Winging It: A Brief History of Humanity's Relationship with Birds

June 20 - September 27, 2025

Details

For centuries, humanity has had a complex relationship with birds, which have often been seen as pests or resources to be exploited, impediments to progress and threats to well-being. At the same time, Enlightenment thinkers made great efforts to study, depict, and classify birds as a means toward better understanding the cosmos. And birds have been a source of inspiration and meaning across eras and cultures. Our upcoming exhibition, Winging It: A Brief History of Humanity’s Relationship with Birds, shares examples from the Newberry's collection and how birds persist today oftentimes in spite of encroachment on their land, water, and air.

Curator: Bob Dolgan, Director of Communications, Newberry Library