Collections & Exhibits

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Current Exhibits
Exhibit Thumbnail Title Locations Subjects
Bibliosaurus thumbnail Bibliosaurus!
Sixty-five million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs became extinct. Yet look around, and these prehistoric creatures appear to be thriving in our popular culture. Using children’s books, journals, monographs, original artwork, movie posters and other types of media, Bibliosaurus! explores how dinosaurs transformed from objects of intense scientific inquiry into outsize figures in everyday life.
Jan. 2 — April 19, 2024
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Exhibits
Relic from Old University of Chicago "A Case for Reparations at the University of Chicago": Sources
A selection of original manuscripts, publications, and legal documents that trace the connections and continuities between the Old University of Chicago and the new University, founded in 1890.
Locations
Regenstein Bookstacks, 4th Floor
April 25 — Aug. 11, 2019
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(Co)-Humanitarian Exhibit Poster (Co)-Humanitarian
(Co)-Humanitarian used print and visual resources to illustrate the ideological and geographic divisions between South and North Korea. The exhibit also conveyed North Korea’s human rights issues.
Locations
Regenstein 5th Floor Reading Room
May 1 — Aug. 1, 2017
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Subjects
Area Studies
Korean Studies
KCCNA Exhibit Thumbnail 20 Years and After: Korean Collections Consortium of North America (KCCNA)
The Korean Collections Consortium of North America (KCCNA) was founded in 1994 with 6 member institutions, with the University of Chicago quickly joining as the 7th member in 1995. This exhibit shows a selection of the University of Chicago’s KCCNA-assigned subject books.
Locations
Regenstein Bookstacks, 5th Floor
March 1 — April 1, 2016
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Subjects
Korean Studies
Adventures in the Soviet Imaginary Adventures in the Soviet Imaginary: Children's Books and Graphic Art
Adventures in the Soviet Imaginary examines both the intensive and extensive dimensions of Soviet posters and children books.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Aug. 22 — Dec. 30, 2011
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Subjects
Slavic/Eastern Europe/Eurasia
Art
Hows and Whys of French Cooking Alma Lach's Kitchen
This exhibition explores Alma Lach’s wide-ranging culinary career and displays selections from her fascinating collection of cookbooks.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 19 — Jan. 6, 2017
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Subjects
Humanities
Art in the Stacks Art in the Stacks
The Special Collections Research Center is known for being the University of Chicago Library’s center for rare books, manuscripts, and university archives. Nestled within these materials, there is a lesser known aspect of our collections—art. Art in the Stacks highlights these holdings with a selection of original paintings, drawings, and sculptures, in addition to artists’ books and other works on paper produced in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
June 19 — Sept. 15, 2017
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Subjects
Art
manifestazione femminista 8 marzo 1977 Artivism: Italy and Social Justice
Art activism in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s
Locations
Regenstein 3rd Floor Reading Room
June 11 — Dec. 15, 2018
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Subjects
Music
Art
Italian Literature
B. Heller & Co. Collection The B. Heller & Co. Collection
Founded by Benjamin Heller, whose family practiced sausage-making for generations, Chicago-based B. Heller & Co. began in 1893. Eager to take advantage of new developments in food science and chemistry as well as his skills as a salesman, Benjamin Heller was the quintessential American entrepreneur.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 1 — June 30, 2009
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Subjects
Advertising
Chicago and Illinois
The Berlin Collection The Berlin Collection
Showcasing the collection of nearly 100,000 books and manuscripts purchased by William Rainey Harper in Berlin in 1891, which became the core of the University of Chicago Library's holdings and have had an abiding influence on the course of scholarly investigation at the University.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 1 — Dec. 31, 1979
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Subjects
University of Chicago Library
Bibliosaurus thumbnail Bibliosaurus!
Sixty-five million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs became extinct. Yet look around, and these prehistoric creatures appear to be thriving in our popular culture. Using children’s books, journals, monographs, original artwork, movie posters and other types of media, Bibliosaurus! explores how dinosaurs transformed from objects of intense scientific inquiry into outsize figures in everyday life.
Jan. 2 — April 19, 2024
View web exhibit >>
BMRC exhibit thumbnail The Black Metropolis Research Consortium: Fifteen Years of Preserving and Documenting Black History and Culture in Chicago
The Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC) is a Chicago-based membership association that aids in expanding broad access to its members’ holdings of materials that document African American and African diasporic history, politics and culture, with a specific focus on materials relating to Chicago. Our members include universities, libraries, museums, community, arts-based and government archives. It is the mission of the BMRC to connect all who seek to document, share, understand and preserve Black experiences. In 2021, the BMRC celebrates its 15th anniversary. This exhibit documents the origins of the BMRC, its efforts to aid discoverability and access to Black historical collections, and the consortium’s flagship Summer Short-term Fellowship and Archie Motley Archival Internship programs.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
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Subjects
American History
African-American Studies
History
A Bold Experiment A Bold Experiment: The Origins of the Sciences at the University of Chicago
In celebration of the 125th anniversary of the University of Chicago's founding, this exhibit looks back at the establishment of the natural sciences at the University.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Sept. 21 — March 31, 2016
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Subjects
University of Chicago
History of Science
Book Use, Book Theory Book Use, Book Theory: 1500-1700
This exhibition, co-curated by Bradin Cormack and Carla Mazzio, will examine the relationship between book use and forms of knowledge production in the early modern period (up through about 1700).
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 1 — July 31, 2005
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Subjects
History of Print
Lectures by William Morris A Book by Its Cover: Decorative Book Bindings from the Medieval Codex to Contemporary Artists' Books
A Book by Its Cover considers how innovations in binding structure, decoration and design can be used to transform a book’s paratext into an essential part of the textual whole. Works on view include treasure bindings, fine bindings from the Guild of Women Binders, and artist’s bindings—Karen Hanmer’s patchwork binding for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for example—in which the books’ covers can be read as integral to the narrative texts they envelop.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Feb. 7 — April 29, 2022
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Building for a Long Future Exhibition Catalog Cover Building for a Long Future: The University of Chicago and Its Donors, 1889-1930
This exhibition explores the motivations and purposes of the varied group of donors who supported the University of Chicago from the time of its founding in the late 1880s to the conclusion of the extensive campus building campaign of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
May 1 — Dec. 31, 2001
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Subjects
University of Chicago
BIIAB_PosterSmall But Is It A Book?
One of life’s most familiar objects, the codex book, is also one of the most innovative and adaptable technologies for making and sharing meaning devised by humankind. But what makes a book a book? Must it have pages, text, and a rectangular shape to qualify? "But Is It a Book?" is a choosable-path exhibition that investigates the nature of the material text, considering examples from the long arc of book history, from the clay tablet to the contemporary artist’s book.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 3 — April 28, 2023
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Subjects
Library Science
Nora Johnson and Harriet M. Parsons, Yerkes Observatory staff, 1915 Capturing the Stars: The Untold History of Women at Yerkes Observatory
Women contributed to the advancement of astronomy and astrophysics at Yerkes Observatory in the early twentieth century. Women were not only calculators or assistants. They earned degrees, conducted their own research, collaborated on projects with peers of both sexes, worked on publications, and used their time at Yerkes to launch a wide range of careers.. Their lives and labor are preserved in documents in the Library's archival collections. The stories of some of these women and their previously invisible labor are now told in this exhibition.
Sept. 18 — Dec. 15, 2023
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Image 1 Celebrating the Poetry of Asia & the Middle East
For their inaugural joint exhibit, five area-studies librarians on the fifth floor of the Joseph Regenstein Library celebrate poetry from their own areas of expertise.
Locations
Regenstein Bookstacks, 5th Floor
May 1 — June 30, 2018
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Subjects
Korean Studies
Middle East
Southern Asia
Japanese Studies
Chinese Studies
Photo of Whitman with His Pigeons Charles Otis Whitman: His Science, His Special Birds, and the Marine Biological Laboratory
Charles Whitman was a pioneer in the study of animal behavior, and one of his main research interests was the passenger pigeon. This exhibit examines Whitman's legacy at the University of Chicago and beyond.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Jan. 6 — March 21, 2014
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Subjects
Organismal Biology
Biological Sciences
Chicago Celebrates Darwin Chicago Celebrates Darwin
The John Crerar Library presents Chicago Celebrates Darwin, an exhibit which revisits the Darwin Centennial Celebration hosted by the University in 1959. We look back at the original letters, pictures, and documents from that conference to get a sense of the atmosphere and the importance of the events, including the effect of Darwin’s theories on the research and popular opinion of the day.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Oct. 19 — March 26, 2010
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Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
Biological Sciences
Organismal Biology
University of Chicago
Ecology & Evolution
Closeted/Out in the Quadragles feature image Closeted/OUT in the Quadrangles: A History of LGBTQ Life at the University of Chicago
Historical view of LGBT faculty, student, and staff life at the University of Chicago.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 30 — June 12, 2015
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Subjects
LGBTQIA Studies
University of Chicago
Concrete Poetry, Concrete Book Exhibition Title Panel Concrete Poetry, Concrete Book: Artists' Books in German-Speaking Space after 1945
This exhibition highlights the Fluxus movement's conceptual use of the book format.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 17 — March 17, 2017
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Discovering the Beauty and Charm of the Wilderness Discovering the Beauty and Charm of the Wilderness: Chicago Connections to the National Park Service
The National Park Service offers a rich variety of landforms, flora, and fauna that have been the subject of many University of Chicago scientific studies. The parks have also served as inspiration for art, photography and literature. To mark the National Park Service’s 100-year anniversary, we delve into the Library’s archives and rare collections to uncover Chicago connections to the parks.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Oct. 31 — Dec. 31, 2016
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Subjects
Environmental Science
Organismal Biology
American History
University of Chicago
Exhibition Poster Dog Fight: The Animal Experimentation Debate in Twentieth-Century Chicago
What should be done with unclaimed pound dogs? This question inspired fierce debates in Chicago, where an unusual city ordinance in 1931 granted scientists at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and other local medical schools access to stray dogs for experimental purposes. This exhibition explores both sides of that controversy and shows how it continues to shape the ways we discuss biomedical ethics and scientific progress.
May 8 — Sept. 1, 2023
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Subjects
History
History of Science
Chicago and Illinois
University of Chicago
rosrenberger.jpg East European Jews in the German-Jewish Imagination from the Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica
This exhibition traces the place of East European Jewry in the imagination and experience of German Jews from emancipation in the nineteenth century to the decline of German-Jewish life on the eve of World War II.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 1 — June 30, 2009
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Subjects
Jewish Studies
enguerre_cover.jpg En Guerre: French Illustrators and World War I
En Guerre will offer a fresh examination of World War I through the lens of French graphic illustration of the period.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 14 — Jan. 2, 2015
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Subjects
European History
Art
Envisioning Earth Envisioning Earth
This exhibit points to historical references to conservation and the environment; the approach is one that is multidisciplinary, accomplished through music, literature, and cartography.
Locations
Regenstein 3rd Floor Reading Room
May 1 — Sept. 4, 2017
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Subjects
Music
Literature
Maps
Razm-nāma Envisioning South Asia: Texts, Scholarship, Legacies
This exhibition introduces the Regenstein Library's extraordinary resources related to South Asia through visual metaphors of imagination, representation, and engagement.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 11 — March 18, 2016
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Subjects
Southern Asia
South Asia
Lewis.jpg Expanding Sources: Recent Additions to Special Collections
As academic fields expand and diversify, Special Collections is building collections to support these new directions. Researchers are drawing on original materials in many areas including race and gender, cinema and media, graphic design, arts practice, and cross-cultural global studies. This exhibition displays recent acquisitions with research potential for a range of disciplines. The materials represent many formats, including children’s books, family letters, journals, fine book design, posters, research notes, clothing, board games, and printed ephemera.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 6 — April 24, 2020
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Subjects
University of Chicago Library
Chicago and Illinois
University of Chicago
Firmness Commodity Delight thumbnail Firmness Commodity and Delight
Firmness, Commodity, and Delight was the inaugural exhibition in the new Special Collections gallery, running from May through July 2011. The exhibition celebrated the opening of the new SCRC exhibition gallery and the completion of the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library with a display of books, manuscripts, and archival drawings and photographs representing our collections in architecture. The exhibition also had two items provided by the architectural firms who designed the Mansueto and Special Collections spaces – one drawing each from Murphy/Jahn (Helmut Jahn) and Booth Hansen. The exhibition was presented in conjunction with "500 Years of the Illustrated Architecture Book," a city-wide festival marking the publication of the first illustrated book on architecture, the Fra Giocondo edition of Vitruvius's De architectura libri decem.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
May 9 — July 29, 2011
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Subjects
Architecture
Octave Chanute Flights before the Wrights: Octave Chanute, Chicago. Aeronautical Pioneer, Engineer & Teacher
An exhibition of Octave Chanute's accomplishments and highlights from the visionary's career. Chanute’s novel biplane glider, an engineering masterpiece in the world of 1896 flying machines was the foundation for 20th-century aircraft.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Nov. 1 — June 1, 2002
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Subjects
Aviation
Technology
History of Science
Bibfeldt_Focus.jpg Franz Bibfeldt
Fictional theologian, real papers
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Mattys hot dog stand From Sausage to Hot Dog: the Evolution of an Icon
The hot dog is an American creation, and Chicago even has its own style. But where did this popular food come from and how did it develop? This exhibit looks to the hot dog's origins in sausage-making practices brought by European immigrants to the Midwest. We consider techniques used in neighborhood butcher shops and the rise of industrial meat production. Homemade recipes and artisanal makers past and present are also examined.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Oct. 29 — Dec. 31, 2013
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Subjects
History of Science
History
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Ghosts of the Past: Early Students at the University of Chicago
This web exhibit explores the experiences of early University of Chicago students through letters, scrapbooks, photographs, and other papers from the students' papers in the University Archives.
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University of Chicago
Silhouette of Crowd with Shahada The Graphics of Revolution and War: Iranian Poster Arts
Designed for mass distribution and aimed towards a large public audience, posters embed social, political, and religious concerns that frequently are articulated through both text and image. Perhaps more so than at any other moment in recent history, posters served as powerful modalities for mobilization and communication during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88).
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 15 — Dec. 18, 2011
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Subjects
Art
Middle East
homer_title_graphic.jpg Homer in Print: The Transmission and Reception of Homer's Works
Homer in Print illustrates what we can learn when we look beyond the stories to ask what sources went into shaping this particular edition or how the multitude of English translations differ from each other.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 13 — March 15, 2014
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Subjects
Classics
James Watson Honest Jim: James D. Watson, the Writer
Fifty years ago, James Watson and Francis Crick made one of the major discoveries of the twentieth century: they deciphered the double helical structure of DNA. The discovery began a revolution in molecular biology that led to major advances in science and medicine.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Jan. 19 — May 28, 2004
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Subjects
Biological Sciences
Molecular & Cell Biology
History of Science
I Step Out of Myself thumbnail I Step Out of Myself: Portrait Photography in Special Collections
An exhibition of portrait photography collections in the University Archives.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 12 — March 20, 2015
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Subjects
Art
Photography
University of Chicago
Sondheim Jewish Heritage Collection Exhibit Images of Prayer, Politics and Everyday Life from the Harry and Branks Sondheim Jewish Heritage Collection
This exhibition of the Harry Sondheim (A.B. 1954, J.D. 1957) Collection 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.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 1 — July 31, 2008
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Subjects
Religion
The Life of the Mind Integrating the Life of the Mind: African Americans at the University of Chicago, 1870-1940
This exhibit presents original manuscripts, rarely seen portraits and photographs, African American publications, books by African American graduates of the University of Chicago, and other documents that trace the interlocking strands of academic and gradual social integration through the mid-twentieth century.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 1 — Feb. 28, 2009
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Subjects
African-American Studies
University of Chicago
clowes thumb.jpg Integrity of the Page: The Creative Process of Daniel Clowes
The Clowes archive contains notes, outlines, narrative drafts, character sketches, draft layouts, and more for three of Clowes' books: Ice Haven, Mister Wonderful, and The Death-Ray. The exhibition pieces this material together, tracing the evolution of Clowes' art from conception to production to publication.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 28 — June 17, 2016
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Subjects
History of Print
American Literature
James Baldwin with Statues James Baldwin Among The Philosophers
James Baldwin’s work is widely recognized for its religious overtones and influences as well as for its critiques of racism and heterosexual norms. His work is equally important as a contribution to American philosophy.
Locations
Regenstein 4th Floor Reading Room
Sept. 25 — Dec. 31, 2017
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Subjects
African-American Studies
Religion
Exhibit Sign The Late Sketches and Autographs of Beethoven
The books in which Beethoven carried out his sketching can be identified as falling into one of three categories: collections of loose leaves, large sketchbooks, and pocket books. The first of these, loose leaves, were used by Beethoven early in his life (from around 1786 to 1799) to draft compositions, as well as to write out compositional exercises, often for the keyboard. These loose leaves were later collected, sorted, and sewn together into book format by the composer himself.
Locations
Regenstein 3rd Floor Reading Room
June 21 — Dec. 14, 2019
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Subjects
Music
Brooker Prize Display Case Letters from Prison
This exhibit draws together letters written by incarcerated people, across time and space. The centerpiece and inspiration for the exhibit is the collected letters of Chris Vega to his brother. Mr. Vega has been imprisoned by the Illinois Department of Corrections almost continuously since 2007. Juxtaposed with Mr. Vega’s letters and poems are published works written by or for incarcerated people, from the collection at the University of Chicago Library.
Locations
Regenstein 4th Floor Reading Room
Aug. 27 — Dec. 16, 2018
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Image of Crerar Library A Library for All Time: The History of the John Crerar Library
The John Crerar Library holds a place of distinction in the world of libraries. The images and texts presented here trace the history of the library from its founding as a free public library of science made possible by the gift of a dedicated philanthropist through its growth to an outstanding print collection with innovative research services and into its present form which combines these traditional services and collections with modern electronic information resources and creative collaborations with campus partners.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Oct. 29 — March 31, 2014
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Subjects
Biological Sciences
Physical Sciences
History of Science
UChicago Aerial Photo 1938 Mapping the University of Chicago
This exhibit features interactive mapping applications, information on the University's history, and archived maps and resources to find more information.
July 15 — March 31, 2021
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Subjects
University of Chicago
Maps
Mapping the Young Metropolis Mapping the Young Metropolis
Between 1915 and 1940, a small faculty in the University of Chicago Department of Sociology, working with dozens of talented graduate students, intensively studied the city of Chicago . They aspired to use the approaches of social science in developing a new field of research, and they took the city as their laboratory.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
June 22 — Sept. 11, 2015
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Subjects
Sociology
Chicago and Illinois
Map of the Atlantic Ocean Marie Tharp: Pioneering Oceanographer
A pioneer in her field, renowned cartographer Marie Tharp created the first scientific maps of the Atlantic Ocean floor with her partner Bruce Heezen. Her observations showed the topography and geographical landscape of the ocean bottom and were crucial to the development of the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift in the earth sciences.
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History of Science
Geography
Geophysical Sciences
Wilson & Co. pork sausage advertisement featuring Edward Foss Wilson, circa 1920-1927 Meatpacking in the Midwest: The Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection
From the Civil War through the 1930s, Chicago was the center of the meatpacking industry in the United States. The Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection provides a snapshot of one family-owned meatpacking business in Chicago during the first half of the twentieth century. The collection captures the meatpacking industry in the Midwest through the lens of one family's experience at the top.
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Special Collections
Chicago and Illinois
Business
My Life is an Open Book thumbnail My Life is an Open Book
A selections of zines that are draw from the creators' personal experiences.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 14 — April 13, 2013
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Subjects
Humanities
Literature
On Equal Terms Exhibit On Equal Terms: Educating Women at the University of Chicago
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.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 1 — July 31, 2009
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Subjects
Women's Studies
University of Chicago Library
Hours of Gladness On Reading Spring
"On Reading Spring" is divided into six thematic sections, each offering a discreet meditation on the unfolding of the season through experiences commonly ascribed to spring: Refreshment, Vulnerability, Epiphany, Restoration, Tenderness, and Joy. By pairing a selection of the Special Collections Research Center’s rare and unusual published works with archival letters, diaries, photographs, musical manuscripts and early drafts of poems composed between March and June, "On Reading Spring" considers the ways in which diverse works reveal a sympathetic vernal experience across disciplines, cultures, and time periods.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
April 6 — June 30, 2020
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Subjects
Music
Art
Literature
Photography
OntheEdge On the Edge: Medieval Margins and the Margins of Academic Life
This exhibition explores the symmetry between medieval margins and the modern margins of academic life.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
May 19 — Sept. 10, 2012
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Subjects
Art
European History
History of Print
Lincoln Our Lincoln: Bicentennial Icons from the Barton Collection of Lincolniana
Marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, this exhibition presents a selection of documents and artifacts from the University of Chicago Library's William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 1 — Feb. 28, 2009
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Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
Nurse with Baby Past, Present, Future: the Evolution of Medicine at the University of Chicago's Hospitals
This exhibit provides an overview of the history and evolution of the medical school program, the hospital facilities and their technology, and medical partnerships with other Chicago area hospitals.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Oct. 15 — March 30, 2012
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Subjects
University of Chicago
Medicine
Moses 9.jpeg Paul B. Moses: Trailblazing Art Historian
The extraordinary life of the art historian Paul B. Moses (1929–1966) was one defined by barriers overcome. Through his writings, photographs, video clips, personal correspondence, ephemera, and original art, the exhibition tells the story of his journey from Ardmore, Pennsylvania and Haverford College, where he was the first African-American student ever admitted, to the University of Chicago, where he distinguished himself through innovative teaching and scholarship until his untimely death.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 12 — Dec. 16, 2022
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Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
University of Chicago
History
Art
scrc_wachs_title_panel_webpdf.png Poetic Associations: The Nineteenth-Century English Poetry Collection of Dr. Gerald N. Wachs
In the period between the French Revolution and the start of World War I, often called “the long nineteenth century,” English poetry enjoyed enormous popularity and respect. The Romantics and the Victorians, as we know them today, were celebrities and, often, close friends, part of a literary community that influenced their professional and personal lives. Dr. Gerald N. Wachs (1937-2013), working closely with his friend, bookseller Stephen Weissman of Ximenes Rare Books, collected their works, using as their guidebook the Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (CBEL), the standard primary bibliography of English literature. They sought the finest copies, whenever possible ones that were presented by the author to other writers, friends, or family members. The resulting collection of nearly 900 titles, on deposit from the Estate of Gerald Wachs at the University of Chicago Library, illuminates the life and works of these enduring poets.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 21 — Dec. 31, 2015
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Subjects
Literature
Presidents of University of Chicago The Presidents of the University of Chicago: A Centennial View
This exhibition, the fourth in a series marking the Centennial of the University of Chicago, examines the distinctive contributions of each of the ten chief executives of the university over the past century.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 1 — Feb. 1, 1993
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Subjects
University of Chicago
Printing for the Modern Age Exhibit Printing for the Modern Age: Commerce, Craft, and Culture in the RR Donnelley Archive
The R. R. Donnelley Archive preserves a fascinating array of historical materials dating from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, offering research potential in modern social and cultural history, the history of printing and the graphic arts, the history of advertising and mass consumption, economic and labor history, Chicago urban and community history, and modern cultural studies, among many other fields.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 1 — Feb. 28, 2007
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Subjects
History of Print
Chicago and Illinois
American History
Race and the Design of Everyday Life Race and the Design of American Life: African Americans in Twentieth-Century Commercial Art
Drawing from collections of food packaging, advertisements, children's books, album covers, and other household goods, this exhibit traces the vexed history of African Americans in commercial art—as images and as makers of their own image—and their vital role in shaping the rise and establishment of our modern consumer society.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 14 — Jan. 4, 2014
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Subjects
African-American Studies
Art
Exhibition Poster ReFraming Graphic Medicine: Comics and the History of Medicine
Throughout the history of comics, the visual stories of health, illness and medical practice complement the traditional history of medicine. Spanning from the origins of comics to contemporary works of graphic medicine, this exhibit traces a unique visual history of the illness experience and the evolution of Western healthcare practices and broadens our understanding of how the history of medicine is constructed.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
May 9 — July 16, 2022
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Subjects
Medicine
Art
History of Medicine
schultz_thumb_exlist.jpg Reading the Greens: Books on Golf from the Arthur W. Schultz Collection
The exhibition is drawn from the Arthur W. Schultz Golf Collection, which includes more than 1,600 books on the history of golf presented to the University of Chicago Library by Arthur W. Schultz, an alumnus and Life Trustee of the University of Chicago.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
May 1 — Sept. 30, 1998
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Subjects
History
Recipes for Domesticity Recipes for Domesticity: Cookery, Household Management, and the Notion of Expertise
This exhibition, drawn primarily from the Rare Books Collection, provides a sampling of European and American cookbooks and domestic manuals from court chefs of the 15th century to cooking icons of the 20th century.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
April 22 — July 13, 2013
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Subjects
European History
American History
red press thumbnail Red Press
Red Press: Radical Print Culture from St. Petersburg to Chicago represents the Bolshevik revolution as it was waged through broadsides, pamphlets, periodicals and posters. Many materials are drawn from the archive of Samuel N. Harper, son of the University’s founding president, the first American Russianist, and eyewitness to the revolution. Through these rare printed sources visitors can trace the worldwide spread of revolutionary and antirevolutionary media and ideas.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Sept. 25 — Feb. 2, 2018
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Subjects
History
Slavic/Eastern Europe/Eurasia
mexico_web_exhibits.jpg Researching Mexico: University of Chicago Field Explorations in Mexico, 1896-2014
University of Chicago scholars have traveled to Mexico since the late nineteenth century, pursuing research subjects ranging from archival investigation of revolutionary leaders, to documentation of indigenous communities and languages, to the search for the cause of a deadly strain of typhus.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
June 30 — Oct. 4, 2014
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Subjects
Latin American Studies
1. Irma and Willie Pickens Rhythm and Bombast: In Memory of Willie Pickens (1931-2017)
Memorial exhibit of Chicago piano titan, Willie Pickens
Locations
Regenstein Bookstacks, 4th Floor
Feb. 19 — April 21, 2018
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pythagorean.jpg Ryerson Laboratory and Eckhart Hall: A History
The exhibit is a history of Ryerson Physical Laboratory and Eckhart Hall on the University of Chicago campus
Locations
Eckhart Library
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Subjects
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Library Science
Mathematics
Computer Science
Statistics
Physics
The Salem Martyr by Noble The Salem Witch Trials: Legal Resources
The Salem Witch Trials divided the community. Neighbor testified against neighbor. Children against parents. Husband against wife. Children died in prisons. Families were destroyed. Churches removed from their congregations some of the persons accused of witchcraft. After the Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved, the Superior Court of Judicature took over the witchcraft cases. They disallowed spectral evidence. Most accusations of witchcraft then resulted in acquittals.
Locations
The D'Angelo Law Library
Oct. 1 — Jan. 1, 2024
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Subjects
American History
U.S. Law
Science and Conscience poster Science and Conscience: Chicago's Met Lab and the Manhattan Project
Based on archives and manuscripts in the Special Collections Research Center, Science and Conscience presents unique historical documents and artifacts, many not previously exhibited. Items on display are drawn from records of scientists’ organizations and the papers of those who worked on the Manhattan Project and at Chicago’s Met Lab, including Enrico Fermi, James Franck, Herbert L. Anderson, Samuel K. Allison, Samuel Schwartz, Francis W. Test, Lawrence Lanzl, John H. Balderston, Jr., Albert Wattenberg, Eugene Rabinowitch, Paul Henshaw, William A. Higinbotham, and Donald MacRae, among others.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Feb. 19 — April 13, 2018
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Subjects
History
University of Chicago
Green Roof on Searle The Science of Sustainability
This exhibit takes a close look at some aspects of sustainable building design and how they can produce greener buildings.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
April 5 — Oct. 1, 2010
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Subjects
Environmental Science
Urban Studies
Organismal Biology
Chicago and Illinois
University of Chicago
Shanghai Jews Thumbnail The Shanghai Jews
This three-case exhibit is part of an event series exploring the experience of many thousands of Jewish refugees who escaped to Shanghai during World War II.
Locations
Regenstein 3rd Floor Reading Room
Jan. 15 — March 30, 2019
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Subjects
East Asian Studies
Jewish Studies
Shared Past, Shared Future Shared Past, Shared Future: The Marine Biological Laboratory and the University of Chicago
The recent affiliation between UChicago and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is the latest chapter in the long, intertwined history of the two institutions.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
April 19 — Oct. 31, 2016
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Subjects
Organismal Biology
University of Chicago
Something's Brewing: The Art, Science and Technology of Beer Brewing Something's Brewing: The Art, Science and Technology of Beer Brewing
The Crerar Library exhibit, Something's Brewing: The Art, Science and Technology of Brewing, explores the development of brewing, from the ancient Sumerians' rice-based beverages to the rise and fall of the Chicago brewing industry.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Jan. 8 — March 31, 2007
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Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
Materials Science
History of Science
Technology
Sun Ra Sounds from Tomorrow's World: Sun Ra and the Chicago Years, 1946-1961
This exhibit explores Sun Ra’s Chicago years through images and sound recordings of his poetry and music, vinyl records and album artwork, promotional materials and early controversial broadsheets. While living in Chicago, Herman Poole “Sonny” Blount became Sun Ra—the leader of the Arkestra and a composer and arranger of some of the most avant-garde jazz of the time.
Locations
Regenstein 3rd Floor Reading Room
Dec. 1 — Aug. 20, 2010
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Subjects
Music
Chicago and Illinois
Souvenirs thumbnail Souvenirs! Get Your Souvenirs!
Souvenirs can come in all shapes and sizes; they can be simple or complex, tasteful or tacky. This exhibition presents various souvenirs created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition, and the City of Chicago. It draws on collections throughout the Special Collections Research Center, catalyzed by the Ian Mueller Collection of Chicago Memorabilia.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
July 22 — Oct. 4, 2013
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Subjects
Special Collections
American History
Chicago and Illinois
Daniel Meyer Special Collections, Special Director
To celebrate the retirement of Daniel Meyer, Director of the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center and University Archivist, he has curated a small selections of his favorite items from the collection.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
June 23 — June 24, 2021
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Super Metroid Super Metroid: A 20th Anniversary Retrospective
This exhibit celebrates the art of the videogame as seen in one of its early classics. Additionally, this exhibit explores the creative activity that lies beyond the game itself, from concept art and promotional materials to the fan art the game still inspires twenty years later.
Locations
The Joseph Regenstein Library
Jan. 28 — March 22, 2014
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Subjects
Arts
Cracker Jack advertisement Sweet Home Chicago: Chocolate and Confectionery Production and Technology in the Windy City
Drawing from items in the substantial cookery collection at the John Crerar Library, this exhibit explores the history of chocolate and confectioners in the city and the science and technology of the candy making process.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Oct. 10 — June 11, 2011
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Subjects
Advertising
Chicago and Illinois
Technology
Brooker Prize Symbol T. Kimball Brooker Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting
The Brooker Prize is awarded annually to second- and fourth year students with outstanding book collections. This exhibit provides an opportunity for award winners to share selections from their collections with a wider audience.
Locations
Regenstein 1st Floor Reading Room
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Subjects
Latin American Studies
Medieval Studies
Gender Studies
Arts
Tensions in Renaissance Cities Title Image Tensions in Renaissance Cities
Rome, Florence, Geneva, London; Renaissance cities used art and literature to express their growing pains. After the Black Death, recovering cities developed in a geography of interdependence, connected by fluctuating kingdoms, mercantile networks, and the newborn printing press. This exhibit charts the tensions of capitals from Venice to Mexico City as they looked eastward, westward, backward toward antiquity, or upward to the celestial geographies offered by magic, science, and theology.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 27 — June 9, 2017
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Subjects
European History
art and astronomy They Saw Stars: Art and Astronomy
This John Crerar Library exhibit highlights works of art and literature influenced by astronomy, either through scientific study, a fascination with the night sky, or as an inspiration for the literary imagination. Both contemporary and historical works are included.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
June 2 — Nov. 1, 2005
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Subjects
History of Science
Art
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kehinde Wiley detail UChicago Celebrates Black History
A selection of books that explore all dimensions of Black life, history and Black experience. All books were suggested by UChicago students, staff, faculty, and librarians.
Locations
Regenstein 1st Floor Reading Room
Feb. 10 — Feb. 29, 2020
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Subjects
History
Photo of Conservator at Work Under Covers: The Art and Science of Book Conservation
Book Conservation is an essential component of a comprehensive program to protect and preserve library collections for current and future use by scholars. This exhibit takes a close look at the scientific aspects of conservation and the treatment of collections.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
March 26 — Oct. 11, 2013
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Subjects
Materials Science
History of Print
Chemistry
Main exhibit poster Under Your Feet, Chicago's Water, Freight, Subway and Storm Tunnels
Under Your Feet explores the system—from the first water tunnels completed in 1867, to the now defunct freight tunnels of the early 1900's, to the subway system we use today, to the Deep Tunnel project and storm tunnels of the future.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Feb. 14 — March 31, 2006
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Subjects
Technology
Art
Chicago and Illinois
Stamp depicting rhododendron Understanding North Korea through Stamps
The East Asian Collection acquired more than 2,000 North Korean stamps this year, each of which has been digitized and accompanied by in-depth data to form the first digital collection of its kind developed by any library worldwide.
Locations
Regenstein 5th Floor Reading Room
Sept. 23 — Feb. 12, 2020
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Subjects
East Asian Studies
United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs Title Page United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs
A web exhibit to highlight some of the notable portraits and documents available in the United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs collection at the University of Chicago D'Angelo Law Library, as well as to provide some resources for further research on these individuals and documents.
Locations
The D'Angelo Law Library
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Subjects
American History
Law
U.S. Law
centennial_catalog_life_on_the_quads.jpg The University of Chicago Centennial Catalogues
This online presentation reproduces the complete text and accompanying images from four University of Chicago Centennial Exhibition Catalogues, published in conjunction with a series of physical exhibitions organized by the Department of Special Collections to celebrate the 1991-92 Centennial of the University of Chicago.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 1 — Feb. 1, 1993
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Subjects
University of Chicago
University of Chicago Faculty The University of Chicago Faculty: A Centennial View
"The University of Chicago Faculty: A Centennial View" examines the careers of twenty-eight representative scholars from the institution's first century.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 1 — Dec. 1, 1992
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Subjects
University of Chicago
Law School Time Capsules University of Chicago Law School Time Capsules: 1903 & 1958
In August 2009, University stone masons opened the cornerstone of the University of Chicago's Law School building to unveil two time capsules, one from 1903 and one from 1958.The boxes contained items collected for the cornerstone of the original Law School building and items presented when the current building, designed by Eero Saarinen, was built.
Locations
The D'Angelo Law Library
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Subjects
University of Chicago
Law
Ida B. Wells A Voice for Justice: The Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells
This web exhibit showcases the achievements of civil rights activist Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) and documents her lifelong campaign for the rights and lives of African Americans in the nineteenth and twentieth-century United States of America.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
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Subjects
Chicago and Illinois
American History
African-American Studies
We Are Chicago thumbnail We Are Chicago:Student Life in the Collections of the University of Chicago Archives
Drawn from the historical collections of the University Archives, We Are Chicago highlights student experiences over a span of 120 years. This exhibition features recent donations to the collections along with rarely seen materials. Costumes, photographs, T-shirts, letters, posters, publications, and memorabilia will combine to make this the largest and most inclusive exhibition in the ongoing Special Collections archival series, Discover Hidden Archives Treasures.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 2 — March 31, 2012
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Subjects
University of Chicago
microfilm worker Well Equipped: Library Technology from Days Past
Over the years Crerar Library has used the newest equipment and technologies to make books, journals, and other information accessible to patrons. These tools have evolved through the years. A library card system has been replaced with an online catalog with significant collections available electronically. Early techniques for photocopying and microfilming materials have been eclipsed by digital scanning services. Displayed are objects and photos of some of these earlier pieces used by the Library.
Locations
Crerar Library, 1st Floor: Other Spaces
Sept. 18 — June 7, 2018
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Subjects
University of Chicago Library
Library Science
Sectarian Body Stamp The World of South Asian Scripts
This exhibit explores the rich historical heritage as well as the lively contemporary usage of South Asian scripts.
Locations
Regenstein 5th Floor Reading Room
Sept. 5 — Dec. 14, 2018
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Subjects
Southern Asia
South Asia