Included in "Making Connections" is the 18th century color plate from Marcus Elieser Bloch's encyclopedic natural history fish.

‘Making Connections’
opens today

"Making Connections: Treasures from the University of Hawai'i Library," the first exhibition ever of nearly 400 objects from the Hamilton Library's rare and special collections, will open with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. today at the University of Hawai'i Art Gallery.

Among the rare books, historical documents and art work in the exhibition will be five maps that were damaged by the Manoa flooding of Hamilton Library last October. The maps were painstakingly cleaned of mud and water damage and restored.

Other objects being displayed are letters written by Hawaii's monarchs, journals, prints, drawings, posters, and fine examples of book design, as well as materials from the University Archives, Hawai'i War Records Depository, the Sakamaki/Hawley Collection, the Jean Charlot Collection, and the Hawaiian Sugar Planter's Association Plantation Archives.

In the spirit of "Making Connections," bookmarks will be distributed to include information and Web sites that cover the Gulf states' cultural institutions and treasures damaged or lost in hurricane Katrina, and what can be done to help.

The exhibition will continue from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 10. Call 956-6888 for more information.

Artist Jean Charlot's guestbook. The page is signed by artist Dorothea Fanning, married to artist Max Ernst, who signed the opposite page.