Biodiversity Heritage Library

A History of Cats from 1858 to 1922

Book Collection

Cats were not always the beloved household pets as we know them today. This collection of books from the Library of Congress illustrates the variety of ways that people thought about domestic cats from 1858 to 1922.

View the books

Learn more about select titles from the book collection in these blog posts:  

• Can Cats Speak to Us? (published via the Library of Congress) 
• Cats & Dogs: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Perspectives (published via BHL)
• Cats & Women: Why the Connection? (published via BHL)
• Cats & Birds: Friends or Foes? (published via the Library of Congress)
• Uncovering the Story of Cats in the Biodiversity Heritage Library (published via the Library of Congress)

Digital Exhibition

Wild Mouser to Household Pet: A History of Cats in Science and Society, 1858 to 1922 
Using Texts in the Library of Congress and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Using books from the Library of Congress Collection, this exhibition explores the role of the cat in society from 1858 to 1922. In this time period, authors answered questions like: What is the role of the cat in society? Some of the answers included cats as biological specimen used for dissections and medical study, muses for literature and art, loving household pets, troublesome neighborhood pests, or an object of display for exhibition and hobby.

View the digital exhibition.

View other online exhibitions from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

This exhibition was curated by Madison Arnold-Scerbo.