Since 2016, the New York Academy of Medicine invited libraries, archives, and cultural institutions to provide free coloring pages based on their collections.
New York Academy of Medicine
One of the Earliest Illustrated Medical Books Offers a Lens Into Medieval Health
Originally published in 1491, Fasciculus medicinae quickly proved popular, and dozens of editions followed until 1522.
The First Printed Illustration of a Modern Dissection
Published in the late 15th century, the Fasciculus Medicinae contains the earliest depiction of a modern dissection, a groundbreaking representation for anatomy.
The False Advertising of Sophistically Decorated, 19th-Century Pharmaceutical Trade Cards
These skillfully and elaborately designed cards were distributed by merchants to their customers in the late 19th century.
The Books that Taught American Women to Camp in the Early 20th Century
Books aimed at women on pitching tents, cooking on campfires, dressing for hikes, and surviving in the wild were published in the United States, as more and more women went out into the woods.
Illustrated Guides to Camping Like an Early-20th-Century American
The Rare Book Room of the New York Academy of Medicine Library in East Harlem has a trove of printed materials connected to camping and outdoor recreation in the early 1900s.
Repatriation Through Portraiture: Giving Narrative to Disability
Many studies of anatomy and the beauty of the human body are all about symmetry and proportions, a sort of endless steamrolling of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” through art history. Yet that barely explores the incredible diversity of human forms. It’s the “variant body” that artist Riva Lehrer examines in teaching anatomy at the Art Institute of Chicago and in her series of portraits responding to her own disability, as well as to anyone who lives in a body that feels outside what’s perceived as “normal.”