MOUNT VERNON -- Cornell College will wrap up its yearlong sesquicentennial celebration with an exhibit of artifacts and archival images at
The History Center in Cedar Rapids from May 15 through July 4.
"Cornell College: Celebrating 150 Years of History" will be on display in the lobby. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (until 7 p.m. Thursday) and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free to the Cornell exhibit.
On Saturday, June 26, there will be a book signing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with Richard Thomas, who was a History Center board member for over 30 years and now serves on the board's collections committee. Thomas and William Heywood are co-authors of the recently published "Cornell College: A Sesquicentennial History," the first scholarly history of the college. The authors are emeriti professors of history who live in Mount Vernon. The book, along with other commemorative sesquicentennial items, will be sold in the museum store during the exhibit.
The exhibit features a wall mural timeline of Cornell, dozens of archival and modern photos and select items from the Cornell archives, including the original skeleton keys to College Hall, built in 1857; an 1899 diploma signed by Cornell President William Fletcher King, the college's longest-serving president (1863-1908); an antique student desk with signatures of Cornellians - the earliest from 1861 - inside a drawer; autographs of famous campus visitors; and the original drawings on linen of the tower of King Chapel, the campus centerpiece completed in 1882.
Cornell began classes in 1853, the first college in operation in Linn County. Today the liberal arts college enrolls approximately 1,100 men and women from 42 states and 14 foreign countries. The hilltop campus, which features 41 buildings on 129 wooded acres, is one of only two U.S. campuses listed in their entirety on the National Register of Historic Places.
