One of only 120 copies of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America believed to still exist is on permanent display in Bowdoin’s Special Collections & Archives.
Ten years ago, the library began making an event of the monthly page-turning, which at once is a service to ornithophiles and to the work itself as a way of limiting each print’s exposure to light.
Watch the segment, “This Is One of the Quirkiest Traditions in Maine—and It’s Magical.”
WCSH’s nightly newsmagazine 207 captured the May 29, 2026, page-turning event held during Reunion Weekend, speaking with Hannah LeBlanc ’16, Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, special collections education and engagement librarian, and Shana Stewart Deeds, laboratory instructor in biology and environmental studies.
Watch the segment, “This Is One of the Quirkiest Traditions in Maine—and It’s Magical.”
