Exhibits – Special Collections and University Archives

Tulip poplar leaf Arthur Mange Collection

Drawing upon the unique materials under their care, the staff of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives organize two to three exhibits a year in their reading room and work regularly with their colleagues in the general library to prepare other exhibits for display on the Lower Level of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.

Current and Upcoming Exhibits

Evidence of: Photography and Documentation

Sept. 20, 2019 – Jan. 31, 2020

W. E. B. Du Bois Library
Lower Level and Floor 25

Drawing from the burgeoning collections of visual materials in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), the exhibit follows the history of documentary photography from its century origins to its flowering in the post-World War II era. Photographers on display include Peter Simon, Jeff Albertson, Alton H. Blackington, Clif Garboden, Rowland Scherman, Diana Mara Henry, Kathy Borchers, and Nancy Palmieri, all of whose archives reside in SCUA. The exhibit is accompanied by a related online exhibit, 50 photos, featuring a single image drawn from each of 50 SCUA collections.

An Exhibit on the History of Disability

Feb. 10, 2020-Summer 2020

W. E. B. Du Bois Library
Lower Level and Floor 25

Drawing from the growing collections documenting disability history in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), the exhibit uses the organizational records and collections of personal papers documenting the history of disability and disability rights in the United States. Among other focal points for the exhibit are cross-disability activism and the psychiatric survivors’ movement.

An Exhibit on Daniel Ellsberg

Fall 2020-January 2021

W. E. B. Du Bois Library
Lower Level and Floor 25

The exhibit celebrates the library’s recent acquisition of Ellsberg’s personal papers, which join other highly regarded collections in Special Collections and University Archives documenting the history of social unrest and change in the U.S. Following a decade as a high-level government official, researcher and consultant, Ellsberg distributed the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing decades of deceit by American policymakers during the Vietnam War.

Exhibits online
Class of 1967 Memorial and Monuments Tour Highlights the rich legacy of alumni giving and participation on the UMass Amherst campus from 1867 to today. See the buildings, structures, monuments, plaques, gardens, sculptures, trees, and benches that tell the story of a century and a half of generosity. Exhibit courtesy of the Class of 1967; prepared by Cheryl Harned.	Fifty Photographs: Selections from SCUA collections The premise of this exhibition is simple: to select one image each from fifty collections in SCUA both as an effort to explore the growth of these holdings and the range of “social feelings” embedded in them. For many collections, it is a challenge to select just one “favorite” image, and many of our favorites and some of our best photographic collections have been edged out. But the beauty of photography is that it will always be there to remind us of our lapses.
100 photos: Arthur Mange Photographs from the collection of Arthur Mange.	Through the Photographer’s Eyes: The Diana Mara Henry Collection (20th Century Photographer Photographs taken by Henry along with a rich array of related materials—speeches, press releases, brochures, and her personal notes—collected over the years, which document the political and cultural scene of the second half of the twentieth century
Photographer: Diana Mara Henry Photographs from the collection of Diana Mara Henry. An exhibit by Chuck Abel.	E.D. Hudson: an Abolitionist Life An examination of social reform and antislavery in Antebellum New England. An exhibit by Charles Weisenberger.
Rhetoric or Research interprets student protests against CIA recruitment at UMass Amherst during the 1980s through a selection of images taken by student photojournalists. By Tom Hohenstein (ETHIR recipient, 2011).	Source, History, Story: Teaching U.S. History in the Archives A digital curriculum for teaching U.S. history using archival resources. An exhibit by Emily Oswald (ETHIR recipient, 2011).
Behold And See As You Pass By An online exhibit on gravestones and mortuary art in Early New England drawn from the Association for Gravestones Studies Collections. By Molly Campbell (ETHIR recipient, 2011)	Uncertain Futures Science fiction readership in the Cold War and beyond. An exhibit by Morgan Hubbard.
Fifteen letters Conrad D. Totman’s letters home from Korea, 1954-1955. An exhibit by Alex McKenzie.	Du Bois: The Activist Life An online exhibit on the life and legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois based on his papers.
Herbals and Insects A selection of rare botanical and entomological books from the SCUA collections.	Apiculture and culture Books on bees and beekeeping. An exhibit by Richard A. Steinmetz.

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