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.

This exhibition takes its name from a hymn composed a century ago by two African-American brothers, James Weldon and J. Rosamond Johnson. Written in the days of the Jim Crow South, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" inspired African Americans to persist in their struggle for equal rights.

"American Broadsides to 1860" features a selection of broadsides—single-sheet publications typically printed on a single side—culled from the holdings of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. These rare and ephemeral primary sources cover matters political, religious, social, commercial, militaristic, and literary. A fascinating portrait of the culture, the people, and the history of early America emerges from the contents of the 72 broadsides on view.

The Civil War’s impact on the culture, politics, and geography of Virginia cannot be overemphasized: battles ravaged the landscape, blockades and other political maneuvers transformed the economy, and profound regional tensions resulted in the creation of West Virginia. This exhibition seeks to reveal how Virginia was changed by the war, focusing on the voices of those who experienced it.

This exhibition features the work of the mid-century printmaker, painter, and commercial artist Charles Smith (1893–1987). Smith’s  innovative printing techniques were an essential part of his teaching at the University of Virginia, where he was the first chairman of the Department of Art. The exhibition celebrates the Library’s recent grant award to digitize and preserve a film about Smith’s “block painting” technique; the film will be shown on a continuous loop in the exhibition gallery, accompanied by examples of Smith’s work from our collections.

This exhibition in the First Floor Gallery celebrates the now-forgotten poet Vachel Lindsay, the influential American poet and artist of the early twentieth century. Known for his tramping excursions of hundreds of miles across many states, when he traded poetry pamphlets and performances for food and lodging, Lindsay created an unusual visionary poetics of mystical beauty. Drawing on Christian theology, mythology, and visual symbol systems, he mapped an American spiritual landscape in poems, books, artworks, and performances.

"Collecting American Histories: The Tracy W. McGregor Library at 75" features rare and significant broadsides, books, prints, and letters that illuminate many aspects of the American experience spanning from the early settlement of Virginia; to the clash of European powers over the North American continent; and to the servants and slaves on whose backs the American economy depended.

Throughout the twentieth century, artists, writers, and small publishers have reinterpreted the genre of the magazine time and again.  Issued serially and sent through the mail to subscribers like most popular magazines, the projects on display variously reimagine the magazine as both a medium for the work of a particular creative community and as a creative genre in and of itself.

Maps of North America printed during the three centuries after European contact illustrate not only the great strides in scientific, technological, and geographical knowledge during this period, but also express the aesthetic tastes, political agendas, and economic ambitions of those who made and used maps as they shaped the modern world. These rare and treasured documents offer insights into past human experience and attract people with diverse historical interests, who continue to find new ways to read old maps. In celebration of Dr. Seymour I.

"Drawn from Life: Collecting Cartoons and Caricatures" is an exhibition featuring original and printed artworks from the Golden Age of Illustration. Selections from the private collection of John Francis are on view alongside highlights from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, including published works by the artists featured in Francis's collection, works by other artists in a similar vein, and selected examples of American commercial art of the same period.