After a three-year hiatus, Audubon Day will return to Hillman Library Nov. 10, in celebration of John James Audubon’s “Birds of America.”

Pitt is home to one of the rare full copies of Audubon’s richly colored double-elephant folio prints of the “Birds of America.” It is considered to be the single most valuable set of volumes in the collections of the University Library System. Only 120 complete sets are known to exist. More than two dozen of the original prints will be on display from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room 320.

Audubon Day took place annually for several years at the library, but has not been held since 2019 because of pandemic and construction restrictions.

In addition to the exhibit, Matthew Spady, author of “The Neighborhood Manhattan Forgot: Audubon Park and the Families Who Shaped It” (Fordham University Press, 2020), will give a presentation from 10 to 11:30 a.m. about his research on how an urban neighborhood in the heart of Manhattan has continued to evolve through the decades.

With the success of the “Birds of America,” the Audubons, along with their two sons, purchased 20 acres of wilderness land in 1841 on the northern end of Manhattan Island, where they would establish their homes for the next several decades and where John James Audubon died in 1851. The area is now known as the Audubon Park neighborhood.

Spady has been an evangelist for the Audubon Park neighborhood for more than two decades — researching, writing and speaking to promote its rich history. A leader in the decade-long community effort that culminated in creating the Audubon Park Historic District, he contributed to the “Audubon Park Historic District Designation Report,” and has been quoted in the New York Times, Manhattan Times and in several Audubon-related histories and biographies. He also created a virtual walking tour (AudubonParkNY.com), served as curator for the AudubonParkPerspectives.org news site, and is director of the Audubon Park Alliance.

As a self-trained artist, naturalist and ornithologist, John James Audubon (1785-1851) is best known for publishing the “Birds of America” (1827-1838), which has 435 color plates that feature depictions of more than 457 species of birds in their natural environments. He also produced the companion five-volume “Ornithological biography: or An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America” (1831-1839), and “The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America” (1845-1848).

Both the program and exhibit are open to the public and are free of charge. To register for the in-person author talk, visit https://pitt.libcal.com/event/11384548.