Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions
The Special Collections Research Center is located on the first floor of the Joseph Regenstein Library on the campus of the University of Chicago. Exhibitions are free and open to the public and can be viewed during the Research Center's regular public service hours. Titles and dates of forthcoming exhibitions are subject to change. For further information about the exhibition program, please contact:
Special Collections Research Center
The University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Phone: (773) 702-8705
Current Exhibitions
On the Edge: Medieval Margins and the Margins of Academic Life
Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery
May 19, 2012 – August 10, 20122012 marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art by University of Chicago art history professor Michael Camille (1958-2002). This groundbreaking work looked at the "lascivious apes, autophagic dragons, pot-bellied heads, harp-playing asses, arse-kissing priests and somersaulting jongleurs to be found protruding from the edges of medieval buildings and in the margins of illuminated manuscripts." Camille studied the uncommon: the strange, remarkable, and extraordinary images at the edges of the medieval world. Camille brought light to the confluence of the serious and the playful, the sacred and the profane.
This exhibit will feature marginalia in illuminated manuscripts from the Special Collections Research Center paired with photographs of life at the University of Chicago. The serious and the playful also converge here at the University, and the theme of this exhibit will be to explore the symmetry between the margins of academic life and medieval margins.
Forthcoming Exhibitions
Swiss Treasuries: Biblical Texts and Scholarly Manuscripts from Swiss Libraries
Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery
Autumn Quarter, 2012This exhibition displays historical Biblical texts and modern manuscripts in Biblical studies drawn from eight libraries and archives in seven Swiss cities (Fribourg, Cologny, Lausanne, Geneva, St. Gallen, Zurich, and Basel). The display of highlights from these Swiss institutions marks the joint annual meetings in Chicago in November 2012 of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion.
My Life Is an Open Book: D.I.Y, Autobiography
Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery
Winter Quarter, 2012
Recipes for Domesticity: Cookery, Household Management, and the Notion of Expertise
Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery
Spring Quarter, 2012Through the use of cookbooks and household guides ranging from the early modern period through the twentieth century, this exhibition will look at the relationships among food, class, and gender, as well as the ways in which domestic expertise became formulated through such books
Souvenirs! Get Your Souvenirs! Highlights from the Ian Mueller Collection
Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery
Summer Quarter, 2012Part of the Discover Hidden Archives Treasures series, this exhibition will present a wide range of historical Chicago-related books, postcards, objects, souvenirs, and prints. Many of the materials on display document the city of Chicago in general, while other items are drawn from Chicago's two world's fairs, the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933-1934. The exhibition is based on a collection of Chicago memorabilia assembled by the late Professor Ian Mueller and presented to the Library as a gift by his widow, Professor Janel Mueller.
