The women detectives and sleuthing young ladies found in the Robbie Emily Dunn Collection of American Detective Fiction Collection and Girls Books in Series Collection of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives share three things in common: a sharp intelligence to unravel the intricacies of the criminal mind, a fearless tenacity in engaging unknown dangers, and a time period appropriate wardrobe to blend into the varied environments into which their investigation leads them.

This collaborative exhibit features selections of books from Special Collections and matching period textiles and accessories generously loaned by Dr. James V. Carmichael.

The exhibit can be found in the three display cases next to the reference desk on the first floor of Jackson Library. The exhibited items will rotate every two weeks, from January 8th through March 1st, 2016.

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

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.

-Kathelene McCarty Smith