Nature's Great Masterpiece: The Elephant

elephant composite

"Natures great master-peece, an Elephant, The onely harmlesse great thing; the giant Of beasts."

So wrote the poet John Donne in The Progress of the Soul, reflecting humankind's long fascination with the elephant. Historians, hunters, poets, artists, naturalists, and paleontologists alike have pursued the elephant, which, for thousands of years, has ranked with the dog, horse, and camel as a companion to human beings.

This online exhibit features books, manuscripts, photographs, and prints from the Ewell Sale Stewart Library's collections that illustrate the progression of Western perceptions of this impressive animal. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, European access to elephants effectively vanished and the animal was relegated to the world of myth. But with the Age of Discovery, they slowly became reacquainted with the giant both in terms of its zoology and its relationship to human culture.

Ranging in date from the mid-16th century to the late 19th century, this online exhibit presents depictions of elephants in their native habitat and in the great zoological gardens of Europe. The Warren Mastodon and the adoption of the elephant as a symbol of the Republican Party are also presented:

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