Buffalo Rising Online

Sep 16th 2005, 3:52pm By queenseyes

I am posting this notice to inform Buffalonians of an exhibition being held at the Buffalo and Erie County Central Library beginning September 14, 2005 and running through January of 2006. The Library and Library Foundation have been hard at work designing an exhibition for an extremely rare map created in 1815 by William Smith that charts the strata of England and parts of Scotland. This artifact is astonishingly one of only forty existing original maps in the world. In addition to owning this map, the Buffalo Library has within its rare book collection the corresponding, hand-drawn plates that chart various fossils unearthed within the strata levels. The map's creator William Smith has been immortalized in a compelling book about his life saga by best-selling author Simon Winchester. The exhibition will showcase this map as well as other original documents held within the Buffalo and Erie County's rare book collection and the Buffalo Science Museum's holdings and in addition will be sparked by a lecture by Simon Winchester on September 14th. The exhibition's run will be punctuated by a dinner and lecture series, family programming, and an educator's packet. The Library and Library Foundation are highly enthusiastic about bringing this rare treasure from the vault to the eyes of the public and its students to educate awareness of the map, the rare book collection and the Library.

Weive posted this to inform you of this opportunity as well as to inquire into any interest in bringing local groups to the lectures/exhibition. We are intending to create a series of dinner and lecture nights where the public has the opportunity to partake of unique catered cuisine (from the Library cafe 'Fables' which in turn is run by 'The Mansion' on Delaware Avenue) and a lecture from professors from the University at Buffalo. We are also developing programs to entice college students of all levels to spend time in the city and are working on ideas for a "Tour of Buffalo" to engage non-native Buffalo college students to experience the many wonders of the city. If you are interested in this opportunity, or in helping spread awareness of the exhibition through publications, websites or volunteers please contact myself or Anne a aleary@lfbuffalo.org or at 716-858-6334.

We at the Foundation are very excited about working in partnership with businesses, agencies and schools from across Buffalo and beyond to celebrate the treasures of our area.

-Caitlin Melville