Crossing Cultures Exhibit

Designed to coincide with the university's hosting of the 2013 Mid-America conference in Sept. 2013, Crossing Cultures highlights the themes of cultural exchange and the transmission and transformation of ideas across centuries and across cultures. The exhibit features books from all the fifth floor special collections of OU libraries - Bass Business History Collection, Bizzell Bible Collection, History of Science Collections, and the John and Mary Nichols Collection. See article about exhibit from Sooner Horizon 2, 1 (2014)

Ptolemy, Geographia vniversalis, 1545

Crossing cultures showcases the richness of the resources available in OU special collections libraries available to support a broad range of teaching and research needs across the humanities, arts, and sciences. Geographies, travel accounts, and voyage narratives provide a glimpse into the exploratory encounters that shaped perceptions of places and peoples.  A broad range of multilingual scientific texts, lexicons, and guides in the exhibit showcases the transfer of knowledge across time and place.

One of the oldest books on display is the first printed edition (1483) of the Alfonsine tables (case 13), an influential work in astronomy, and a product of the translation movements of the late medieval/early modern periods.  

Other works featured include Jesuit Matteo Ricci’s 1616 account of his travels to China (case 5), a 1594 Arabic edition of Euclid’s Elements (case 13), and Charles Dickens’ 1842 book on his impressions of America (case 12).  

Rare books and materials from the four special collections are displayed in cases organized around the following themes:

• Geography & Travel (Cases 1-4)
• China (Case 5)
• Egypt (Case 6)
• Languages & Lexicons (Cases 7-8)
• Science in Translation (Case 9)
• Darwin Across the World (Case 10)
• Exploratory Encounters (Case 11)
• Viewing America (Case 12)
• Science Across Cultures (Case 13)
• The Bible in Translation (Cases 14 & 15)

See below for links to the catalog records for the books on display in these cases. Books are listed chronologically for each case or for the shelves in each of the vertical case sections. Images are included for select books and cases. 

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Crossing Cultures was developed with the assistance of staff and students of the History of Science Collections.  Images were taken by Carilyn Livesey.  

The exhibit premiered as a workshop during theTransnationalism and Minority Cultures conference, held on the OU campus in Sept. 2013 and organized by Dr. Janet Ward (Department of History).   

Case  1

• Solinus, Polyhistor, rervm toto orbe memorabilivm thesaurus locupletissimus, 1543    History of Science Collections 

Case  2

• John Harris, Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca, 2 volumes, 1705   Bass Business History Collection 

Cases 3 & 4

• John Hawkesworth, An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, 3 volumes, 1773   History of Science Collections

 Case 5

• Matteo Ricci, Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Iesu, 1616   History of Science Collections

• Athanasius Kircher, China monumentis, 1667    History of Science Collections

• Alvaro Semedo, The history of that great and renowned monarchy of China. Wherein all the particular provinces are accurately described: as also the dispositions, manners, learning, lawes, militia, government, and religion of the people. Together with the traffick and commodities of that countrey, 1655   Bass Business History Collection

• John Barrow, Travels in China, containing descriptions, observations, and comparisons, made and collected in the course of a short residence at the imperial palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a subsequent journey through the country from Pekin to Canton,  1804   Bass Business History Collection

• William Milburn, Oriental commerce; containing a geographical description of the principal places in the East Indies, China, and Japan, with their produce, manufactures, and trade, 2 volumes, 1813   Bass Business History Collection

Case 6

• James Bruce,Travels to discover the source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773,  5 volumes, 1790    History of Science Collections

• Sébastien-Louis Saulnier, Notice sur le voyage de M. Lelorrain, en Égypte : et observations sur le zodiaque circulaire de Denderah, 1822     History of Science Collections

• Thomas Young, An account of some recent discoveries in hieroglyphical literature and Egyptian antiquities, 1823     History of Science Collections

• Karl Baedeker, Egypt; handbook for travellers, 1898   History of Science Collections

 Case 7

• Juan Lorenzo Palmireno, Vacabvlario del hvmanista, 1569  History of Science Collections
• Giacomo Vittorj, Tesoro de las tres lengvas, espanola, francesca, y italiana,  1644  Nichols Collection
• James Howell, A French-English dictionary, 1650   Nichols Collection
• Athanasius Kircher, Turris Babel, 1679     History of Science Collections
• John Ray, Nomenclator classicus, sive, Dictionariolum trilingue ... Anglicis, Latinis, Græcis, 1736   History of Science Collections

Case 8

• Valentin Schindler, Lexicon pentaglotton, hebraicum, chaldaicum, syriacum, talmudico-rabbinicum, & arabicum, 1612     Nichols Collection 
• Brian Walton,  Biblio Sacra polyglotta, 7 volumes, Nichols Collection

 Case 9

• Herbarvm, arborvm, frvticvm, frvmentorvm ac leguminum, animalium praeterea terrestrium, uolatiliú & aquatilium, 1552   History of Science Collections

• Dioscorides, opera qvæ extant omnia,  1598  History of Science Collections

• Giovanni Branca, Le machine, 1629   History of Science Collections

• Lucretius, An essay on the first book of T. Lucretius Carus De rerum natura. Interpreted and made English verse by J. Evelyn Esq, 1656    History of Science Collections

• Steven Blankaart, Lexicon novum medicum Graeco-Latinum, 1690  History of Science Collections

• Euclid, Les oeuvres d'Euclide, 1814-18    History of Science Collections

  Case 10

• Charles Darwin, The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle : under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836, 1839-43  History of Science Collections

• Robert Fitzroy, Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe, 3 volumes & appendix, 1839  (v.3. Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle, by Charles Darwin)    History of Science Collections

• Charles Darwin, On the origin of the species by means of natural selection : or, The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, 1859  History of Science Collections

Examples of Darwin in Translation:

• De l'origine des espèces, ou, Des lois de progrès chez les êtres organisés, 1862 (French)    History of Science Collections
• Über die Entstehung der Arten im Thier- und Pflanzen-Reich durch natürliche Züchtung, 1863 (German)    History of Science Collection
• Sull' origine delle specie per elezione naturale ovvero conservazione delle razze perfezionate nella lotta per l'esistenza, 1864 (Italian)  History of Science Collections
• Arternes oprindelse og menneskets afstamning, 3 volumes, 1909 (Danish)  History of Science Collection
• Darwin in Yiddish
• O vzniku druhů přirozeným výběrem čili zachováváním vhodných odrůd v boji o život, 1914 (Czech)   History of Science Collections

  Case 11 (left panel)

• Leo Africanus, Historiale description de l'Afriqve tierce parte dv monde, 1556     Bass Business History Collection
• Willem Lodewijcksz, Prima pars descriptionis iteneris navalis in Indian Orientalem, 1598   Bass Business History Collection
• Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri, Voyage du tour du monde,  6 volumes, 1719   Bass Business History Collection
• Hasan ibn Yazid, Abu Azid, al Sirafi, Ancient accounts of India and China,  1733   Bass Business History Collection
• Muhammad ibn Umar al-Tunusi, Travels of an Arab merchant in Soudan (the Black kingdoms of Central Africa). I--Darfur. II.--Wadai. Abridged from the French, 1854     Bass Business History Collection

  Case 11 (middle panel)

• Johann von der Behr, Diarium; oder, Tage-Buch uber dasjenige, so sich Zeit einer neun-jahrigen Reise, zu Wasser und Lande, meistentheils in Dienst derverinigten geoctroyrten Niederlandischen Ostindianischen Compagnie, 1668  Bass Business History Collection
• Arnoldus Montanus, Ambassades de la Compagnie Hollandoise des Indes d'Orient vers l'empereur du Japon, 2 volumes, 1686  Bass Business History Collection
• Alexis Rochon, A voyage to Madagascar and the East Indies, 1793  Bass Business History Collection
• M.C.F. Volney, Travels through Egypt and Syria, in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785, 2 volumes, 1798  Bass Business History Collection
• Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes, Voyages a Peking, Manille et l'ile de France, faits dans l'intervalle des annees 1784 a 1801, 3 volumes, 1808  Bass Business History Collection
• John Leyden, Historical account of discoveries and travels in Africa, 1817  History of Science Collections
• John Potter Hamilton, Travels through the interior provinces of Colombia,  2 volumes, 1827  Nichols Collection
• Joseph Dalton Hooker, Himalayan journals : or, Notes of a naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, &c , 2 volumes, 1854   History of Science Collections
• Joseph Dalton Hooker, Journal of a tour in Marocco and the Great Atlas, 1878   History of Science Collections

•  Ptolemy, Geographia vniversalis, 1545     History of Science Collections

• Anders Sparrman, Resa till Goda Hopps-udden, Södra, pol-kretsen och omkring jordklotet, samt till Hottentott-och Caffer-landen, åren 1772-76, 2 volumes, 1783-1818     History of Science Collections
• Anders Sparrman, A voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antartic polar circle, and round the world : but chiefly into the country of the Hottentots and Caffres, from the year 1772 to 1776, 2 volumes, 1785  History of Science Collections
• Anders Sparrman, Voyage au cap de Bonne-Esperance : et autour du monde avec le capitaine Cook, et principalement dans le pays des Hottentots et des Caffres, 3 volumes, 1787  History of Science Collections
• Antonio de Ulloa, Voyage historique de l'Amerique Meridionale fait par ordre du roi d'Espagne par don George Juan ... et par don Antoine de Ulloa,  2 volumes, 1752   Nichols Collection
• Antonio de Ulloa, A voyage to South America : describing at large the Spanish cities, towns, provincies, &C. on that extensive continent,  1758   History of Science Collections
• Antonio de Ulloa, A voyage to South America, 1765    Bass Business History Collection

Case 11 (right panel)

• Morgan, Lady (Sydney), France, 1817 Nichols Collection
• Morgan, Lady (Sydney), Italy, 1821  Nichols Collection
• Phoebe Palmer, Four years in the Old World : comprising the travels, incidents, and evangelistic labors of Dr. and Mrs. Palmer in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1866   Nichols Collection
• Mrs. Louis M (Roope) Griswold, A woman's pilgrimage to the Holy Land; or, Pleasant days abroad. Being notes of a tour through Europe and the East, 1871 Nichols Collection 
• Edna Dean Proctor, A Russian journey, 1872   Nichols Collection
• Margaretha Weppner, The North star and the Southern Cross : being the personal experiences, impressions and observations of Margaretha Weppner, in a two years' journey round the world, 1882  Nichols Collection
• Helen Sanborn, A winter in Central America and Mexico, 1886   Nichols Collection
• Edith Wharton, A motor-flight through France, 1908  Nichols Collection

• Mary Southwell, A short journal of a tour : made through part of France, Switzerland, and the banks of the Rhine to Spa, Antwerp, Gent, &c, 1817   Nichols Collection
• Harriet Ellesmere, Journal of a tour in the Holy Land, in May and June, 1840, 1841  Nichols Collection
• Martha Lamont, Impressions, thoughts, and sketches : during two years in France and Switzerland, 1844  Nichols Collection
• Sophia Poole, The Englishwoman in Egypt: letters from Cairo, written during a residence there, in 1842, 3, & 4, with E. W. Lane, 1851-53  Nichols Collection 
• L.H. Sigourney, Pleasant memories of pleasant lands, 1856  Nichols Collection
• Ameila Edwards, A thousand miles up the Nile, 1888   Nichols Collection
• Adelaide Hall, Two women abroad; what they saw and how they lived while travelling among the semi-civilized people of Morocco, the peasants of Italy and France, as well as the educated classes of Spain, Greece, and other countries, 1897   Nichols Collection

• Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark,1796   Nichols Collection
• Maria Callcott, Journal of a residence in India, 1812     Nichols Collection
• Amanda Smith, An autobiography: the story of the Lord's dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the colored evangelist; containing an account of her life work of faith, and her travels in America, England, Ireland, Scotland, India and Africa, as an independent missionary, 1893     Nichols Collection

Case 12 (left panel)

• Johann David Schöpf, Reise durch einige der mittlern und sudlichen Vereinigten Nordamerikanischen Staaten nach Ost-Florida und den Bahama-Inseln Unternommen in den Jahren 1783 und 1784, 2 volumes, 1788    History of Science Collections
• Luigi Castiglione, Viaggio negli Stati Uniti dell' America Settentrionale, fatto negli anni 1785, 1786, e 1787, 2 volumes, 1790     History of Science Collections
• Francisco Alvarez, Noticia del establecimiento y poblacion de las colonias inglesas en la America Septentrional, 1778     History of Science Collections
• C.-F. Volney, Tableau du climat et du sol des Etats-Unis d'Amerique, 2 volumes, 1803     History of Science Collections
• Francis Wright, Views of society and manners in America; in a series of letters from that country to a friend in England, during the years 1818, 1819, and 1820. By an Englishwoman, 1821     History of Science Collections
• Isaac Candler, A summary view of America: comprising a description of the face of the country, and of several of the principal cities; and remarks on the social, moral and political character of the people: being the result of observations and enquiries during a journey in the United States, 1824     History of Science Collections

• Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1771   History of Science Collections
• John Quincy, The American medical lexicon, on the plan of Quincy's Lexicon physico-medicum, 1788   History of Science Collections
• Nicholas Pike, A new and complete system of arithmetic, composed for the use of the citizens of the United States, 1792  History of Science Collections
• Jedidiah Morse, Geography made easy: being an abridgment of the American universal geography. Containing astronomical geography, 1798  Nichols Collection
• Jedidiah Morse, Geography made easy: being an abridgment of the American universal geography. Containing astronomical geography, 1800  History of Science Collections
• Jedidiah Morse, Geography made easy : being an abridgment of the American universal geography ; containing astronomical geography, discovery and general description of America, 1805  History of Science Collections
• John Quincy, The American medical lexicon, on the plan of Quincy's Lexicon physico-medicum, 1811  History of Science Collections
• Obadiah Rich, A synopsis of the genera of American plants, according to the latest improvements on the Linnn system: with the new genera of Michaux and others. Intended for the use of students in botany, 1814  History of Science Collections
• Thomas Nuttall, The genera of North American plants, and a catalogue of the species, to the year 1817, 1818  History of Science Collections

Case 12 (middle panel)

• Andrew Burnaby,Travels through the middle settlements in North-America. In the years 1759 and 1760. With observations upon the state of the colonies, 1775 Nichols Collection
• Thomas Cooper, Some information respecting America, 1794  Bass Business History Collection
• Thomas Hamilton, Men and manners in America, 2 volumes, 1795 Bass Business History Collection
• Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans, 2 volumes, 1832 Bass Business History Collection
• Charles Dickens, American notes for general circulation, 1842   Nichols Collection
• Charles Lyell, Travels in North America in the years 1841-2 : with geological observations on the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia, 1845  History of Science Collections
• William Brown, America: a four years' residence in the United States and Canada; giving a full and fair description of the country, as it really is, with the manners, customs, & character of the inhabitants; anecdotes of persons and institutions, prices of land and produce, state of agriculture and manufactures, 1849 Bass Business History Collection
• George Combe, Notes on the United States of North America, during a phrenological visit in 1838-9-40s, 1841  History of Science Collections
• Karl Baedeker, The United States, with excursions to Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico, and Alaska; handbook for travellers, 1909 History of Science Collections

Case 12 (right panel)

• Alexander Clúny, The American traveller: or, Observations on the present state, culture and commerce of the British colonies in America, and the further improvements of which they are capable, 1769  Bass Business History Collection
• William Winterbotham, An historical, geographical, commercial, and philosophical view of the American United States, and of the European settlements in America and the West-Indies, 4 volumes, 1795 Nichols Collection
• B.F. Stevens, B.F. Stevens's facsimiles of manuscripts in European archives relating to America, 1773-1783. With descriptions, editorial notes, collations, references and translations, 25 volumes, 1889-95 Nichols Collection

 Case 13 (left panel)

• Abū Maʻshar, Introductorium in astronomia[m], 1489  History of Science Collections
• Sebastian Münster, Kalendariv Hebraicvm, 1527  History of Science Collections
• Farazdaq, Alfragani astronomorvm peritissimi compendium, 1546  History of Science Collections
• Māshāʼallāh, Messahalae libri tres, 1549  History of Science Collections  History of Science Collections
• Euclid, Kitāb taḥrīr uṣūl l-Ūqlīdus / min tālīf Khwajah Nasīr al-Dīn al- Ṭūsī, 1594 History of Science Collections
• Farazdaq, Elementa astronomica, Arabicè et Latinè,  1669  History of Science Collections

Case 13 (middle panel)

• Leonhart Fuchs, De historia stirpivm, 1542  History of Science Collections
• Leonhart Fuchs, L'histoire des plantes mis en commentaires, 1550  History of Science Collections
• Avicenna, Avicennae Arabvm medicorvm principis, 1608   History of Science Collections
• Simon Paulli,  Flora Danica, 1648  History of Science Collections
• Levinus Vincent, Wondertooneel der nature, 1706-1715  History of Science Collections
• João Vigier,  Historia das plantas da Europa, 2 volumes, 1718 History of Science Collections
• Per Löfling, Iter hispanicum, 1758 History of Science Collections
• Peter Forsskål, Flora Ægyptiaco-Arabia, 1775 History of Science Collections 

Case 13 (right panel)

• Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, Tabulae astronomicae, 1483  History of Science Collections
• Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, Astronomicae tabvlae in propriam integritatem restitutae, 1553  History of Science Collections
• Nicolá Monardes, Histoire des simples medicamens apportés de l'Ameriqve, desqvels on se sert en la medecine, 1619  History of Science Collections
• Johannes Hevelius, Selenographia, 1647 History of Science Collections
• Simon Paulli, A treatise on tobacco, tea, coffee, and chocolate, 1746  Bass Business History Collection

Case 14 

• Bible. Vulgate,1479  Bizzell Bible Collection  
• Biblia, das ist, Die Heilige Schrift Altes und Neues Testaments, 1743  Bizzell Bible Collection 

Case 15 

• The Holy Bible, King James Bible, 1st edition, 1611  Bizzell Bible Collection
• Gerard Hoet, Figures de la Bible, 1728  Bizzell Bible Collection  

In addition to primary source materials, the History of Science Collections has recent scholarly work on themes associated with the Crossing Cultures Exhibit.  Here are some examples: