Research

Exhibition highlights mushroom research

Highlights the Kneebone Mushroom Reference Library

An exhibition, “Mushrooms: A Tribute to the Kneebone Mushroom Reference Library,” is on display Feb. 25 to May 7, in the Sidewater Commons, 102 Pattee Library on the University Park campus.

The Leon and Elizabeth. Kneebone Mushroom Reference Library, E-406 Paterno Library, complements extensive materials in the Life Sciences Library, as well as many rare and illustrated volumes located in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, where Kneebone's papers and correspondence also are housed.

Leon R. Kneebone, professor emeritus of botany and plant pathology, was a driving force behind mushroom research at Penn State, directing its research for 26 years. In 1956, he initiated the University's Mushroom Industry Short Course and chaired it for 22 years. Under his direction, the Mushroom Research Center opened in 1959.

Kneebone was elected to life memberships in mushroom growing associations in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and he also has served as president of the International Commission on Mushroom Science. After his retirement in 1978, he donated his private library to Penn State's University Libraries.

The Kneebone Collection was created as a working library for researchers in all fields of mushroom cultivation and mycology. It is composed of books, journals, several Penn State mycology dissertations and article reprints and includes works on the mushroom industry, mushroom cultivation and culinary uses, and the history and mythology of mushrooms. There is a regional emphasis on materials from Pennsylvania.

For more information or for questions about the physical access provided, contact Jenna Kunkel Gill at jmk441@psu.edu or 814-865-9406.

from the Kneebone Mushroom Reference Library, Life Sciences Library Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated August 12, 2019