Her largest project was to provide the art at Harvard University for the Biological Laboratories built in the early 1930s. Funded by a $12 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, the labs were state of the art. It was decided that such a lavish facility should have art that would be equally striking, and Weems was chosen to carry out a number of projects. First, she made the carved bronze doors at the entrance to the labs, now the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, (MCB). Next, she executed a series of friezes showing over 30 kinds of wildlife. This involved using pneumatic drills to carve images of animals in brick at the top of the buildings. She combined realistic and Art Deco styles and relied on a large group of construction workers to carry out the project. The economics of the Great Depression made it possible to carry out this project on a grander scale than would otherwise have been the case. Wages were lower, workers plentiful, and raw materials cheaper. In preparation for this project, she studied animals at the Bronx Zoo in New York City and also Japanese and Chinese treatments of animals, especially those found on Han Dynasty tombs. She had also studied ancient Egyptian and Indian artistic presentations of animals. [Ambler, 31-33] Rhinos The third part of the Biological Laboratories project proved to be the most popular: Bessie and Victoria, two rhinoceros sculptures made of bronze and weighing 3 tons each. They are displayed in the courtyard of MCB. Weems worked on these two for five years and finally had them unveiled on May 12, 1937. From 2003 to 2005, they were removed from the courtyard so as to be protected from any possible damage during the construction of Harvard's new mouse laboratory. On May 11, 2007, the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology held a birthday celebration for Bessie and Victoria. Featured speakers included E.O. Wilson, Woody Hastings and Deborah Dluhy. The two rhinos were decorated in makeup, jewelry and skirts for the event. Awards and honors 1926. Bronze Medal at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition 1926. Widener Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 1965. Creation of permanent gallery at Boston Museum of Science which showcases her small animal bronzes 1987. Creation of the Katharine Lane Weems Chair in Decorative Arts at Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Boston Athenæum's Katharine Lane