Past Exhibits
The Life and Art of Maud Gatewood
January 2011
EUC Connector
Maud Florence Gatewood was a widely recognized Southeastern painter who graduated from the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954. Her most familiar work features natural landscapes and botanicals as well as figurative designs that depict various aspects of the human experience.
The upcoming exhibit will include selections from the correspondence, sketchbooks, sketches and artwork, exhibition materials, reviews, photographs, and artifacts which comprise the Maud Gatewood Collection.
Making Their Mark: Historical Signatures in the Archives
October 10, 2011 - January 16, 2012
Hodges Reading Room
Throughout history, signatures have wielded great power and importance. From John Hancock’s elaborate signature on the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to General Douglas MacArthur signing the Japanese’s surrender documents in 1945, a person’s signature has conferred identity and intent. Latin for “to sign,” a signature is a handwritten and sometime stylized description of a person’s name. The way in which a person writes his or her name changes throughout their life. However, just like a thumbprint, each person’s signature has its own unique characteristics.
The history of signatures can be traced back to 3000 B.C. when the Sumerian culture would affix seals to documents as a way to confirm authenticity. As the evolution of writing and the alphabet progressed, the use of handwritten representations of one’s name on documents to denote legitimacy and purpose expanded. To combat forgery, the Roman Empire created public notary’s who were minor government officials responsible for verify the identity of individuals and their signature. The use of signatures expanded beyond just formal documents with the rise of literacy and individualism during the Renaissance era (1300-1600 A.D) when people began to be recognized for their genius and achievement. The result was the artist’s signature and with it a new step in the evolution of the use and meaning of signatures.
While signatures are still used in today’s society to confirm identity, intent, and credit, they have also spawned a new phenomenon: autograph collecting. People who are into philography, the term used to describe the hobby of autograph collecting, seek a variety of signatures including those of Presidents, sports figures, celebrities, and other historical figures. While some people collect autographs simply for their historical value, others do so for profit. One of the most famous signatures in world is Abraham Lincoln’s whose autograph fetched $748,000 in 1991.
In recognition of the importance of signatures to history, The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives has selected from its collections a sample of historical signatures. Spanning over 220 years of United States history, the signatures touch on such issues as: women, North Carolina, Americana, UNCG, and U.S. Presidents. Some of the highlights from the exhibit include signatures by President Thomas Jefferson, woman suffrage movement activist Susan B. Anthony, scientist Albert Einstein, UNCG founder Charles Duncan McIver, and inspirational figure and advocate Helen Keller. This exhibit will be on display in the Hodges Reading Room from October 10, 2011 – January 16, 2012.
Vintage Gym Suits from the University Archives Collection
October 13, 2011 - November 1, 2011
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives has installed a new exhibit titled "Vintage Gym Suits from the University Archives Collection" in the three exhibit cases next to the Reference Desk. The exhibit contains vintage photographs as well as a 1913 black serge gym Suit, 1930s blue cotton gym suit, and 1950s white cotton gym suit. The exhibit will be on display until November 1, 2011.
The exhibit was requested by Department of Kinesiology professor Donna Duffy for the Conference on Girls and Women In Sports and Physical Activity that will be held October 20-22 in Elliott University Center and the Alumni House.
History of Men’s Athletics at UNCG
January 7 2011
EUC Connector
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives designed this exhibit to celebrate the history of men’s athletics at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Athletics has been an important aspect of campus life since the University opened in 1892 as a school for women. This exhibit portrays a visual history of men’s athletic tradition since the University became coeducation in 1963.
This exhibit will be on display in the Jackson Library/Elliott University Center Connector from January 7 – April 7, 2011.
Scrapbooking at UNCG: The Art of Documenting Student Life
June - September 2011
Hodges Reading Room
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives invites the UNCG community and the general public to view the new exhibit of student scrapbooks on display in the Hodges Reading Room. The scrapbooks include photographs, programs, and memorabilia that present a picture of what life was like as a student at UNCG during the late 19th and early 20th century.
The exhibit will be on display in the Hodges Reading Room until September 30, 2011.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro: The First Hundred Years, 1891-1991
June 1 - September 30, 2011
Jackson Library Lobby
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives invites the UNCG and greater Greensboro community to witness the birth and development of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro through artifacts, documents, and images from the University Archives. This exhibit tells the story of how a small college, founded on ten acres of farmland in 1891, was able to overcome early setbacks to develop into the large, thriving University it is today. Divided into five eras corresponding to the names under which the University operated, the exhibit highlights important historical events including the Brick Dormitory fire of 1904, the death of founding president Charles Duncan McIver in 1906, and the growth of the College under Julius Foust. It also emphasizes the changes in student life including the introduction of college traditions such as Rat Day, the desegregation of the School in 1956, and the enrollment of male students in 1964. This exhibit will be on display in the Jackson Library Lobby from June 1 – September 30, 2011.
May Day Celebrations
April 25 - June 15, 2011
Jackson Library Lobby
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce an exhibit of May Day artifacts, photographs, and postcards commemorating May Day festivals that were held on this campus in the first half the Twentieth Century.
The College hosted May Day pageants from 1904 to 1954 with the 1912 and 1916 festivals being the most elaborate.
This exhibit will be on display in the Jackson Library Lobby from April 25 to June 15, 2011.
School Spirit at UNCG: Banners and Pennants
April 5 - May 1, 2011
Five Exhibit Cases Across from Reference Information Desk
Banners and pennants have been part of college life since the
early twentieth century, but they have a long and remarkable history.
The word “banner” originates with the Latin word “bandum,” meaning
a cloth used to make flags. Throughout early history, banners
accompanied official proclamations or edicts. They were decorated
with heraldry and were commonly used in battle as rallying points and
as a way to identify units of soldiers. Early square or rectangular
banners led formal processions and could also be seen as decorative
additions to churches, castles, or manors.
On the UNCG campus, banners were created by each class,
displaying the graduating year or the class motto. During reunion
weekends, class banners were used for gathering points and for the
alumnae parades.
Pennants had a nautical beginning. They began as long, tapering,
triangular flags, used on ships for identification or to signal other
vessels. The triangular pennant shape was used in recent years to
recognize sports teams, especially professional baseball teams. The
pennants’ association with college sports made it a common sight in
college dormitory rooms and soon college’s themselves were
represented, usually incorporating school colors.
UNCG has a long and rich history of class pennants. Students used
large pennants, sporting their class graduation year and decorated with
their class colors, to represent themselves at gatherings and sporting
events. Smaller versions, using school colors and the current school
name, decorated dormitories and can still be purchased in the campus
bookstore.
Lois Lenski: Voices of Children
February 7 2011
Hodges Reading Room
Lois Lenski (1893-1974) was one of the most popular and most gifted among children's authors and illustrators of the twentieth century. This small exhibit is an attempt to document her talent and to show, in her own words, her intense feelings for the proper literature and education for children.
Born and reared in Ohio, Lenski gravitated early to a career in art. Although she majored in education at Ohio State University and prepared for a career in teaching, she took many art courses in college, decided on art as a vocation, and pursued this career at the Art Students' League in New York, furthering her art studies in England and Italy. At the Art Students' League,she became an assistant to the muralist Arthur Covey and married him in 1921. Advancing from part-time jobs designing greeting cards and drawings for advertisements, Lenski spent the decade of the 1920s illustrating the works of others, primarily for children's books. In addition to illustrating works such as Padraic Colum's The Peep-Show Man and Kenneth Graham's The Golden Age and Dream Days (which allowed her to exercise her passion for medieval costume and culture), she developed an association with the New York publishing firm Platt and Munk, illustrating such well-known works as Cinderella and The Little Engine That Could.
At the suggestion of an editor, Lenski decided to try her own hand at writing for children, publishing in 1927 Skipping Village, based on her own childhood experiences in Anna, Ohio. In her long and illustrious career as both writer and illustrator, Lenski authored more than eighty books for children of various ages, including the immensely popular "Davy" and "Mr.Small" series for younger readers and the influential and provocative "Roundabout America" and "Regional America" books for older children, as well as historical novels and poetry. In addition to providing riveting entertainment, her books invariably made a plea for tolerance and understanding among all people. Among her many awards were the Newbery Medal for 1946 for Strawberry Girl, one of her fifteen regional novels for young readers, and the National Child Study Association Award in 1948.
Special Collections & University Archives, Jackson Library, has many signed first editions, translations, manuscripts, original art work, artifacts, and ephemera in its Lois Lenski Collection, as well as a collection of miniature and early children's books collected by Lenski.
For her many contributions to children's literature, Lois Lenski in 1962 was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Class Jackets
April, 5 - 25, 2011
Five Exhibit Cases Across from Reference Information Desk
The tradition of Class Jackets made its debut at Woman’s College (now UNCG) in the late 1920s. The
colors of the Jackets corresponded with the rotating class colors; green, red, blue, and lavender.
Lavender was not a popular color with the students and they never chose to wear lavender Jackets.
On those years, they wore black, charcoal grey, or camel-colored Jackets. Occasionally, there would be
a year where the Jackets would not correspond to the class color. For example, in 1941 the girls wore
white leather Jackets.
The distinctively colored Jackets were purchased during their sophomore year. On Jacket Day, all
sophomores received their Class Jackets, signifying their status as upperclassmen. The Jackets were
worn by the students for the remainder of their college days. By the mid-1970s, the tradition of the
Class Jacket at UNCG had disappeared.
What They Were Wearing While They Were Reading: The 1920s
January 24 – March 31, 2011
First Floor Lobby, Jackson Library
The 1920s was one of the most exciting decades in US history. It was a time of prosperity and excess when Americans embraced a modern culture, which included dancing to the “Charleston” and joyriding in Ford Model T automobiles. Women won the right to vote, attended colleges in droves, and sought out careers outside the home.
Prohibition began on midnight, January 16, 1920, making “intoxicating liquors” illegal to transport, consume, or sell. Prohibition created an underground bootlegging industry, which fueled widespread criminal activity. Men like Al Capone rose to power, ordering the largest gangland hits in crime history known as “the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
Jazz was hot! Singers such as Charles Peterson, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and Rudy Vallee were popular and could be heard on a new invention, which allowed entertainment to be broadcast into America’s living rooms - the radio. Americans were also flocking to movie theaters to see popular stars as Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson.
Other important milestones of the 1920s included Babe Ruth setting the home run record in 1927, celebrity pilot Charles Limbergh flying solo across the Atlantic in 1927, and archaeologist Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922.
The decade came to a screeching halt on October 29, 1929, with the most devastating stock market crash in US History. The panic of 1929 sparked the Great Depression and the economic downturn of the 1930s.
This exhibit focuses on the fashions, literature, and cultural aspects of the 1920s. It features the textile collection of Dr. James Carmichael, professor of the UNCG’s Library and Information Studies program.
Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
October 26 – April 1, 2011
Main Floor of Jackson Library
During World War II, the United States was faced with a severe shortage of military pilots. In July 1943 the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was formed to train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas.
Women who joined the WASPs were required to have flight experience before they joined, and then were sent to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, to be retrained to fly “the Army way” by the U.S. Army Air Force. 1078 women earned their wings and became WASPs, the first women in history to fly American military aircraft.
Unlike the other women who served and received military benefits during WW II, the WASPs were denied that same military status. Thirty-five years after their deactivation in December 1944, Congress finally recognized their military service and granted them the veteran status they had earned--but without most of the benefits other veterans received.
On July 1, 2009 President Barack Obama and the United States Congress awarded the WASPs the Congressional Gold Medal.
Celebrating the Cello Music Collection: The Greenhouse Legacy
January 24 – February 3, 2011
Hodges Reading Room, Second Floor Main Building, Jackson Library
Among the most distinguished cellists of the 20th and early 21st centuries, Bernard Greenhouse, now in his 95th year, continues to teach at his home on Cape Cod and to inspire music lovers the world over, largely through his many recordings with the Beaux Arts Trio. As the founding cellist of this legendary trio, Greenhouse joined forces in 1955 with pianist Menahem Pressler and violinist Daniel Guilet (later followed by Isidore Cohen) to perform and record the entire standard piano trio repertoire before retiring from the group in 1987. However, as Greenhouse is ever quick to point out, his career on the international chamber music stage represents only one dimension of a richly varied musical life. This exhibit of materials from his personal library, now part of UNCG’s monumental Cello Music Collection, throws welcome light on the range of Greenhouse’s activities—as a virtuoso cello soloist, as a student of Casals, as a collaborator with composer Elliott Carter, and as the long-time cellist of New York’s Bach Aria Group.
Bound to Please: Custom Bookbindings by Don Etherington and Monique Lallier
November 15 – January 25
Hodges Reading Room
Among the most renowned bookbinders and conservators practicing their craft today, Monique Lallier and Don Etherington have produced scores of beautiful and creative bindings, among them award winners in major competitions.
Monique Lallier has served as director of the American Academy of Bookbinding and as chair of the Standards Committee of the Guild of Book Workers. Her binding designs have been featured in many prominent exhibitions throughout the world, and among her awards was the De Golyer Jury Prize for Design in 2003. Monique has conducted many seminars and workshops on binding and tooling in the U. S. and abroad and maintains a binding studio at her home in Summerfield, where she continues to train apprentices in the art of custom binding.
Don Etherington is renowned as both a leading conservator and a creative bookbinder and has conducted numerous seminars and workshops in both areas. The founder of Etherington Conservation Services and a major consultant on such projects as the Florence reclamation project of 1966 and the restoration and housing of such precious documents as the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution, Don has his bindings represented in major public and private collections in the United States and abroad, including the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Library of Congress.
University Libraries is proud to display its seventeen custom bindings by Don and Monique, a small showcase of the art of two very talented and creative binding designers.
Happy Birthday Charlie:
Celebrating the 150th Birthday of President Charles Duncan McIver
October - November 2010
Jackson Library/EUC Connector
Special Collections and University Archives designed this exhibit to celebrate the 150th birthday of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s first president.
Charles “Charlie” Duncan McIver was born September 27, 1860, in Moore County, North Carolina. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1881, he held several positions in education including assistant headmaster at the Durham Presbyterian Male Academy, principal of the Durham graded high school, teacher at the Winston Graded School, and head of the literary department at Peace Institute in Raleigh.
From 1891 until his death in 1906, McIver was the first president of the newly established State Normal and Industrial School, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Walter Clinton Jackson and the History of Jackson Library
March 2010 - November 2010
Vertical display case in the ECU connector
This archival exhibit documents the life of Chancellor Walter Clinton Jackson and his connection to Jackson Library. Walter Clinton Jackson was born in Hayston, Georgia on June 18, 1879. In 1909, he joined the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) faculty as a professor and then later became head of the Department of History. In 1934 he was appointed the third Chief Executive of the College and served 16 years as Chancellor. In 1948, ground was broken for the construction of a new library on campus. It was completed in 1950 and was officially named Jackson Library in honor of W.C. Jackson in 1960.
A Gentleman's Library: The Classic Book Collection of Norman B. Smith
October 6 – November 12, 2010
Hodges Reading Room—2nd Floor Jackson Library
The twenty-six books in this exhibit represent but a small sampling of Norman B. Smith's library, a choice collection of the most significant and most influential books of many nations, dating originally from the Classical Age through the twentieth century.
Included are such well-known titles as The Wealth of Nations andAlice's Adventures in Wonderland. Also included are lesser known but highly influential works such as James Harrington's Oceana and Juliana Berners' Treatyse of Fysshynge. Important religious texts include the Geneva Bible, The Koran, a 1435 Book of Hours, and an Armenian Gospel of St. Mark from the seventeenth century. Important political texts include a 1556 printing of the Magna Charta, Hobbes' Leviathan, and Rousseau's Social Contract.
Campus Sports
October 11 – October 25, 2010
Main Floor of Jackson Library
Sports have always been a central component of the student experience. Initially, campus sports were established at the newly formed State Normal and Industrial School with the primary goals of improving the girls’ postures and general physical fitness. The establishment of the Athletic Association (A.A.) in 1900 introduced intramural sports to the college, recognizing that physical training was equally important as academic training. By 1910, the College’s formal physical education curriculum included tennis, baseball, field hockey, and basketball. The same year, “Field Day” was established as an entire day just for athletic events.
During the late 1920s, more informal activities were introduced in the form of intramural sports, focusing on equipping each girl with “skills that would assist her in meeting the demands of society in terms of physical, mental, and emotional fitness.” 1928 saw the introduction of the first “Gym Meet” as well as the first “Play Day,” which mixed women from different schools together forming teams to play a variety of sports or games.
By the 1950s the physical education curriculum was moving toward the development of the individual and reflected the desire to produce a girl who could “function efficiently in a democratic society.” These selected gym suits reflect the College’s evolving philosophies of physical education.
The Sit-Ins: Woman's College Perspective
April 1 – October 11, 2010
Jackson Library/EUC Connector
Drawing from material located in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, this exhibit was created to reflect the Woman’s College perspective of the Greensboro Sit-ins.
On Monday, February 1, 1960, four North Carolina A&T State College students initiated what would become a nationwide protest when they demanded the right to sit and be served at the Woolworth’s lunch counter on South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro.
Woman’s College (now UNCG) students Eugenia Seaman, Marilyn Lott, Ann Dearsley, and Claudette Graves joined the protests later in the week. The presence of the three white women on Thursday, February 4 was particularly noteworthy. The young women felt that it was their “moral obligation” to join the protest in spite of possible reprisals from the gathering white crowd.
Campus Views, 1992-1995: Aerial and Panoramic Scenes of the UNCG Campus
June – September 1, 2010
Second Floor Lobby of Jackson Library
Drawing from the extensive University Archives Photograph Collection, staff from the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, created an exhibit of aerial and panoramic images of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus dating from 1892 to 1895.
100 Years of Theatre at UNCG
June – September 2010
Hodges Reading Room
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives selected almost 100 theatre production images from the extensive University Archives Photograph Collection for this exhibit.
For over 100 years, theatre productions have been given at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). This exhibit of photographs showcases some of the plays and theatre productions that have been presented on the UNCG campus since the 1890s.
Selections from the Arnold Doren Collection
May 15 – September 15 2010
Jackson Library/1st Floor Reference Area
Arnold Doren saw the world through the lens of a camera. He traveled the world, capturing photographs of people, places, and events.
Doren, who died in 2003, was a professor in the Art Department at UNCG from 1978-2002. Recently, the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives acquired over 70 boxes of prints, slides, and negatives taken by Doren.
The rotating exhibit featured photographs in the following catagories: Italy, Spain, and China; Landscapes of the American Southwest; Children around the World; and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.