Collections & Exhibits

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Exhibit Thumbnail Title Locations Subjects
Exhibits
Allen Debus American Popular Music and Entertainment: The Gay Nineties to the Great Depression
Exploring a unique era in American musical and cultural history, the exhibit features sheet music, cylinders, discs, and phonographs from the extensive private collection of Allen G. Debus, the Morris Fishbein Professor of History of Science and Medicine at the University of Chicago.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 1 — May 31, 1989
Subjects
Music
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
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This exhibit points to historical references to conservation and the environment; the approach is one that is multidisciplinary, accomplished through music, literature, and cartography.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
Literature
Music
Maps
Frederic Chopin and His Publishers Frederic Chopin and His Publishers
This exhibition, which surveys the relationship between Chopin's music and its publishing history, includes first editions, images of Chopin and his associates; facsimiles of autograph manuscripts; and later editions prepared by Chopin's students and performers of his music.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Feb. 1 — April 30, 1998
Subjects
Music
History of Print
From Dreamland to Showcase Exhibit From Dreamland to Showcase: Jazz in Chicago, 1912 to 1996
This show highlights the development of jazz music and musicians in the Chicago area through the use of sheet music, photographs, recordings, music manuscripts, posters and other treasures from the University Library's Chicago Jazz Archive and from private collections.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 1 — Feb. 28, 1997
Subjects
Music
Jazz-the Chicago Scene Jazz-The Chicago Scene: The Art of Stephen Longstreet
The Chicago jazz scene of the 1920s and 1930 is memorialized in this exhibit, which showcases over 60 watercolors, drawings, and collages by art-historian and long-time jazz observer Stephen Longstreet.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Oct. 1 — Nov. 30, 1989
Subjects
Music
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
legacy_of_sebastian_virdung.jpg The Legacy of Virdung: Rare Books in the Collection of Frederick R. Selch Important in the Study of the History of Musical Instruments
Rare books on the history, design, and use of musical instruments collected by Frederick R. (Eric) Selch (1930-2000) will be on view in this traveling loan exhibition.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
March 1 — June 1, 2006
Subjects
Music
Music in the University of Chicago Library Music in the University of Chicago Library: Selected for an Exhibition at the Joseph Regenstein Library
Representative of the Library's music collection, this exhibition includes fine first editions, works of general historical interest, and music manuscripts showing how the contemporary composer works.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
July 1 — Oct. 31, 1972
Subjects
Music
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
shapey.jpg Ralph Shapey Manuscripts
The exhibit showcases some of the manuscripts and sketches Ralph Shapey has donated, which vividly demonstrate his methods for scanning text and seating ensembles. The scores themselves are included as well.
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 1 — Dec. 1, 1981
Subjects
Music
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
Victorian Song
Victorian Song
Locations
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
Jan. 1 — Dec. 31, 1977
Subjects
Music