: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
Coloring books are great to have on hand while you’re staying at home and practicing social distancing. Adults as well as younger people can exercise their creative sides. We’re happy to share our collection of historical coloring books with you. They are free to download. So get out your colored pencils, crayons, or watercolors. Have fun and stay healthy!
About the historical coloring books
Source: Ulyssis Aldrovandi patricii Bononiensis Serpentum : et draconum historiae l ibri duo by Ulisse Aldrovandi (1640).
This image is brought to you courtesy of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Share your finished images using the hashtags #ColorOurCollections and #Wangensteen.
These five digital coloring books feature people from different historical eras and a variety of animals, both real and imaginary. They were originally compiled for The New York Academy of Medicine Library’s annual Color Our Collections festival on social media.
Each image is photocopied from an illustration in a rare book. But don’t worry — no rare books were harmed and all are still safely held in the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine. The Wangensteen Library collections contain materials and objects that broadly represent health, medicine, and biological sciences from 1430 to 1945.
Links for download
- Color Our Collections 2016 coloring book
- Color Our Collections 2017 coloring book
- Color Our Collections 2018 coloring book
- Color Our Collections 2019 coloring book
- Color Our Collections 2020 coloring book
