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Parts and Wholes (2012)

From Ernst Haeckel, Das System der Medusen. Vol. 2 of 2. Jena: G. Fischer, formerly F. Mauke, 1879. Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
From Ernst Haeckel, Das System der Medusen (Jena, 1879). Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

December 10, 2012 – March 29, 2013

What is a part? What is a whole? How are issues of hierarchy, time, and relationship conveyed or at issue in print? This exhibit — presented in conjunction with the workshop, “What is an Individual? Where Philosophy, History, and Biology Coincide” — explored part/whole relationships in the sciences and print culture, drawing upon a wide variety of collections around campus. Works from Special Collections, Silver Buckle Press, and the Ebling Library Historical Collections, alongside materials from the Zoological Museum and the Insect Research Collection, highlighted questions of individuality and individuation. “Colonial” organisms and composite forms, print serials and metamorphosing creatures figured among the examples of ambiguous individuals included in the exhibit.

Co-curated by Lynn Nyhart, Professor of History of Science; Judith Kaplan, Ph.D. from the History of Science Department; and Robin Rider, Curator of Special Collections. Exhibit installation by Judith Kaplan and Cindy Lundey, M.L.S.

The larger project enjoyed generous support from the Anonymous Fund, the Department of the History of Science, the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, and the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.