Ernst Mayr Library

In March 1886, one deacade before the Massachusetts Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds had organized, William Brewster wrote three letters to fellow ornithologist George Sennett, describing an early attempt to pass bird protection legislation in...

The Ernst Mayr Library is proud to announce the launch of its newly redesigned website powered by HWP's OpenScholar Platform. Although our website has changed, the URL has not; please continue to visit us at library.mcz.harvard.edu. The new look and...

“It is sunset and as I sit in my study in the Museum a Robin is singing in an elm in the garden. What a hopeful, earnest strain! It always cheers and encourages me. Our Robin must have a brave heart and a pure conscience.” – William Brewster, in...

Deirdre Moore, a graduate student in Harvard’s History of Science Department, spent the summer of 2015 working with the Ernst Mayr Library’s lantern slide collection. Harvard entomologists William Morton Wheeler (1865-1937), Charles T. Brues (1879-1955)...

On June 24th, 2015, the library welcomed high school biology teachers from across the United States. Hosted by OEB Prof. Scott Edwards, teachers attending the Biology Institute at Exeter explored the Museum of Comparative Zoology's Ornithology Collection...

By Gwendolyn Henry, EdM, MSLIS Archivist and Library Assistant Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University Processing the Alexander Agassiz's Expedition and Other Images Collection (1897-1950 (bulk)), which contains 734 gelatin...

Recently installed in the library was this exhibition showcasing a selection of ichthyological drawings, engravings and manuscripts from Special Collections. Most famous at the MCZ due to their having been digitized and reproduced in books examining the...

William Brewster (1851-1919) was a renowned American amateur ornithologist, first president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and a president of the American Ornithologists' Union. He was an avid collector of birds and their nests and eggs, and...

Deep-sea fishes that use glowing lures to capture prey ... fireflies like the ones in your backyard ... jellies from which Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), widely used in molecular & cellular biology, was first isolated ... glowworms that dangle glowing...