Butterflies caught by Vladimir Nabokov, a manuscript scrawled by James Joyce and an assortment of brains, bird songs, fossils, fish and flowers are all part of the many object collections Cornell owns.

A small sampling of those collections will be on display to the public in "Hidden Treasures," which runs through Aug. 8 at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on campus.

"This exhibition demonstrates yet again that Cornell is an amazing place for the breadth and scope of its activities," said Franklin Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Museum. "Yet this is emphatically not a display of quaint and dusty curiosities; each one of these collections is used every day in teaching and research. They are a vital and vitalizing part of learning and study here, and they have never been more important."

Biological collections such as the vertebrate, plant and insect collections are invaluable for teaching students to identify specimens and consider special problems, such as diseases and environmental changes. Recently the use of the DNA of these preserved specimens has opened up new possibilities for research and discovery.

Among the 13 collections highlighted in this exhibition are the following:

• The Geological Sciences collection, which contains uncut and cut gemstones, mineral and crystal specimens, and turn-of-the century brass instruments;
• The psychology collection, which features three brains (including that of Ithaca's legendary murderer Edward Rulloff) as well as some measuring devices used in early perception experiments;
• The insect collections, a selection of spectacular beetles and other bugs, including butterflies collected by Vladimir Nabokov during his years on the Cornell faculty;
•  The University Library Rare and Manuscript Collections, an array of examples demonstrating the history of writing, among them stone tablets, a medieval manuscript, an early printed book, posters from the U.S. Civil War era and a handwritten manuscript by James Joyce;
• The Bailey Herbarium/Hortorium collection, seeds, dried plants, examples of plant pathologies such as the purple top potato blight, and a selection of antique seed catalogs;
• The Space Sciences collection, mounted photos from unmanned space explorations, from the Space and Planetary Imaging Facility, as well as selections from the Michael Casper meteorite collection; and
• The University Archives collection, a selection of early Cornell photos and documents, including A.D. White's accession notebook documenting his purchase of objects and collections.

Other collections, such as model machines, manuscripts and the Johnson Museum's own art collection, are in the process of being photographed and digitized through the Cornell In stitute for Digital Collections. It is hoped that the digitization effort will give much wider access to images of the university's holdings.

The Johnson Museum is open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For information, call 255-6464.