Guide to University of Chicago Library Exhibit Publications Collection 1964-2009

Scholars and Scholarship of the Renaissance: An Exhibition from the Collections of the University of Chicago Library

• As part of a year-long celebration of the Renaissance, this exhibition features selections from the Library's collections that exemplify "a few of the many varieties of scholarly pursuits that marked the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries." The emphasis is on major intellectual and scholarly enterprises. Among the works included are Aristotle, Opera Graece [Venice: Aldus, 1495-98); Joseph Scaliger, De emendatione temporum (Frankfort: Wechelum, 1593), a copy of Demosthenes's Orations (Venice: Aldus, 1504) annotated by Philip Melancthon; Nicholas Copernicus, De Revolutionibus (Nuremberg: I. Petreium, 1543); and Niccol˜ Machiavelli, Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (Rome: A. Blado, 1531).
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1964-December 1, 1964

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Speculum Romanae magnificentiae

• No two copies of the Speculum Romanae magnificentiae (Rome: 1575) are alike; the University of Chicago's is the largest compilation known, with over 900 engravings of views and monuments of Classical and early modern Rome. The core of the Speculum was expanded by later owners, resulting in an extraordinary array of beautiful prints that constitute an invaluable historical and artistic resource for the study of Roman life and art. The selections in this exhibition reveal the nature and variety of the collection and the rarity and quality of individual prints.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1966 – December 31, 1966

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Science in nineteenth-century children's books; an exhibition based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica historical collection of books for children in the University of Chicago Library held during the celebration of the University's seventy-fifth anniversary year, August through October, 1966.

• The 100 books in this exhibition (and listed in the checklist) illustrate the relationship of these books books for children to contemporary scientific and technological advances, the attitudes toward these developments, and the prevailing philosophies and methods of teaching science in the 19th century. Although research in the physical sciences was much greater than in the 18th century, well over half of the science books in the Encylopaedia Britannica Collection are on the biological sciences, reflecting the emphasis on the biological sciences that was typical of 19th-century educational thought.
• Special Collections Research Center
• August 1, 1966 – October 31, 1966

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French and Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts from Chicago Collections: An Exhibition in Honor of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Mediaeval Academy of America

• Manuscripts from the Newberry Library, the University of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and private collections were displayed at the Newbery Library in conjunction with the Medieval Society of America. Works included examples of pre-Burgundian illumination, the Vrelant atelier, later Flemish manuscripts, and French manuscripts of the fifteenth and sixteen centuries.
• Special Collections Research Center
• April 1, 1969 – May 31, 1969

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Sir Nicholas Bacon Collection, The: Sources on English Society, 1250-1700

• The Bacon collection, with its fine chronological series of manorial court and account rolls spanning four centuries, allows one to view the development of English rural and agricultural society in considerable detail. The real strength of the collection lies in the manorial documents relating to Redgrave and Hindercley in Suffolk, both manors in the large ecclesiastical estat4es of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. The present exhibition also serves as the culmination of the efforts of two generations of Chicago scholars beginning with the initiative and foresight of Professors Charles R. Baskerfill, John M. Manly, and Edith Rickert.
• Special Collections Research Center
• April 1, 1972 – June 30, 1972

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The Dr. Morris Fishbein Collection: An Exhibition of Selected Books in the History of Medicine and the Biological Sciences

• The Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Chicago was endowed by Dr. Morris Fishbein, long-time editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association; and his wife, Anna Fishbein. This exhibition features works from the Dr. Morris Fishbein Collection, consisting of books from Dr. Fishbein's personal library and others acquired on an endowed fund that continues to support the purchase of sources to support research and teaching in the history of science and medicine. Among the 98 titles are the 1543 edition of Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica, Les Oeuvres of Ambroise ParŽ (1575), Descartes, De homine (1662) and Edward Jenner's 1798 treatise on inoculation.
• Special Collections Research Center
• October 1, 1972 – January 31, 1973

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Far East: An Exhibition of Resources in the University of Chicago Library

• A copy of what scholars believe is the first daily newspaper written by and for women, and published in Peking in the early 1900s, is one of the most recent texts and items of ephemera from East Asia included in this exhibit. The exhibit presents materials written in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan. Among the most notable items are a Japanese charm printed in 770 A.D., a 17th century Manchu edition of Chinese ghost stories, and a Tibetan sacred book written in silver ink. The exhibit also includes a section of works written about East Asia by Westerners. This section includes narratives of visits to China by a Russian ambassador and a papal representative in the early 18th century. Documents of Commodore Perry's exhibition to Japan are also included, as are documents and photographs from the visits of two University of Chicago presidents to China. The exhibit represents the breadth of the Library's East Asian holdings, which have developed with the University and the Center for East Asian Studies since the Center's beginnings at the University in the 1930s.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1973 – December 31, 1973

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The Latin Manuscript Book: An Exhibition Selected From the Collections of the University of Chicago Library

• This exhibition honors the practice and the tradition of paleography at the University of Chicago. The tradition is a venerable one, extending over many years and several generations of faculty and students. Items on display trace the full history of the Latin manuscript book, including examples of different writing materials, types of manuscripts, scribal techniques, forms of script, readers' notes and marks of ownership, and bindings.
• Special Collections Research Center
• July 1, 1973 – Sept. 30, 1973

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Bernard Weinberg, 1909-1973: A Tribute and a Bibliography

• The University of Chicago scholar and teacher, Bernard Weinberg, was a textual critic, a literary critic, and an historian of criticism who designated his field of study as "Romance Philology." He was a passionate collector of books in Italian and French literature beginning with a notable array of Renaissance texts on literary criticism. When he completed his work, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance, many of the rare books were given to the Library, and others followed by bequest. This pamphlet was printed on the occasion of an exhibition of Italian and French Books of the Renaissance from the Bequest of Bernard Weinberg.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1974 – December 31, 1974

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Ernest W. Burgess, May 16, 1886-December 27, 1966: An Exhibition of Selections from His Papers

• This exhibit reflects the substantial teaching, research, and public service of Ernest W. Burgess. Together with Robert E. Park, Burgess prepared the famous theoretical formulation, Introduction to the Science of Sociology, but he also believed in the importance of life history and human documents as essential tools of sociological investigation. The exhibit traces these themes and also emphasizes the special qualities of Burgess as a teacher.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1974 – December 31, 1974

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The Good Natur'd Man: Oliver Goldsmith; A Bicentennial Celebration

• This exhibition honors the scholarship and teaching of Arthur Friedman, distinguished University of Chicago English Department faculty member and editor of The Collected Works of Oliver Goldsmith (Oxford, 1966), the culmination of 30 years of study of the Goldsmith canon. Friedman's work drew on other Goldsmith scholars, including Ronald S. Crane at the University of Chicago. The exhibition suggests the scope of Goldsmith's writings and the nature and complexity of the bibliographical problems his texts present. The selections include Goldmsith's major works in a representative number of editions and minor works that are rare or examples of special bibliographical problems.
• Special Collections Research Center
• November 1, 1974 – February 28, 1975

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Charles E. Merriam: An Introduction to the Man and His Papers

• Charles E. Merriam (1874-1953) was a political scientist and politician who taught at the University of Chicago from 1900 to 1940
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1975 - March 1975

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The Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation in International Relations

• The Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation is a trust fund, given to the University of Chicago in 1923, for the promotion of knowledge of an interest in international affairs. The exhibition was a tribute to Harris upon the fiftieth anniversary of the Foundation.
• Special Collections Research Center
• Spring 1975

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The Diaghilev Ballet Russes, 1909 - 1929: An Exhibition of Original Designs and Documents

• This exhibition was held on the occasion of a dance history seminar funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to materials from the University of Chicago Library, exhibit items were loaned by the Art Institute of Chicago, Parmenia Migel Ekstrom of New York, the new York Public Library at Lincoln Center, the Stravinsky-Diaghilev Foundation of New York, and the Wadsworth Athaneum of Hartford.
• Special Collections Research Center
• July 1, 1975 – October 1, 1975

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The Ludwig Rosenberger Collection of Judaica: A Selection Exhibited at the Joseph Regenstein Library

• This exhibition features 126 items from the Rosenberger Collection, which was bequeathed to the University of Chicago Library in 1987. Ludwig Rosenberger collected works documenting the secular life of the Jews in history, literature, and other fields. He emphasized Jewry in western Europe, but also included works on Jews in America and even in China. Works reflecting the relationship of Jews to modern socialism; and the works of certain Jews such as Spinoza, Mendelssohn, Heine, and Marx, are especially well represented in the collection. The selections are arranged in three sections that correspond to emphases in the collection: Pre-Emancipation, 1200-1777; The Enlightenment and Emancipation, 16656-1858; and The Modern World, 1840-1940.
• Special Collections Research Center
• March 1, 1976 – May 31, 1976

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Kentucky and the Revolutionary Era, 1770-1815: An Essay Prepared by William T. Hutchinson on the Occasion of an Exhibition of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books from the Reuben T. Durrett Collection

• Purchased in 1913, the Reuben T. Durrett Collection was the first major collection relating to American history to be acquired by the University of Chicago Library. Recording the early history of trans-Appalachian settlement of Kentucky and the Ohio River valley, the Durrett collection includes more than 30,000 volumes of printed material, some quite rare; 2,800 holograph manuscripts of early settlers and political leaders; and 50,000 pages of transcriptions of family, legal, and governmental documents, as well as hundreds of newspapers, pamphlets, landplats, maps, clippings, and photographs from the region.
• Special Collections Research Center
• November 1, 1976 – February 28, 1978

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Russian and Soviet Studies at the University of Chicago

• The tradition of Russian studies at the University of Chicago is almost as old as the University itself. In 1896 Prince Sergei Volkonsky gave a series of lectures on Russian history and Russian institutions and also delivered a convocation address at the University of Chicago. This exhibition traces later developments through the career of Samuel N. Harper and other faculty specialists, the growth of library collections in Russian studies, the formation of the Committee on Slavic Area Studies, and the founding of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1977 – December 31, 1977

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The Eighteenth Century Views of the Past

• The strong tradition of 18th-century scholarship at the University of Chicago has resulted in deep and rich Library collections. This exhibition, organized in conjunction with the first visit to Chicago of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, includes historiographical and antiquarian works in the fields of history, literature, art, music, and science. The selections illustrate the 18th century's preoccupation with its own past as a way to understand the present; Adam Smith's An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) provides an example of the use of the past for the improvement of the future.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1978 – December 31, 1978

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Anthropology at Chicago: Tradition, Discipline, Department

• Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Chicago, this exhibition displays the archival riches of the Department of Special Collections and suggests how they may be used in the construction of a history--a history of a somewhat unusual type, with special historiographical problems. Materials on display trace anthropology at Chicago from the early work of Frederick Starr through the notable era of Fay-Cooper Cole, Edward Sapir, Robert Redfield, William Lloyd Warner, and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. Concluding sections review the contributions of Sol Tax, Milton Singer, McKim Marriott, Fred Eggan, Lloyd Fallers, David Schneider, Clifford Geertz, and other leaders of late-twentieth-century American anthropology.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1979 – December 31, 1979

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The Berlin Collection: Being a History and Exhibition of the Books and Manuscripts Purchased in Berlin in 1891 for the University of Chicago by William Rainey Harper with the Support of Nine Citizens of Chicago

• The collection of nearly 100,000 books and manuscripts purchased by William Rainey Harper in Berlin in 1891 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. The Library's collections of incunabula and manuscripts had their beginning with the Berlin Collection, but the real impact came from books printed during the later Renaissance and into the eighteenth century. In one stroke, as it were, the Library had books on many subjects, some of which were not to become academically favored for decades to come, for example those in the history of science and technology.
• Special Collections Research Center
• Jan. 1, 1979 – Dec. 31, 1979

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Poetry Magazine: A Gallery of Voices

• This exhibition draws mainly on the unique historical portion of the Harriet Monroe Modern Poetry Collection, an archive of the tens of thousands of letters and manuscripts Monroe collected exchanged with poets and collected during her tenure as editor of Poetry Magazine. This exhibit of remarkable material presents the first appearances of great works such as T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," William Carlos William's "Love Song," and Ezra Pound's "Cantos." The manuscripts show the poets' own hands, their writing process, and in them, the tangible remains of the birth of modernist poetry. Though the exhibit does not do justice to Monroe's tremendous efforts in managing the magazine, it focuses on the poets themselves, and the role the magazine itself, and the work of publication, played in creating modernist poetry.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 1980 – October 1, 1980

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The Human Fabric: Anatomical Illustration from 1500 to 1850

• The title of this exhibition is taken from Andreas Vesalius' consummate work on human anatomy first published in 1543, De humani corporis fabrica. Representing the major themes of this exhibit, Vesalius' work seeks to blend scientific accuracy with high aesthetic standards. This adaptation of well-established artistic traditions to the requirements of a new science occasionally resulted in an uneasy combination in which the creative impulses of the illustrator competed with less subjective interests of the anatomist-scientist. This tension presents a striking array of images that blur the boundaries of art and science. The Human Fabric follows the development of anatomical illustration in print from its beginning as a primitive record of early explorations in gross anatomy in the late fifteenth century to the highly refined studies published just prior to the advent of photography. The books in this exhibition are drawn chiefly from the collection of Dr. Mortimer Frank (1847-1919), a Chicago Physician and Hyde Park resident.
• Special Collections Research Center
• February - April, 1981

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The Printer's Craft: An Exhibition Selected from the R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company Collection

• When it came time to dissolve its Training Department Library, R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company decided to donate the books to two libraries, the Newberry Library and the University of Chicago Library, both libraries with longstanding interests in the history of printing. In deference to the Newberry's notable emphasis on the subject it was given first choice. The University of Chicago acquired the remaining 1,200 volumes, greatly enriching its holdings in the history of fine printing. The Training Department Library from which these books came was intimately connected to the Donnelley Company's pioneering commitment to apprenticeship training in printing. With its stress on classroom instruction, supervised training, and access to a well-stocked library, the Donnelly program represented a high point in industrial training in the United States. The R.R. Donnelley and Sons collection, now housed in the Special Collections Research Center-like the library from which it was drawn-is composed of two parts, one of finely printed books, the other of books on printing and design. This exhibit celebrates the acquisition of the R.R. Donnelley and Sons Collection with a representative sample of books and printer's tools illustrating both the intricacy of the printer's craft, and the close relationship between industrial training, the continuing development of printing as a craft and trade, and Chicago itself.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 1982 – September 1, 1982

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Splendid Encounters: The Thought and Conduct of Diplomacy

• Long the preserve of specialists and politicians, diplomacy is being rediscovered as a subject for general scholarly inquiry and debate. This exhibit-and the book produced in association with it-offer a fresh look at aspects of diplomacy that are usually ignored but which give the activity its distinctive style. Iconography, the role of ceremony, and the demands of honor, are all considered along with cryptology, protocol, and the clash of cultural norms. The practice of diplomacy is then set against the Western intellectual tradition in such a way as to re-establish the links between thought and conduct. The exhibit draws on the rare book and manuscript collections held by the University of Chicago Library.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 1984 – September 1, 1984

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Eva Watson Schutze and the Philosophers' Circle

• Eva Watson Schutze was a founding member of the Photo-Secession, a turn-of-the-century movement led by Alfred Steglitz that sought to establish photography as one of the fine arts. Also referred to as "pictorialists," its members distinguished themselves from representational photographers who aimed to record as precisely as possible the appearance of persons, places, and objects. Rather, pictorialists regarded their work as a vehicle for creative artistic expression. Although Schutze is familiar to students of the Photo-Secession, her later life and work remained a mystery until 1979, when a number of photographs bearing Schutze's distinctive signature were added to the papers of philosophers James Hayden Tufts and George Herbert Mead collected in the University of Chicago Archives. While these works are invaluable for students of the history of photography, the Eva Watson Schutze Collection also graphically reveals the extensive web of social and intellectual relationships existing between some of the University's most notable faculty, their families, and their associates. The exhibit includes letters, diaries and memoirs which illuminate these relationships and also serve to place the remarkable photographs displayed in this exhibit.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1985 – April 1, 1985

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The Book Made Art: A Selection of Contemporary Artists' Books

• Composed almost entirely of unique books created between 1976 and 1986 in the United States, England and on the European Continent, the exhibit focuses on the transformation of the artistic book from decorated text to sculptural object. Nearly fifty examples colorfully and dramatically challenge familiar expectations of linear progression, text, and physical presentation in the book form. The books in the exhibition challenge traditional notions of the codex form through the use of electricity, the continuous film-strip, embroidery, glass, ceramic, and various other media.
• Special Collections Research Center
• February 1, 1986 – May 1, 1986

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William Benton: A Public Life

• This exhibition, based primarily on the William Benton Papers in the University of Chicago Archives, examines the range and substance of Benton's contributions within a number of distinct but interlocking spheres: founder of Benton and Bowles, vice-president and trustee of the University of Chicago, pioneer in educational films and radio, owner and publisher of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Muzak entrepreneur, unofficial advisor to the isolationist America First Committee, charter member and vice-chairman of the Committee for Economic Development, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, founding delegate to UNESCO, liberal Senator from Connecticut, opponent of Joseph McCarthy, and creator of the Benton Foundation for philanthropy in education and communications.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1987 – May 1, 1987

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Great Is the Gift that Bringeth Knowledge: Highlights from the History of the John Crerar Library

• Marking the 100th anniversary of the death of John Crerar, the exhibition utilized documents, photographs, and artifacts from the Crerar collections to chronicle the library's distinguished collections and effective public service programs from its creation until the merger with the University of Chicago.
• Special Collections Research Center
• October 1, 1989 – April 1, 1989

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Encyclopedism from Pliny to Borges

• The exhibit, highlighting 77 volumes from the Special Collections Research Center, traces the variety of forms the encyclopedia and the idea of encyclopedic knowledge have taken from the first through 20th centuries. Including rare volumes ranging from the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica (1773) to Museum Wormianum (1655) compiled by Ole Worm, a Danish doctor and natural scientist who catalogues his own collection of Scandinavian Artifacts. The exhibit was researched and curated by Paolo Cherchi, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, and Barbara Stafford, Professor of Art, as part of a proposed conference on encyclopedias and their impact on cultural forms.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 1990 – September 30, 1990

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Animal-Vegetable-Mineral: Natural History Illustration from the John Crerar Collection

• The art and beauty of illustrated natural history books is celebrated in this exhibition. Drawn exclusively from the John Crerar Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine, the exhibition features more than 80 illustrated works from the 15th through the 20th centuries. The collection exemplifies the development of natural history illustration and the role of the image in disseminating knowledge of the natural sciences.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 1991 – September 30, 1991

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Asia in the Eyes of Europe: Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries

• This exhibition examines one of the most important and enduring themes in Western thought. From the time of the Renaissance onward, Western consciousness has been shaped by a multitude of diverse and rapidly changing images of Asia and its peoples. Explorers, traders, missionaries, and scholars returned from the East with stories of strange plants, animals, and cultures beyond the limits of European experience. Incorporated within developing fields of knowledge from astronomy to botany, these reports formed the basis of new and constantly altered visions of what lay beyond the Eastern horizon. In many important ways, the process of Western exploration and discovery of Asia continues to the present day. From the Persian Gulf to Vietnam to China, the West is still contending with a host of powerful and barely-understood images conjured by the ancient cultures of the East.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1991 – May 31, 1991

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The Un-German Spirit: The Nazi Assault on Arts and Letters

• More than 80 items from the Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica as well as the University of Chicago Library are included in this exhibition written by Sem Sutter. The exhibition documents the attempt by German National Socialists of the 1930s to eradicate German avant-garde art, music, literature, theater, and film. This exhibition is accompanied by a pamphlet which includes a bibliography.
• Special Collections Research Center
• July 1, 1991 – February 1, 1992

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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. The 60-page, illustrated catalogue, The University of Chicago Faculty: A Centennial View (Chicago: University of Chicago Library, 1991), was researched and written by Frank Yoder and edited by Daniel Meyer with the Assistance of Richard Popp. Kim Coventry directed the design and production of the exhibition and catalogue.
• Special Collections Research Center
• October 1, 1992 – December 1, 1992

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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.
• Special Collections Research Center
• Oct. 1, 1992 – Feb. 1, 1993

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Pursuing the "Higher Criticism": New Testament Scholarship and Library Collections at the University of Chicago

• This exhibition traces the century-long partnership between Chicago New Testament research interests and library resources. Drawing on the Library's outstanding holdings of New Testament sources, the exhibition examines the contributions of New Testament scholars to their field and the library collections that support their work. Among the topics covered are the empirical approach to biblical studies characteristic of the Chicago School and the influence of methodologies from other disciplines such as sociology and history. Included in the exhibition are Greek New Testament manuscripts and early printed books used as sources for New Testament textual, critical, and iconographical study, as well as archival materials and published works illustrating the research interests of Chicago New Testament scholars such as Ernest DeWitt Burton, Edgar J. Goodspeed, Shirley Jackson Case, Shailer Mathews, Robert M. Grant, Hans Dieter Betz, and others.
• Special Collections Research Center
• July 1, 1993 – October 1, 1993

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Eugene Field and His Books

• Eugene Field (1850 - 1895) was a major figure in Chicago's literary and book collecting circles at the time of his death 100 years ago. He was a very popular author, nationally known for his newspaper column, "Sharps and Flats," his humorous stories and verse for children. "Eugene Field and his Books" marks the centenary of Field's death and the founding of Chicago's Caxton Club. The exhibition, which includes manuscripts, correspondence, limited editions and other materials from the private collection of Frank J. Piehl (Ph.D., 1952) and the holdings of the University of Chicago Library, focuses on Field as author, collector and promoter of books and the book arts.
• Special Collections Research Center
• December 1, 1994 – March 1, 1995

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Wrapped in Color: A Survey of Paste Paper Bookbindings

• This exhibition, selected and written by Sem Sutter, traces the development of "paste papers", the colorful decorative papers produced by bookbinders and other artisans from the late sixteenth century to the present.
• Special Collections Research Center
• March 1, 1994 – June 1, 1994

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Montaigne in Print: The Presentation of a Renaissance Text

• Featuring editions of the Essais by French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, this exhibition explores the relationship between author, editor, printer, and the book as a physical object by tracing the bibliographic history of the text and its presentation. The exhibition was curated by Professor Philippe Desan and graduate student Arnaud Coulombel, both of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. A substantial catalog was published jointly as a special issue of the journal Montaigne Studies.
• Special Collections Research Center
• October 1, 1995 – March 1, 1996

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1900: Books from the Collection of Robert Rosenthal

• Featuring books published in the year 1900 that were collected by the late Robert Rosenthal, curator of Special Collections from 1953 to 1989, this exhibition recaptures the forgotten culture of the turn of the century. The books are on loan from Robert Rosenthal's widow, Jane Rosenthal. Suzy Taraba curated the exhibition, and a checklist has been published.
• Special Collections Research Center
• January 1, 1996 – May 31, 1996

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From Dreamland to Showcase: Jazz in Chicago, 1912 to 1996

• This show highlights the development of jazz music and musicians in the greater 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. It celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Chicago Jazz Archive, which the University established in 1976 as a research collection devoted to the acquisition and preservation of primary source materials relating to jazz in Chicago.
• Special Collections Research Center
• October 1, 1996 – February 28, 1997

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South Asia at Chicago: Fifty Years of Scholarship

• Modern American scholarship on the Indian subcontinent took root a half-century ago as India and Pakistan were becoming modern nation states. This exhibition appears in conjunction with global events marking the 50th anniversary of Indian and Pakistani independence on August 15, 1947. The U.S. government first began to take a practical interest in area studies in the late 1940s. World War II caused government officials to view American universities and their scholars as a national resource and forced America to consider more closely regions of the world with which it had not previously been engaged, particularly Asia. Research and scholarship in the post-war era contributed to changing attitudes, and with increased interest and financial support from both the government and private American foundations, the new field of South Asian studies emerged. During the same fifty years, the University of Chicago Library collections expanded dramatically to meet the needs of scholars in the University's premier South Asian studies program. This exhibition explores the fabric of interactions between Library resources and Chicago scholars as they have shaped the direction of research on the Indian subcontinent. Rare older publications and recent imprints linked to current faculty and student research projects are displayed. Archival and manuscript materials from the formative years of the University's focus on languages and civilizations of the region are exhibited along with the 500,000th volume added to the Library's South Asia holdings.
• Special Collections Research Center
• September 1, 1997 – January 31, 1998

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Frederic Chopin and His Publishers

• First and early editions of scores by Frédéric Chopin are featured in this exhibition surveying the relationship between his music and its publishing history. The exhibition 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. "Frédéric Chopin and His Publishers" is drawn from the University of Chicago Library's distinguished collection of some 285 first and early editions of Chopin's scores. Because of inconsistencies in contemporary copyright laws, nearly all of Chopin's works had to be issued simultaneously by publishers in France, Germany, and England in order to discourage piracy. Moreover, Chopin was inconsistent about including performance details, which he felt were not fixed elements of his music, in his manuscripts; and he often changed his mind in proofs. As a result, modern performers, editors, and scholars must compare an array of manuscript and printed sources in order to understand what Chopin intended. Most of the manuscripts and nearly all corrected proofs have disappeared, so the first editions are the primary sources for establishing the text of Chopin's music. Editing Chopin's works continues to this day, and the early editions remain essential sources. The exhibition illustrates how its publication history affects the way we hear and understand Chopin's music.
• Special Collections Research Center
• February 1, 1998 – April 30, 1998

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Reading the Greens: Books on Golf from the Arthur W. Schultz Collection

• Books and other printed golf materials displayed in this exhibition were 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. Titles in the collection, maintained in the Department of Special Collections, reflect an avid golfer's interest in the historical, social, and technical aspects of the game. Arthur W. Schultz is an alumnus and Life Trustee of the University of Chicago.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 1998 – September 30, 1998

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African-American Studies: Resources in the University of Chicago Library

• This exhibition explores the University of Chicago Library's broad array of research materials documenting African-American history and culture. Items in the exhibition are drawn from the Library's General Collection and the holdings of the Department of Special Collections. Selected original and modern editions of key texts, government documents, periodicals, directories, microform publications, maps, recordings, scrapbooks, and manuscripts suggest the wealth of Library resources available for research.
• Special Collections Research Center
• February 1, 1999 – June 1, 1999

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Homosexuality in the City: A Century of Research at the University of Chicago

• The University of Chicago has become a major center for research in lesbian, gay and queer studies in recent years. This development is usually seen as a product of the social and political advances that lesbians and gay men have achieved during the past several decades, but the study of homosexual life and culture is hardly a new phenomenon at the University. Rather it is a field with a long and complicated history on campus--one that has been shaped as much by the social and political climate of the city and nation as by the disciplinary fields in which it has been pursued. Drawing on archives, manuscripts and books from the University of Chicago Library's collections, this exhibition situates Chicago's pioneering approach to the social and cultural study of homosexuality amid the political and cultural developments of the past century, while simultaneously examining the University's role in the policing of homosexuality in Chicago during this same period. For further information on "Homosexuality in the City," see the article in the University of Chicago Magazine, "Gay Studies at Chicago."
• Special Collections Research Center
• September 1, 2000 – December 1, 2000

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Building for a Long Future: The University of Chicago and Its Donors, 1889-1930

• This exhibition explores the character and benefactions of the early donors to the University of Chicago.
• Special Collections Research Center
• May 1, 2001 – December 31, 2001

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Collecting Western Americana: Books from the Library of John Blew

• This exhibition examines the work of several important nineteenth-century publishers who edited historical documents of the American West and made them available to a broad audience of readers and scholars. On display are representative volumes produced by each of these influential editors and publishers of Western Americana. Robert Clarke (1829-1899) of Cincinnati issued the Ohio Valley Historical Series (1868-1871), a selection of significant accounts of events and individuals in the early history of the Ohio River valley. Francis P. Harper (1856-1932), a New York City antiquarian book dealer and publisher, produced distinguished editions of works such as Lewis and Clark's History of the Expedition, Zebulon Pike's Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and Hiram Martin Chittenden's History of the American Fur Trade in the Far West. Reuben Gold Thwaites (1853-1913), superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, founded and edited the Society's published series of Collections, an extensive set of historical texts, many of them originally acquired by his predecessor, Lyman C. Draper. Thwaites also undertook the publication of works such as Alexander Scott Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare, James' Account of S. H.Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, and a monumental 73-volume edition of The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Books in the exhibition are on loan from the personal library of John Blew, a member of the University of Chicago Library Visiting Committee and Library Society Steering Committee.
• Special Collections Research Center
• February 1, 2002 – April 30, 2002

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Encountering the American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820

• Before the Wild West was imagined in popular literature and culture, there was another, earlier American west. Its promise drew soldiers, adventurers, speculators, and common folk from the eastern seaboard across the Appalachian Mountains into the rich lands of the Ohio River Valley and the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. This exhibition explores the fascinating history of this first American west from the beginning of European American settlement to the end of the frontier period. Items on display were selected from materials incorporated in The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820, a grant-funded digital project being developed by the University of Chicago Library in collaboration with the Library of Congress American Memory national digital library program. The organization of the exhibition is shaped by a series of interrelated themes: the contrast between native and European American attitudes toward the land, the encounters and confrontations of the pioneer migration era, the role of politics on the early frontier, and the shaping of Western cultural and social institutions. Books, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, broadsides, and manuscripts in the exhibition illustrate historical strengths of the Reuben T. Durret Collection on Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley and related print and manuscript holdings in the Special Collections Research Center and the General Collection of University of Chicago Library.
• Special Collections Research Center
• Febraury 1, 2002 – April 30, 2002

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Between the Boards: Collections, Compilations and Curiosities from the John Crerar Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine

• Recent developments in digital technology and the work of contemporary book artists have stimulated debates about the nature of a book. Shared assumptions about what will be found "between the boards" persist--a printed or handwritten text, sometimes accompanied by tables, charts, illustrations, or other media. Over 20,000 volumes from the John Crerar Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine were recently cataloged, thanks to a gift from University of Chicago Trustee Harvey Plotnick. This exhibition celebrates the completion of the project and the surprising discoveries it made possible. Online records for many landmark books in the history of science and medicine are now fully accessible to researchers. So too are collections of lichen, algae, and wood samples; compilations of clippings and articles on aeronautics; books on anatomy and machines with models and moveable parts; and other novel uses of the book format to communicate and preserve information. The examples on view illustrate the ingenuity of the authors and other compilers, the creative scope of the personal and institutional collectors who brought these items together, the skill of catalogers who described the materials, and the exciting opportunities awaiting researchers.
• Special Collections Research Center
• March 1, 2003 – June 30, 2003

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Research at the Center: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Special Collections

• Research has been at the center of Special Collections at the University of Chicago from its formative years. Just as the University itself has been defined by consistent emphasis on the production and dissemination of knowledge, the Library's rare books, manuscripts, and archives have always been collected and valued for their scholarly and educational potential. The past decade has brought many new ways of stimulating and supporting teaching and scholarship at the University. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1953 founding of Special Collections, "Research at the Center" presents a portrait of the way we work now to preserve and provide broadened access to primary sources across a range of disciplines and formats.
• Special Collections Research Center
• September 1, 2003 – January 31, 2004

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Dr. Bernard Fantus: Father of the Blood Bank; and Researching Chicago Medical History: Sources in the University of Chicago Library

• In 1937, Dr. Bernard Fantus (1874-1940) established what is now recognized as the world's first blood bank when he opened a blood preservation laboratory at Chicago's Cook County Hospital. Drawing on a recent gift of historical materials from Fantus's niece, Muriel Fulton, this exhibition will examine the creation of the blood bank and other significant achievements of a pioneering medical researcher and physician. For over a century and a half, the history of medicine in the city of Chicago has been shaped by significant contributions to research and innovations in clinical care. "Research Chicago Medical History" highlights some of the most important archival source materials on Chicago medicine in the Special Collections Research Center, including selections from the medical manuscript collections originally acquired by the John Crerar Library. Materials on display will include physicians' letters, journals, medical school lecture notes, publications, historic photographs, and medals and other awards.
• Special Collections Research Center
• November 1, 2004 – February 1, 2005

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Life of the Spirit, Life of the Mind: Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at 75

• As the spirit of religion should penetrate and control the University, so that building which represents religion ought to be the central and dominant feature of the University group." This bold mission is etched in stone at the entrance of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Drawing on photographs and documents from the University Archives, this exhibition explores how the planners of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Chapel Deans, the student body, and the broader community have interpreted this mission to shape the architecture of the Chapel as well as the programs it supports.
• Special Collections Research Center
• March 1, 2004 – June 1, 2004

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From Poetry to Verse: The Making of Modern Poetry

• Drawing upon the archives of Poetry, Chicago Review, Big Table, Verse, LVNG, and the papers of The Poetry Center of Chicago, the exhibit tracks the evolution and changing character of poetry from 1912 to the present. This includes a study of how the publishing process impacts upon the creative process and may help define the meaning of modern poetry at specific times. It will also permit an inquiry into the establishment of literary reputations.
• Special Collections Research Center
• September 1, 2005 – February 28, 2006

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Printing for the Modern Age: Commerce, Craft, and Culture in the RR Donnelley ArchivePrinting for the Modern Age: Commerce, Craft, and Culture in the RR Donnelley Archive

• Printing for the Modern Age: Commerce, Craft, and Culture in the RR Donnelley Archive" explores the enormous impact that printing technology and print media have had on modern life. Materials in the exhibition are drawn from the RR Donnelley Archive, the historic corporate archive of R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company, the Chicago-based firm that has become the largest provider of print and print-related products and services in the world.
• Special Collections Research Center
• September 1, 2006 – February 28, 2007

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Images of Prayer, Politics and Everyday Life from the Harry and Branks Sondheim Jewish Heritage Collection

• The exhibition marks the gift of the Harry and Branka Sondheim Collection to the University of Chicago Library. The Sondheim collection provides a rich, varied, and detailed vision of Jewish life from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
• Special Collections Research Center
• March 1, 2008 – July 31, 2008

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On Equal Terms: Educating Women at the University of Chicago

• The University of Chicago's original articles of incorporation, crafted in 1892, state that the institution will "provide, impart, and furnish opportunities for all departments of higher education to persons of both sexes on equal terms," thus writing coeducation into the University's founding principles. Yet integrating the sexes into the curriculum, research agenda, and extracurricular life proved to be a difficult and as yet unfinished task. The history of women at the University of Chicago is uneven, full of successes and failures that reflect both Chicago's unique intellectual community and larger trends in academia.
• Special Collections Research Center
• March 1, 2009 – July 31, 2009

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