Looking for a way to relax this weekend? Adult coloring books have become a popular way for the 18 and over set to get in touch with their inner child and combat stress. Now museums and libraries from around the world are joining the fun and promoting their collections with the #ColorOurCollections campaign. This week (Feb.1-5) institutions such as the Smithsonian Libraries, the Bodleian Library, the Huntington, the Getty, the Museum of Natural History, and many others have made digital coloring books and pages from their collections that are available to download at no cost. Feel like coloring a Pre-Raphaelite woodcut from William Morris’s Kelmscott Press? What about patent pages from the US National Archives? Or sheets from Scappi’s 16th century opera? You can find these and many other designs to color here or using the links below. Post your finished pages to social media alongside the hashtag #ColorOurCollections.
- The New York Public Library (PDF)
- The Bodleian Library (PDF)
- The Smithsonian Libraries – (PDF)
- The Biodiversity Heritage Library
- The Folger Library
- The Getty
- The Huntington
- The New York Academy of Medicine
- The Open Library
- The Digital Public Library of America
- The Dittrick Medical History Center Rare Book Collections, Case Western Reserve University (PDF)
- James Madison University (PDF)
- The Wangensteen Historical Library, University of Minnesota – @umnbiomedlib
- Special Collections and Rare Books, University of Missouri Libraries (PDF)
- Europeana
Image above from The Huntington.