Papers of the Barrett Daycare Center: 1935–Present

By ss5u |

The Barrett Daycare Center, formerly the Janie Porter Day Nursery, has been providing quality child care for the Charlottesville community for over sixty years. The records of this facility document the growth, successes, struggles, and changes in the African-American community in Charlottesville. In addition, the records tell much about conditions in other organizations such as this one in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and throughout the nation.

Landmarks of American Nature writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley

By ss5u |

The Catalogue of an exhibition of rare books, manuscripts, maps, engravings, and photographs related to the literature of nature written about western Virginia from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries, this exhibition is based on the research for The Height of Our Mountains: Nature Writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley, much of which took place in the Special Collections Department of Alderman Library.

Muse and Confidante: the Angelica Schuyler Church Archive

By ss5u |

Angelica Schuyler Church, the daughter of a general in the Continental Army and the wife of a prominent British businessman, traveled in social circles that included the most prominent figures of her time. The Church archive contains correspondence from the period of the founding of America, including letters from George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

"To seek the Peace of the City" Jewish Life in Charlottesville

By ss5u |

The history of the Jewish community of Charlottesville shares much in common with the broad sweep of the Jewish experience in the South and throughout America. It is a story of colonial-era Sephardic Jews and of nineteenth-century immigrants first from Bavaria and Wurttemberg and then from Kovno and Minsk. It is a story of peddlers and merchants, and of involvement and leadership in local government, the arts and education. It is a story of the commitment of a few to the creation and maintenance of local civic and religious institutions.

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.