An exciting opportunity exists for American beekeepers to help make  
spectacular volumes from the E. F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at  
Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library available to the public  
via the World Wide Web. The Phillips Collection, inspired by Cornell  
professor Everett Franklin Phillips, is a major repository of  
information on bees and beekeeping. It is one of the three major  
apiculture library collections in the United States and includes  
several thousand volumes, many published before 1900.

The Phillips Collection features many volumes from the personal  
library of L.L. Langstroth, who popularized the moveable frame hive.  
Among these are Munn's Description of the bar-and-frame hive (1844),  
Mills' Essay on the management of bees (1766), Gelieu's Bee preserver  
(1829) and Townley's Practical treatise on humanity to honey bees  
(1848.)

Although Prof. Phillips initiated the collection, beekeepers  
themselves supplied the funds for the library's growth by  
contributing the proceeds of designated hives. These donations  
established an endowment that today continues to support new  
acquisitions of modern apicultural materials for the collection. In  
return, Phillips intended the library to be a storehouse of knowledge  
for the beekeeping community.

Seventy-five years after working beekeepers helped Phillips create  
his library, a new generation of apiculturalists is leading efforts  
to digitize major parts of that collection. In April 2004, Mann  
Library launched The Hive and the Honeybee (http://  
bees.library.cornell.edu/), a new and growing online collection of  
the most important historical publications in beekeeping. The idea  
for The Hive and the Honeybee emerged following the 2002 conference  
of the EasternApiculture Society, which was held that year on the  
Cornell University campus in Ithaca. Individual beekeepers and  
beekeeping organizations from around the country responded generously  
to a seed challenge announced by the Eastern Apiculture Society in  
Fall 2003. Their contributions made the creation of The Hive and the  
Honeybee possible. Now the Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association (TBBA) is  
offering another exciting challenge to help grow the online  
collection. The TBBA will match all new gifts in support of The Hive  
and the Honeybee on a 1:1 basis up to $1000.

The Hive and the Honeybee presently consists of the full text of ten  
books from the Phillips Collection, chosen by a team of scholars for  
their historical importance and usefulness to beekeepers today. The  
collection will grow as funding allows, and it is hoped that  
eventually it will contain every major pre-1925 beekeeping work in  
the English language. To make a donation in support of The Hive and  
the Honeybee digital collection, please fill out the form below and  
send it along with your gift to the address given. You will receive  
written acknowledgement of your contribution, and the support of you  
and the Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association will be recognized on the  
Hive website. If you have any questions or for more information on  
the digitization of the Phillips Beekeeping Collection, please  
contact Janet McCue, Director of Mann Library, at (607) 255-2285 or  
[log in to unmask] Thank you for your interest and your support!

I wish to make a gift of $________________ in support of The Hive and  
the Honeybee at Mann Library.  
Name_______________________________________________

Address____________________________________  
City______________________ State & Zip_________


I can also answer questions about this as I have been sending out  
solicitations to beekeepers!  Our current target is the first 20  
Volumes (1861-1880) of ABJ

Mike Griggs

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