Current Exhibitions:
The Spirit of the Orient and Judaism: From the Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica
October 10, 2007 - June 20, 2008
October 10, 2007 - June 20, 2008
Images of Prayer, Politics, and Everyday Life from the Harry and Branka Sondheim Jewish Heritage Collection
March 10, 2008 - July 8, 2008
March 10, 2008 - July 8, 2008
Discover Hidden Archives Treasures
March 28, 2008 - June 14, 2008
March 28, 2008 - June 14, 2008
Forthcoming Exhibitions:
Integrating the Life of the Mind: African Americans at the University of Chicago
September 2008 - February 2009
September 2008 - February 2009
The Experience of Women at the University of Chicago
March 2009 - June 2009
March 2009 - June 2009
Charles Darwin
September 2009 - February 2010
September 2009 - February 2010
Bibliotheca Homerica Langiana: The Homer Collection of Michael C. Lang
March 2010 - June 2010
March 2010 - June 2010
Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Program
The Special Collections Research Center presents a regular series of exhibitions in its main exhibition gallery, alcoves gallery, and Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica gallery. 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 open for viewing 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
Fax: (773) 702-3728
Specialcollections@lib.uchicago.edu
THE SPIRIT OF THE ORIENT AND JUDAISM: FROM THE LUDWIG ROSENBERGER LIBRARY OF JUDAICA
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Rosenberger Library of Judaica Gallery
October 10, 2007 - June 20, 2008 Western Jews have strong historical, cultural, and ethnic ties with the Orient; and at the same time form part of the broader European fascination with the East. This exhibition examines the ways that 19th- and 20th-century Jews shaped their own identities through real and imaginary encounters with the Orient. Works from the Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica illustrate the various ways Western Jews embraced the Orient, including dressing up as "Orientals," valorizing "authentic" Eastern Jewish communities, romanticizing Jewish history under Islam during the Golden Age in Spain, building synagogues in the Moorish style, imagining Biblical patriarchs as Bedouins, becoming Zionists, and positioning themselves as cultural mediators between West and East.
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An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Rosenberger Library of Judaica Gallery
October 10, 2007 - June 20, 2008 Western Jews have strong historical, cultural, and ethnic ties with the Orient; and at the same time form part of the broader European fascination with the East. This exhibition examines the ways that 19th- and 20th-century Jews shaped their own identities through real and imaginary encounters with the Orient. Works from the Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica illustrate the various ways Western Jews embraced the Orient, including dressing up as "Orientals," valorizing "authentic" Eastern Jewish communities, romanticizing Jewish history under Islam during the Golden Age in Spain, building synagogues in the Moorish style, imagining Biblical patriarchs as Bedouins, becoming Zionists, and positioning themselves as cultural mediators between West and East.
IMAGES OF PRAYER, POLITICS, AND EVERYDAY LIFE FROM THE HARRY AND BRANKA SONDHEIM JEWISH HERITAGE COLLECTION
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
March 10, 2008 - July 8, 2008 Assembled over many years by Harry Sondheim, a University of Chicago alumnus (A.B. 1954, J.D. 1957), the Sondheim collection spans the 16th to the late 20th century and includes early printed books, prints, drawings, 19th- and 20th-century newspaper and magazine illustrations, and ephemeral items such as New Year cards and postcards depicting Jewish life and customs. In 2005, Mr. Sondheim began to present his collection to the University of Chicago in a series of gifts. The exhibition is organized around representations of the events of the Jewish life-cycle—birth, circumcision, naming, bar mitzvah, marriage, and death—and those of the Jewish calendar—the Sabbath, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, and Passover. Sondheim also collected numerous images of Jews at labor and leisure and pursued his passion for illustrators and artists Ben Shahn, Moritz Oppenheim, Ephraim Lilien, Arthur Szyk, Alphonse Lévy and François-Louis Schmied. Further information about this exhibition is available from the press release
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An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
March 10, 2008 - July 8, 2008 Assembled over many years by Harry Sondheim, a University of Chicago alumnus (A.B. 1954, J.D. 1957), the Sondheim collection spans the 16th to the late 20th century and includes early printed books, prints, drawings, 19th- and 20th-century newspaper and magazine illustrations, and ephemeral items such as New Year cards and postcards depicting Jewish life and customs. In 2005, Mr. Sondheim began to present his collection to the University of Chicago in a series of gifts. The exhibition is organized around representations of the events of the Jewish life-cycle—birth, circumcision, naming, bar mitzvah, marriage, and death—and those of the Jewish calendar—the Sabbath, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, and Passover. Sondheim also collected numerous images of Jews at labor and leisure and pursued his passion for illustrators and artists Ben Shahn, Moritz Oppenheim, Ephraim Lilien, Arthur Szyk, Alphonse Lévy and François-Louis Schmied. Further information about this exhibition is available from the press release
DISCOVER HIDDEN ARCHIVES TREASURES
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Alcoves Gallery
March 28, 2008 - June 14, 2008 The latest installment of this recurring exhibit includes recently uncovered treasures in the Special Collections archives and manuscript collections. Among the items on display are pamphlets about Chicago child welfare, including some highlighting how a young working woman can stretch a dollar, posters and letters of Irish Nationalist O'Gorman Mahon, illustrations by Hyde Park activist Vi Uretz, a record album of a musical based on the life and times of Charles Darwin, and some Chicago Jazz Archive selections including artwork by Stephen Longstreet and George Von Physter. These and more entertaining treasures are on display.
Back to Top
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Alcoves Gallery
March 28, 2008 - June 14, 2008 The latest installment of this recurring exhibit includes recently uncovered treasures in the Special Collections archives and manuscript collections. Among the items on display are pamphlets about Chicago child welfare, including some highlighting how a young working woman can stretch a dollar, posters and letters of Irish Nationalist O'Gorman Mahon, illustrations by Hyde Park activist Vi Uretz, a record album of a musical based on the life and times of Charles Darwin, and some Chicago Jazz Archive selections including artwork by Stephen Longstreet and George Von Physter. These and more entertaining treasures are on display.
INTEGRATING THE LIFE OF THE MIND: AFRICAN AMERICANS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
September 2008 - February 2009 This exhibition examines the history of African Americans at the University of Chicago, from the earliest students of the nineteenth century to some of the most significant figures in the first decades of the twentieth century. Archival documents and published materials will be used to explore disparities between intellectual achievement and social experience and to trace individual paths of adoption and adaption, activism and despair, and institutionalization and radicalization.
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An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
September 2008 - February 2009 This exhibition examines the history of African Americans at the University of Chicago, from the earliest students of the nineteenth century to some of the most significant figures in the first decades of the twentieth century. Archival documents and published materials will be used to explore disparities between intellectual achievement and social experience and to trace individual paths of adoption and adaption, activism and despair, and institutionalization and radicalization.
THE EXPERIENCE OF WOMEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
March 2009 - June 2009 Since the University welcomed its first students in the fall of 1892, women have had very different stories to tell about the experiments in co-education and faculty diversification; the experience of the classroom, the laboratory, the dorm, and the streets of Hyde Park; the issues of mentorship, intellectual community, and career advancement; and the opportunities for political action and community involvement, for friendship, romance, and sexual experimentation. The exhibition draws from the rich University archives located at the Special Collections Research Center, and from a group of more than 70 oral histories taken from alumni, faculty, and staff from 1935 to the present day.
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An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
March 2009 - June 2009 Since the University welcomed its first students in the fall of 1892, women have had very different stories to tell about the experiments in co-education and faculty diversification; the experience of the classroom, the laboratory, the dorm, and the streets of Hyde Park; the issues of mentorship, intellectual community, and career advancement; and the opportunities for political action and community involvement, for friendship, romance, and sexual experimentation. The exhibition draws from the rich University archives located at the Special Collections Research Center, and from a group of more than 70 oral histories taken from alumni, faculty, and staff from 1935 to the present day.
CHARLES DARWIN
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
September 2009 - February 2010 A contribution to the international Darwin celebration in 2009, this exhibition commemorates the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin in 1809 and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his most significant work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (London, 1859). The exhibition will accompany a Darwin Symposium that will take place at the University of Chicago in October 2009.
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An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
September 2009 - February 2010 A contribution to the international Darwin celebration in 2009, this exhibition commemorates the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin in 1809 and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his most significant work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (London, 1859). The exhibition will accompany a Darwin Symposium that will take place at the University of Chicago in October 2009.
BIBLIOTHECA HOMERICA LANGIANA: THE HOMER COLLECTION OF MICHAEL C. LANG
An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
March 2010 - June 2010 This exhibition explores the history and influence of Homer in print through a presentation of volumes from the Bibliotheca Homerica Langiana, a collection of printed editions of Homer given to the University of Chicago Library by Michael C. Lang.
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An Exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center
Main Gallery
March 2010 - June 2010 This exhibition explores the history and influence of Homer in print through a presentation of volumes from the Bibliotheca Homerica Langiana, a collection of printed editions of Homer given to the University of Chicago Library by Michael C. Lang.