants worldwide. And don’t forget to download our full #ColorOurCollections coloring book.
Today’s coloring sheets come from Ulisse Aldrovandi (featured earlier this week) and another great naturalist, Conrad Gesner. Gesner (1516-1565) was from Switzerland and contributed to fields including medicine, linguistics, botany, and zoology. His most famous work is the Historia Animalium, an enormous five-volume encyclopedia on animals. The Academy is lucky to have a beautifully hand-colored copy of the volume on birds, Historiæ animalium liber III, which was the subject of a blog post. Fortunately for #ColorOurCollections, our copies of the 1551 Historiæ animalium Liber I, and the 1563 German translation Thierbuch are uncolored.
Lynx from Aldrovandi’s De quadrupedib. digitatis viviparis, 1637. Click to download the PDF coloring sheet.
Elephant from Gesner, Historiae Animalium, Liber I, 1551. Click to download the PDF coloring sheet.
This afternoon, we will post a list of all the coloring books, pages, and albums shared by #ColorOurCollections participants—keep your eyes on this space! This morning, we have three we are excited to spotlight.
Indiana University’s Lilly Library posted its coloring book yesterday. The dragon turned weapon may be one of the most astonishing illustrations we’ve seen in some time.
Roberto Valturio. De re militari. Verona, 1472. U101 .V2 vault. Courtesy of The Lilly Library, Indiana University.
The Cooper Hewitt also posted a coloring book yesterday. If you are gung-ho about adult coloring books, this one will be right up your alley. It is full of stunning Katagami patterns.
Katagami, Water Pattern, late 19th–early 20th century; Designed by Unknown ; Japan; cut mulberry paper treated with persimmon tannin and silk thread; 41.3 x 28 cm (16 1/4 x 11 in.) Mat: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.) Frame 50.2 x 39.7 cm (19 3/4 x 15 5/8 in.) 19 x 34.2 cm (71/2 x 13 7/16 in.); 1976-103-111 http://cprhw.tt/o/2CLkk/. Courtesey of the Cooper Hewitt.
Finally, we don’t know how we’ve gotten this far into the week without featuring the coloring book from the New York Public Library. Librarians from across the library’s divisions teamed up to select public domain images from the library’s collections. We have yet to see someone color in these hieroglyphs—are you up to the challenge?
![[Rappresentazione zodiacale in tre quadri consecutivi]. Image ID: 425361. Courtesy of the New York Public Library](https://nyamcenterforhistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/nyplcolor16gk-page-012.jpg?w=584&h=779)
[Rappresentazione zodiacale in tre quadri consecutivi]. Image ID: 425361. Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Books, Health and History 