Scan This Code!

QR Code for SCUA's Research Guide

You've seen these codes popping up everywhere - on newspapers, sales fliers, and paperback books. Now SCUA has a QR code of our own! This will take you to our departmental Research Guide that features our collections - and it looks great on your phone or mobile device! Give it a scan and let us know what you think!

What They Were Wearing While They Were Reading: 1930s

This collaborative exhibit highlights the 1930s featuring campus history, materials from Special Collections and University Archives, and period textiles generously loaned from Dr. James V. Carmichael. The exhibited items will rotate so visit often! Information from the rotating exhibits will be posted here periodically. 

1930s 

After the years of economic prosperity, the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, and the resulting economic depression dominated the entire decade. During this Great Depression, millions of Americans lost their jobs, their savings, and their homes. While banks foreclosed on businesses and farms, families became homeless and unemployed. Many Americans took to the road and the rails, traveling from town to town in search of a job. Shantytowns, known as “Hoovervilles” after President Herbert Hoover, began to spring up on the outskirts of town. Created with scraps of cardboard, newspaper, and anything else that could be picked up on the street, these makeshift towns housed thousand of transient families.

Americans pinned their hopes on the winner of the 1932 presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Upon taking office, Roosevelt began to establish governmental programs known as the “New Deal,” to help Americans pull out of the economic crises. Programs such as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration targeted farmers while the Works Progress Administration helped unemployment by hiring people to work on civic building projects. While these New Deal programs helped ease the hardships of many Americans, the decade continued to be plagued with economic instability.

 It was the entrance of the United States into World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 that ended the Great Depression.

What They Were Wearing While They Were Reading: 1930s 

February 7 - April 1, 2012 Main Lobby, Jackson Library

Windows to the World: The Immortal Works of Charles Dickens

With the possible exception of Shakespeare, no English author is better known than Charles Dickens. Dickens was a household name during his lifetime, and his reputation has not dimmed with the passage of time. This exhibit, which includes twelve of his most popular books—the majority represented in first editions—illustrations from his works, and an assortment of ephemera, celebrates the bicentennial of his birth on February 7, 1812.

Dickens won the admiration and praise of his readers, critics, and fellow authors; and countless books and articles have examined and heralded his life and writings. His grave in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey represents the highest tribute paid to an English author.
This exhibit attempts to allow Dickens’s genius to speak for itself, in his own words about his work and in the words of his immortal characters.

Illustrations—most of them the original illustrations—are included for each book. Dickens was one of the first authors with the power to select his own illustrations, thus giving them a particular significance as interpreters of his characters and events. He worked with some of the most distinguished artists of his day—George Cruikshank, Hablot Browne (“Phiz”), George Cattermole, and Marcus Stone foremost among them.

The many items in the exhibit that carry his name—commemorative plates, medallions, plaques, playing cards, etc.—show that perhaps no author in history has been commercialized more than Dickens. Although Dickens would undoubtedly have railed against this exploitation,it bears testimony to his immense and enduring popularity.

It is difficult to choose a single comment to summarize this great author’s life and work, but the words of his biographer G. K. Chesterton in 1906 ring true:

“The positive argument for the permanence of Dickens comes back to the thing that can only be stated and cannot be discussed. He made things which nobody else can possibly make.”

Thanks are due to Richard Levy, Norman Smith, and Kimberly Lutz for lending items to this exhibit, and to Carolyn Shankle for devoting time to designing this catalogue and the exhibit poster.

-William K. Finley

Exhibit Catalog
Exhibit catalog is in PDF format. You will need Adobe Reader

Windows to the World:
Immortal Works of Charles Dickens
January 23 - March 30, 2012
Hodges Reading Room
Second Floor, Main Building
Jackson Library
Hours 9AM - 5 PM, Monday - Friday

Annual Women Veterans Luncheon is on Saturday, November 5th

Making Their Mark: Historical Signatures in the Archives

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.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro: The First Hundred Years, 1891-1991

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.

Bernard Greenhouse, acclaimed cellist and founder of Beaux Arts Trio, dies at 95

Bernard Greenhouse, acclaimed cellist and founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio, passed away at his home in Wellfleet, Connecticut on Friday morning. UNCG has the honor of housing his expansive cello music collection in the Cello Music Collection of Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives. On a more personal note, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Greenhouse during the Cello Music Celebration for Luigi Silva in March 2004 as well as the Greenhouse Celebration of 2005 that not only marked his 90th year but also honored his donation of his personal library. On both occasions he displayed his noted warmth and good humor.

Online remembrances:
NPR
New York Times
CelloBello

The photo above is of Dr. William Finley and Mr. Greenhouse taken during the Silva Celebration in 2004.

-Carolyn Shankle