The Book in Tibet: An Exhibition of Books from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and Alderman Library

By ss5u |

"The Book in Tibet" is a mini-exhibition curated by Ben Nourse with the assistance of Christie Kilby and Natasha Mikles, all current or former Ph.D. students in Tibetan studies at the University of Virginia. The exhibition is an adjunct to the Symposium on the Tibetan Book being held at UVA Nov. 6-8, 2014.

"Arise and Build!": A Centennial Commemoration of the 1895 Rotunda Fire

By ss5u |

The fire of October 27, 1895, was a disaster: only the shell of the Rotunda remained standing; the Annex was a smoldering ruin; and two-thirds of the University Library's collection was destroyed. But the University did more than simply reconstruct the Rotunda. In the wake of the destruction emerged a rebuilt Rotunda, designed by Stanford White; three new buildings at the south end of the Lawn; a revitalized University Library; and a University with a growing national reputation.

Nothing from Something

By ss5u |

"Nothing from Something" is a new series of work by artist R. Mertens influenced by minimal and post-minimal art from the 60s and 70s and Minimal Music Visualization. Emphasizing the role of process in fiber arts and minimal music, this work addresses ideas of (mis)communication, spirituality, interconnections, repetition, post-structuralist aesthetics, and art history. R. Mertens is a Visiting Professor in Art at James Madison University where he is an artist and recording engineer. He owns and operates "The Weaving Room," a textile and audio recording studio.

#CarbonFeed

By ss5u |

#Carbonfeed is a soundscape/data visualization installation. Through sonifying Twitter feeds and correlating individual tweets with a physical, data visualization in public spaces, #CarbonFeed directly challenges the popular notion that virtuality is disconnected from reality.

“Read, weep, and reflect”: Creating young abolitionists through Uncle Tom’s Cabin

By ss5u |

The ardent abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe had a specific intent for readers of her blockbuster novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin: she wanted her readers to “Read, weep, and reflect” as they read about the plights of Uncle Tom and his fellow slaves. Tie-in products for children demonstrate how Stowe, her publishers, and others seeking to get in on the lucrative Uncle Tom phenomenon envisioned extending the power of the novel to every part of children’s lives. Shown here are rare examples of toys, games, and other products from the years just following the novel’s publication in 1852.

Quantum Levitation: Traversing the boundaries between physics and design

By ss5u |

"Quantum Levitation" is an exhibit of photographs that gives the viewer a rare glimpse into the unusual world of superconductivity, where some materials brought to very low temperatures create a quantum wave that expels magnetic fields, allowing for the amazing property of levitation. The exhibit is part of a greater endeavor to foster a new kind of dialogue between physicists, designers, and graphic artists.

Science and Art of the Eastern Shore

By ss5u |

A collaboration between Brown Library and the Department of Environmental Sciences, the exhibit is an outgrowth of a recent movement to link Art, the Humanities and place-based science in an effort to increase public awareness of the natural world, the environmental issues that impact our surroundings, and the complex interactions between human societies and the ecosystems in which we live.

Happy 150th Birthday, Alice!

By ss5u |

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,  undergraduate Wolfe Docent Susan Swicegood curated the mini-exhibition “Happy 150th Birthday, Alice!” The exhibit focuses on how illustrators have envisioned the figure of Alice over the course of the book’s publishing history.

The WSLS-TV Roanoke, Va., News Film Collection, 1951-1971

By ss5u |

The WSLS-TV News Film Collection, 1951-1971, comprises thousands of 16mm news film clips and related anchorperson scripts created by Roanoke, Va., television station WSLS during the mid-20th century. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities funded the preservation and digitization of this collection. Content of the news stories varies greatly from Massive Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement to soapbox derbies and beauty pageants. The WSLS-TV news film collection is now available to the public in digitized form through the Library's online catalog, Virgo.