A Cornell University Library exhibition opening Sept. 17 will place historic photographs of glaciers alongside modern scientific images documenting the retreat and disappearance of ice around the world.
“Rivers of Ice: Three Centuries of Glacial Science” will open with a 5:30 p.m. reception in the Hirshland Exhibition Gallery at Carl A. Kroch Library. The exhibition will remain on view through August 2027.
The collection includes fragile glass-plate negatives made during expeditions to Alaska and Greenland led by Cornell geology professor Ralph Stockmann Tarr in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Library officials said the photographs preserve views of glacial landscapes that have since receded or vanished.
Environmental photographer James Balog, a returning A.D. White Professor-at-Large, will give a related public talk, “Chasing Ice on a Changing Planet,” at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 17 in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium at Goldwin Smith Hall.
Balog founded the Extreme Ice Survey in 2007, using time-lapse cameras and ground-based photography to record glacier changes worldwide. Cornell described it as the largest project of its kind.
Co-curator Katherine Reagan said Balog's work combines long-term scientific observation with visual storytelling, allowing viewers to see changes that measurements alone may not convey.
The exhibition also features books, maps and other materials from Cornell's Rare and Manuscripts Collection. Icelandic items include medieval sagas describing the island's glaciers and volcanic landscape and nearly 400 photographs, chiefly by Frederick W.W. Howell, from the end of the 19th century.
Patrick Stevens, curator of the Fiske Icelandic Collection and a co-curator, said Howell's images may still help researchers interpret glacial change and provide a link between artistic landscape photography and Balog's later scientific observations.
“Rivers of Ice” is part of “From the Brink,” a series of Cornell library exhibitions focused on contributions to a sustainable future. Funding includes support from the Milman Exhibition Fund, the Sukenik Fund for Excellence in Photography and the A.D. White Professors-at-Large Program.
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