Join Dawn Day Biehler as she discusses her recent book, Animating Central Park: A Multispecies History, with Manuscript Division historians Josh Levy and Barbara Bair. Illuminating the multispecies story of New York’s Central Park from the 1850s to the 1970s, Biehler examines the vibrant and intimately connected lives of humans and nonhuman animals in the park. She reveals stories of grazing sheep, teeming fish, nesting swans, migrating warblers, and escaped bison as well as human New Yorkers’ attempts to reconfigure their relationships to the land and claim spaces for recreation and leisure. Ultimately, Biehler shows how Central Park has always been a place where animals and humans alike have vied for power and belonging.
Dawn Day Biehler is associate professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is author of Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats and articles about mosquitoes, green space, residential space, and environmental justice in Baltimore.
Made at the Library is an event series highlighting works inspired by and emerging from research at the Library of Congress. Featuring authors, artists, and other creators in conversation with Library experts, this series takes a deep dive into the process of working with the Library’s collections.
The event took place online only on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, 12:00pm-1:00pm EST. Watch the program here:
NOTE TO PARTICIPANTS: Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].
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