This exhibition explores how enslaved African Americans, helped by their free and freed counterparts, challenged slavery’s governance over their bodies and lives. Some such efforts are widely known, such as ingenious escapes and wide-scale insurrections. Other, more subtle forms of revolt are less familiar, such as cases of free blacks emancipating other blacks, or examples of a slave deftly manipulating her owners’ actions in written correspondence.

The Niche is a moving image exhibition project in the Fine Arts Library at the University of Virginia.

A different video or animation work is featured each month in continuous loop on a sixty-inch monitor mounted in a highly-trafficked part of the library. There is one personal surround sound chair for viewing as well as several pairs of wireless headphones. The project has been ongoing since 2009.

The American Civil Rights Movement (1954-1970) intensely transformed American society and inspired similar movements worldwide. Its nonviolent protests and civil resistance for equal citizenship under the law enhanced African-Americans’ self-dignity and collective commitment in the face of white supremacist terrorism. This mini-exhibition includes a display dedicated to the life and career of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., charismatic leader of the Civil Rights Movement and “a drum major for justice and peace” in his letters and publications.

This exhibition of pop-up books was is drawn almost exclusively from Dr. Brenda Forman's impressive collection of over 800 items. We would like to thank Brenda Forman for generously placing her collection on deposit with Special Collection.

University of Virginia Special Collections is home to the Sadleir-Black Collection, a comprehensive compilation of Gothic literature that forms the heart of "Sublime Anxiety." The gothic in general, and this exhibition in particular, explores the tension between what we most fear and what we most desire. Its extraordinary popularity today, more than 200 years after the publication of the first gothic novel, shows us that the concern with freedom and connection is as relevant as it has ever been.

The U.S. federal government depository library program distributes government publications to libraries which make the information available to the public. Alderman Library was designated a federal depository library in 1910—shortly before World War I began. Through flyers, posters, and other publications the federal government promoted support for our Allies and a spirit of sacrifice on the part of every American—encouraging the “Army of 100,000,000” that would eventually win the war. The mission of the federal depository library program is to preserve all of these publications.

The University of Virginia has presented the same challenge to many eminent architects: how does one build on a masterpiece? As the University has grown, Jefferson's architectural ideals have been tried and tested, adapted and interpreted. This exhibition explores the wide range of solutions to the architectural and planning problems posed by adding to a growing university.

After emerging on the international literary scene in the 1960s, Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) became Argentina’s best known writer and a cultural icon. Drawing from the UVA Library’s renowned holdings, this exhibition explores Borges’s little-known activities as translator, prologist, editor, and publisher to shed light on his crucial role in shaping Argentine literary canons.