The University Libraries is excited to welcome Cecil Campbell as the first exhibition and engagement student lead for the Main Library Gallery.
This new student position was created to be a key member of the gallery’s team. Cecil will assist with a little bit of everything, including exhibition preparation and installation, campus and community outreach, events and programs, and leading guided tours for various age groups. Cecil is earning a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in creative writing and art history alongside a certificate in museum studies.
With an interest in GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) as a career pathway and a strong background in public speaking, customer service, writing, and art, he is thrilled to take an active role in shaping upcoming exhibit and program experiences for fellow students and community visitors.
“I appreciate the objects contained in library and museum spaces because of the stories that they tell and the history they hold,” said Cecil. “I’m excited to learn how to plan an exhibit, to install it, and to learn how running a gallery works!”
Outside of the Libraries and class, Cecil enjoys cooking, making art through a variety of mediums, and being a member of the University of Iowa mock trial team.
UI Libraries Creative Coordinator Lauren Coghlan. Photo: Isabella Cervantes for The Daily Iowan.
As the creative coordinator for the University of Iowa Libraries, Lauren Coghlan manages visual design across all seven libraries, creating everything from print materials to signage. As an artist, Lauren is always especially excited about one of the more unique challenges of the job: creating the look and feel for Main Library Gallery exhibitions.
“As the exhibit designer, it’s my job to create and facilitate production of all printed collateral for each exhibit,” explains Lauren. This includes the panels inside the cases and on the walls, vinyl on the walls and windows, exhibit guides, artwork labels, posters, digital slides, and any other pieces unique to a specific project. Lauren loves that no two exhibits are the same. “I have total creative freedom and it’s great to be more artistic and work with my hands more,” she explains.
While guest curators for each Main Library Gallery exhibit research, select objects for display, and write the educational narrative, Lauren ensures that the presentation is visually compelling and immersive through graphic design.
“The overall feel of the exhibition is a collaboration between myself and the curator,” says Lauren. “The curators often have some idea of what they are looking for, but it’s my job to interpret those ideas into a cohesive look for each exhibit.”
Lauren brainstormed design concepts with guest curator Rich Dana, the Sackner Archive Project coordinator librarian for Special Collections and Archives, for the spring 2025 exhibit, A Roll of the Dice: Symbolism in the Sackner Archive. She chose a bold aesthetic with red and black colors, and was influenced by specific objects in the exhibit and by Dadaism, the broader art movement which inspired some of the works on display.
Rich Dana and Lauren Coghlan preparing vinyl for installation in A Roll of the Dice: Symbolism in the Sackner Archive. Photo: Sara Pinkham.
A Roll of the Dice follows the influence of an 1897 work by French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé. His avant-garde poem “Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard” [A throw of the dice will never abolish chance] ultimately contributed to graphic design as we know it today by challenging print design customs of the time. The pioneering poem later lent itself well to Dada artwork and showed up frequently during this brief movement in post-World War I Europe (ca. 1915-1922). Like the poem itself, Dadaism challenged traditional notions of beauty and form through art. Since its publication, artists and writers have continued to explore the mystery of “Un coup” and its revolutionary layout by reprinting and creating their own versions of the poem, or crafting works influenced by it, through a wide variety of mediums.
“I was inspired by the design of many covers of ‘Un coup,’ many of which feature a white background, black and red borders, and red and black text,” says Lauren “On a broader level, I was inspired by Dadaism. Dada designers often used black, white, and red elements along with bold, condensed typefaces in their designs.”
Once design is finalized for an exhibit and printed panels have arrived, Lauren also helps with installation alongside other Libraries colleagues. Exhibit production for the Main Library Gallery involves a core project team that works for months ahead of opening day. Exhibition and Engagement Coordinator Sara Pinkham manages the production process and logistics for each exhibit from start to finish, along with directing day-to-day gallery operations. Conservator Technician and Exhibit Preparator Bill Voss starts building custom display mounts for each object weeks before installation begins, ensuring that materials selected by curators are shown safely and elegantly. University Conservator Giselle Simón determines conservation treatment needs for materials ahead of display, handles necessary framing, and helps facilitate item loans. Giselle, Bill, and their colleagues in Conservation and Collections Care carry out prescribed treatments before exhibit installation. This can mean careful removal of adhesives, binding repairs, gentle cleaning, and more depending on the conditions of the selected materials.
Lauren Coghlan working in her large vinyl installation of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem “Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard.” Photo: Sara Pinkham.
A Roll of the Dice featured a few unique endeavors for the Main Library Gallery, including an extensive vinyl installation around the inside perimeter. Lauren designed, printed, and applied the vinyl, along with support from the team.
“This piece required a lot of forethought, but seeing it come together—and that my math was correct—was fun,” Lauren remarks. “I also conquered my fear of ladders after having to be on one for over twelve hours to place the vinyl on the walls.”
When asked what advice she would give to graphic design students working with larger physical spaces, Lauren emphasized accessibility and user experience along with logistical preparation.
“Put accessibility into the forefront of the design process,” she says. “This includes thinking about the space needed to maneuver wheelchairs, placing wall panels at accessible heights, color contrast for increased legibility, and choosing font sizes for effective reading. I am always learning about how I can increase accessibility in my work, and I encourage others to do the same. I also strongly recommend taking the time to create to-scale mockups of the space you’re designing for. I’ve found it extremely helpful to have all decisions about installation layout and measurements made before installation begins.”
Psalterium cum Antiphonis, late 15th century. Rebound and treated in the University of Iowa Libraries Conservation Lab by William Anthony in 1985. Medieval Manuscripts [xMMs.Ps3]. Special Collections & Archives, University of Iowa Libraries. Photo: Sara J. Pinkham. From Making the Book, Past and Present (2024).
The Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries is now seeking exhibition proposals for spring 2027, fall 2027, spring 2028, and fall 2028.
Iowa faculty and staff from all areas of expertise are invited to submit initial statements of interest for consideration during round one of the selection process through April 7, 2025. Please see below for more information about the timeline.
Exhibits for the Main Library Gallery must showcase materials from the Libraries. Two key purposes of the Gallery are to increase visibility of UI Libraries collections and to share unique research from the campus community through those collections.
Selection timeline:
April 7: Deadline for initial statements of interest (round one).
April 18: First-round decisions are announced. Finalists are invited to write complete proposals (round two).
July 18: Deadline for finalist exhibition proposals (round two).
August 4: 2027–2028 exhibitions are announced. Four total proposals will be selected for production.
All-Sports Herky, ca. 1949-1952. Dick Spencer III Collection of Herky Pen and Ink Drawings, University Archives, University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections & Archives. From We Are Hawkeyes: Celebrating 175 Years of Student Life at the University of Iowa (2022).
Free and open to the public, this exhibition opened on Jan. 21 and will be open through June 27. It was curated by Rich Dana, Sackner Archive project coordinator librarian in Special Collections and Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries. Displaying everything from sculptural works to book art, A Roll of the Dice offers a look into the world of concrete poetry and the avant-garde through the lens of one influential poem by French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé: “Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard,” or “A throw of the dice will never abolish chance.”
Curator Rich Dana in the Main Library Gallery, University of Iowa Libraries. (Photo: Krista Hershberger)
Ruth and Marvin Sackner, who donated their exceptional collection of over 75,000 objects to the University of Iowa Libraries in 2019, recognized that Mallarmé’s poem was an important literary and artistic milestone. Over the decades, they collected a series of objects for their overall collection that were inspired by this work. While caring for the collection at the UI Libraries, Dana discovered this assortment of materials related to “Un coup de dés” and began investigating the trend.
“I kept coming across works that paid homage to Mallarmé’s poem,” says Dana. “But the big ‘aha!’ moment was when I discovered an article that Ruth Sackner wrote in 1986. The Sackners understood that this poem was key to the development of visual poetry, and an influence on so many aspects of our modern visual vocabulary.”
The Limits of My Language Are the Limits of My World (1999), by Tom Phillips. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and Archives. (Photo: Anne Bassett)
The exhibition aims to make the concepts of concrete and visual poetry easy for students and community members to connect with. Regardless of visitors’ experience with art history, they will have the opportunity to learn all while experiencing unique creative works up close.
“For everyone who visits the exhibit, there will be works they enjoy and relate to, and others that will challenge them,” says Dana. “The show invites viewers to think abstractly and to look for the meaning inside themselves. Ruth and Marvin loved sharing their archive with visitors and friends. I’ve done my best to channel their spirit—to create something that feeds the imagination, invites conversation, and inspires community.”
Learn more about the exhibition and the Main Library Gallery’s open hours at lib.uiowa.edu/gallery.
Anna Holland, associate curator for the IWA, assisted with the exhibit by helping to find materials that tell the story of women in Hawkeye sports. Holland enjoys discovering what she describes as “eye-catching items that invite the viewer to imagine what it would be like to be there in that moment.” Below, she shares three objects on display in the exhibition that demonstrate women’s central role in Hawkeye Histories.
Table tents
One of Holland’s favorite items in the exhibit is a pair of table tents dating to the 1920s, used at a dinner to mark seats for Pauline Spencer and Julia Darrow, both accomplished student-athletes. The tents, which belong to the C. Pauline Spencer papers within IWA, are lettered and illustrated by hand. This sense of camaraderie and enthusiasm is one of the strongest throughlines connecting the IWA materials in the exhibition, according to Holland. “The time that must have been put into these custom drawings shows how much fun these athletes were having and how much they cared about their sport and each other,” she says. [IWA 0627]
Pins
This assortment of pins serves as a reminder of the many obstacles women athletes took on to combat gender inequality. Among Holland’s favorites are those that represent the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). “The AIAW was constantly battling for women’s equality in sport and for its own existence in an NCAA-dominated landscape,” says Holland. “I like to imagine women defiantly wearing these pins.” She also appreciates some of the declarative slogans—including “I’m a sportswoman and proud of it!”—that appear in the Holly Wilson Greene papers.
Dr. Christine Grant cut-out
Dr. Christine Grant was the University of Iowa’s first director of women’s intercollegiate athletics, beginning in 1973 after Title IX was signed into law. She continued in the role for 27 years, working tirelessly to lay the foundation for today’s record-breaking women’s teams. During the height of the pandemic, when stands were empty at sporting events, this cut-out of Grant was used to encourage athletes. When sporting events re-opened, the cut-out was donated to the IWA. When it’s not in Hawkeye Histories, it’s occupying a place of honor in the IWA reading room. “I love having Dr. Grant in the Archives ‘watching’ us all work,” says Holland. “I’m just really thrilled to be able to share her with others.”
Holland hopes that visitors to the exhibition will come away with a renewed interest in preserving pieces of their own history. “What we have in the Archives is thanks in great part to Iowans who kept their papers,” she says. “I’d like people today, particularly student-athletes, to think about what they are saving.”
There’s so much more where these materials came from. If you’re interested in learning more about the history of women’s athletics at Iowa, Holland recommends beginning with a visit to explore records and collections from the three leaders listed below.
Learn more
Christine Grant, the first and only head of women’s athletics at the University of Iowa
Lark Birdsong, the first head coach of Iowa’s women’s basketball program
Nadine Domond, a Hawkeye women’s basketball star who played under Coach C. Vivian Stringer and had a career in the WNBA
Samantha Cary loaned her Racing Louisville jersey to the Main Library Gallery exhibition.
When Dr. Jennifer Sterling of the Department of American Studies and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication took on the role of curator for the Main Library Gallery’s fall 2024 exhibition, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, she knew she’d have over a century of material to sort through to tell the story of athletics at Iowa. She was also aware that some of the materials she sought—items with their histories still unfolding—would need to be borrowed from their owners.
Samantha Cary playing for Iowa in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Second Round. Courtesy of University of Iowa Athletics.
One of these loaned items is a piece of recent sporting history: Samantha Cary’s soccer jersey. In January 2024, Cary became the first Hawkeye to be drafted to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), joining Racing Louisville before moving to a top Swedish soccer club. While at Iowa, the all-time minutes leader was also awarded the honor of Scholar All-American for her academic performance.
Early in the curation process, Sterling knew she’d like to include the jersey, which she says provided an opportunity to expand on the stories of Iowa players recruited to professional leagues.
In the Q&A below, Cary discusses the transition from Iowa to life as a professional athlete and offers a glimpse of Hawkeye history from one of its recent stars.
What was the journey from Iowa to Kentucky to Sweden like?
The past year has been an absolute whirlwind in the best possible way. After leaving Iowa and graduating I knew I always wanted to continue my career by playing pro. I entered my name in the NWSL draft and was fortunate enough to be the first Hawkeye drafted by Racing Louisville. I spent the next two months training and playing in Louisville in the NWSL, which was a dream come true. But then I was given the opportunity to sign a contract overseas in Sweden’s top division. This was a hard decision to make, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to travel the world and experience soccer overseas. So in March 2024 I moved to Sweden and have had a dream of a rookie year as a pro.
What are a couple of your favorite stories about your time playing for Iowa?
Playing at Iowa was one of the best experiences of my life. I have had so many highs, such as winning two Big Ten tournament titles and making it to three NCAA tournaments. But my favorite stories are the ones in the locker room and behind the scenes. I will always cherish the relationships I built with the staff in our weekly “Coffee with Cary” check-ins. I will never forget the 2021 season and working as a group to turn an 0-7-1 start into the first Big Ten Title. And I will never forget the laughs and dance parties in the locker room before games to get us excited and ready to go.
How did your experience at Iowa prepare you for Louisville and Sweden?
Playing at Iowa is the reason that I am a pro. It was the coaches and staff who were the first people to truly believe that being a pro was a possibility for me, and they pushed me every day to make it a reality. The team and the program knew my dream of being a pro and helped rally around it, not only challenging me to be a better player, but to help me grow my mind and my habits to lead me to a successful pro career.
How do you feel about being Iowa’s first NWSL draftee? Why was this important for you, and for the Hawkeyes?
Being Iowa’s first draftee is something I am beyond proud of, but I know that it is due to the village that helped support me through my five-year Iowa career. Being challenged, pushed, and supported everyday by the Hawkeye community is the reason I was able to achieve this feat. This is extremely important to me, however, because of the recognition it allowed Iowa to have in the soccer community nationally. The Iowa program is often undeservedly an underdog in the soccer community, and being drafted was a way to shine a much-needed light on the Iowa program.
What did you think when Sterling reached out about including your jersey in the exhibition?
I was super thankful when [Sterling] reached out about my jersey being featured in this exhibition because the history of Iowa’s women’s sports is so special and rich, and the soccer program has earned a right to be a part of that history. By being included in this exhibit it will help cement the impact the Iowa soccer program has had on the university and highlight one small accomplishment out of so many.
According to Sterling, these items form an integral part of Hawkeye Histories and remind visitors that current events will become histories too, gaining new resonance in the future. “It’s exceptionally important to continue to track recent histories and collect related materials for future research,” says Sterling.
To see Cary’s jersey and other Hawkeye Histories up close, visit the Main Library Gallery during the fall 2024 semester.
The right side of the headgear worn by the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team in the NCWWC features a Tigerhawk logo.
When Dr. Jennifer Sterling of the Department of American Studies and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication took on the role of curator for the Main Library Gallery’s fall 2024 exhibition, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, she knew she’d have over a century of material to sort through to tell the story of athletics at Iowa. She was also aware that some of the materials she sought—items with their histories still unfolding—would need to be borrowed from their owners.
One of Sterling’s favorite loaned items in the exhibition is headgear worn during the women’s wrestling team’s record-breaking 2023–24 season. With its championship backstory, this Hawkeye women’s wrestling headgear occupies a place of honor in the exhibition.
The left side of the headgear shows two lines, symbolizing the team’s aspirations.
According to Sterling, “The fight for girls’ and women’s inclusion in wrestling—and their success—is also part of a rich legacy of advocating for women’s equity in athletics at Iowa.”
Below, Sieperda shares her perspective on the exhibit and a landmark year for Hawkeye women’s wrestling.
What did you think when Sterling reached out about including some items from women’s wrestling in the exhibition?
I was really excited when [Sterling] reached out about including items from the women’s wrestling program. It’s a great opportunity to highlight the contributions of what our women are doing in this sport and to showcase their impact on women’s wrestling in the state of Iowa. I also worked at the Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame and Museum during my undergraduate studies, so I was excited to be part of the curating process for an exhibit.
What is important about the headgear and the proclamation on display in the exhibit?
The headgear is a meaningful item that we provided to the women for their first postseason competitions. It’s important as a staff to ensure that every piece they received from the program features the Iowa Women’s Wrestling brand or the Tigerhawk logo above a designated line. This line, one of two you can see on the headgear, represents the standard of women’s collegiate wrestling, and that we aim to rise above it—not just as athletes, but as students, community leaders, and advocates for our sport. Each time our athletes wear it, they embody the pride and legacy of the University of Iowa and our women’s wrestling program.
The proclamation serves as an official recognition of women’s wrestling in the state of Iowa. It not only highlights the dedication and hard work of the athletes but also celebrates the progress and achievements of the program we are building here at Iowa.
What are a couple of favorite stories from your historic first season?
One of my favorite stories from our historic season is the incredible resilience our team showed at the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) National Duals. In freestyle wrestling, which is different from the men’s folkstyle, even if you lose a match but score a point, you contribute to the team’s score. In a tough finals dual, we came from behind and secured a 21-20 win thanks to one of our athletes scoring a crucial point, despite losing her match. It was a powerful reminder that every point matters and showed the heart and determination that define our program.
Another unforgettable moment was watching our young women win national titles at the NCWWC, competing against seasoned athletes. Their journeys, from day one to the championship, captured the spirit of perseverance and showcased the immense potential of our young program. These moments truly laid the foundation for our team’s future success.
According to Sterling, the work of curation is partially about preserving the present. “We should continue to adapt collection and curatorial practices for an increasingly digitized future,” she says, “So that we can continue to preserve, research, and share these important stories.”
To see the headgear that took Hawkeye women’s wrestling through a banner year and see other Hawkeye Histories up close, visit the Main Library Gallery during the fall 2024 semester.
When Dr. Jennifer Sterling set out to create the fall 2024 Main Library Gallery exhibit, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, she chose to include a handful of scrapbooks from the Iowa Women’s Archives and the University Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries. These items add a personal touch to the exhibition, showing how Hawkeye student-athletes perceived their own endeavors. Here, we break down what makes scrapbooks such lively additions to the archives.
Julius Hecker’s scrapbook is a favorite of Matrice Young, student life archivist, who says “most photographs…get their own wonder.” [RG30.0001.034]
What is an athletic scrapbook?
An athlete’s scrapbook may contain items like photographs, newspaper clippings, team rosters, and keepsakes like ribbons and miniature pennants. Handwritten notes, captions, and long-lost inside jokes can also be found among these pages.
Because they were so deliberately arranged by their creators, scrapbooks are almost exhibitions unto themselves. The way pages are arranged offers additional opportunities for athletes’ accomplishments to shine, showing which moments received top billing. Matrice Young, student life archivist, says that her favorite scrapbook in the exhibit belongs to Julius Hecker (BA ’12). “I like that most photographs get their own page, and as such, get their own wonder,” Young says.
Scrapbooks like this one from the IWA’s Department of Physical Education Records contain a wide variety of materials, creating an almost three-dimensional effect. [IWA0106]
This scrapbook was curated by the Archery Club during the 1940s—a rare coeducational sport. [IWA0106]
Filling the margins
Scrapbooks offer unique insight into how their makers viewed the subject matter in real time. By arranging images, text, and other significant materials on the page, scrapbookers were engaging in a small-scale curation of their contemporary world. “[Scrapbooks] reflect what was important to their creators and what they thought was important to preserve,” says Sterling.
Sterling likes to draw visitors’ attention to the Archery Club scrapbook, which offers a rare look at a coeducational sport during the 1940s. In its pages, men and women compete against one another, practice together, and belong to the same team.
Long before Title IX began to address inequality in university athletics, members of women’s teams were already at work documenting their own stories. Women’s club sports like fencing had particularly comprehensive scrapbooks, which Sterling says has helped to keep their memories alive. “The histories we are able to tell about early women’s sports at Iowa are largely due to the detailed documentation the association and their clubs maintained, and the Iowa Women’s Archives’ (IWA) careful preservation of them.”
Taking a page out of their book
Anna Holland, associate curator for the IWA, hopes that today’s students will take inspiration from the scrapbooks of the past, even if their curation takes a different (likely digital) form. “I hope that current students will move with intention to save what matters to them so we will all have it to look back on in the future.”
Football is threaded into the University of Iowa’s DNA, and the importance of that connection is never clearer than during the height of football season. The sport also forms a crucial throughline in this semester’s Main Library Gallery exhibition, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, curated by Dr. Jennifer Sterling of the Department of American Studies and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“There are so many football histories to tell,” says Sterling. “It is Iowa’s oldest continuous sport, the first sport at Iowa to begin the process of African American desegregation, and it has been a fan favorite on campus since its late-1800s inception.”
Below, we offer a closer look at three of the football histories included in the exhibition.
Game-time decisions
Handbook, 1915. Board in Control of Athletics Records [RG28.0003.005].
The official history of Hawkeye football began in the 1880s. During those first few decades, the team played the majority of its games against other in-state institutions. But as football’s popularity spiked nationwide, so did the number of serious injuries endured by players. There was a clear need for regulation to mitigate the safety risks of the contact sport, and multiple Midwestern universities joined together in 1896 to form the organization that would become the Big Ten Conference. The University of Iowa signed on in 1899 and joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the process. By joining these regulatory bodies, Iowa became a leader in shaping the longevity of football as an intercollegiate sport.
In 1902, the university established its Board in Control of Athletics, a committee charged with ensuring that Iowa Athletics adhered to the standards set forth by the NCAA. Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories contains original copies of the handbooks used to regulate multiple sports, including football, at Iowa.
Putting football on the map
Data compiled from the Iowa Letterwinners Club and University of Iowa Athletics, first seasons through 2022–23. Research and data entry: Jennifer Sterling, Olivia Baier, Maria Copozzi, students from Spring 2024 SPST 1847 Hawkeye Nation class. Mapping and visualization: Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio.
These two heat maps use aggregated data to tell a story about the reach of Iowa football’s reputation. The map on the left shows the hometowns of players from Iowa football’s beginnings in 1880 to the building momentum of the mid-20th century. The map on the right offers the same data for the years 1950–2022. By placing these two maps side by side, we can see the emergence of a trend: while the first Iowa football players were overwhelmingly from Iowa, today’s players are increasingly coming to us from locations across the country.
Beyond household names
Hawkeye Yearbook, 1930. Yearbooks Collection [RG02.0010.001], University Archives.
While the exhibition features items and stories related to some of Iowa’s best-known players like Nile Kinnick and Duke Slater, it also devotes much-needed attention to athletes whose names are less familiar to today’s fans. Among them is Mayes McLain, a member of the Cherokee Nation who transferred from the Haskell Institute (now called Haskell Indian Nations University) in Kansas to play at Iowa during the 1928 season. He received an “I” letter, but his career at Iowa was cut short when the conference ruled that he had already met the three-year limit for players.
According to Sterling, “[McLain’s] history is also intertwined with the cusp of regulatory changes in intercollegiate athletics, which left him unfairly targeted and his playing days at Iowa shortened.”
The Main Library Gallery’s fall 2024 exhibition, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, uses materials from the archives to offer a fresh perspective on Iowa athletics from the 1800s to the present.
The free exhibition opened to the public on Monday, Aug. 26, and was curated by Dr. Jennifer Sterling, lecturer in sport media and culture within the Department of American Studies and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Over the course of her first 10 years at the university, Sterling noticed that while its reputation for athletic excellence is widespread, the narratives that make Iowa truly remarkable can be lost under the roar of the crowd. And, as with so many aspects of popular culture, academics who study sports have often had to argue for their merit as a scholarly subject.
“Sport is so embedded in our institutional and individual cultures that we often don’t take a closer look,” says Sterling.
This exhibition aims to help visitors do just that. Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories refreshes visitors’ understanding of sports history by placing Iowa’s sporting milestones in their historic and cultural contexts. Each generation of Hawkeye student-athletes and coaches has moved the starting line forward for those who came after them. In many cases, that has meant breaking down barriers to social progress on and off the field, from the integration of sports teams to the increased attention paid to women’s sports.
The exhibition does display items and information connected to some of the university’s biggest names —players and coaches like Duke Slater, Nile Kinnick, Caitlin Clark, and Christine Grant — but it also amplifies the experiences and achievements of the Hawkeye athletes not every fan will know.
“The exhibit is meant to be contextual rather than myopic—to situate Iowa’s sports histories in relation to each other and broader issues, movements, and policies rather than narrating stand-alone stories,” says Sterling.
The narrative that emerges is one of Iowa athletes with record-breaking ability and the courage to lead by example—not only experiencing history’s impact, but shaping it, too.
The exhibition is free and open to the public and will conclude following the end of the semester on Thursday, Dec. 19.
The Main Library Gallery is located near the north lobby entrance to the Main Library (125 W. Washington St.)
Open seven days a week. For detailed hours and holiday information, visit our website.
Exhibition runs from Aug. 26 to Dec. 19
Curated by Dr. Jennifer Sterling, Department of American Studies and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Free and open to all
This is the Board in Control of Athletics Handbook for the University of Iowa, then known as the State University of Iowa, from 1915. As the popularity of collegiate athletics began to increase at the turn of the century, so did the number of regulations designed to standardize fair play.
Board in Control of Athletics Records [RG28.0003.005], University Archives.
Throughout her career, the record-breaking women’s softball coach Gayle Blevins racked up NCAA titles. These signed softballs commemorate wins throughout her career, which took her to the University of Iowa from 1988 to 2010.
University of Iowa Women’s Softball Records [IWA1046], Iowa Women’s Archives.
Data can also be a powerful storytelling tool. These maps show the geographic origins of Iowa men’s football players between 1950 and 2022.
Data compiled from the Iowa Letterwinners Club and University of Iowa Athletics, first seasons through 2022-2023. Research and data entry: Jennifer Sterling, Olivia Baier, Maria Copozzi, students from Spring 2024 SPST 1847 Hawkeye Nation class. Mapping and visualization: Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio.
Samantha Cary loaned her Racing Louisville jersey to the Main Library Gallery exhibition.
Samantha Cary loaned her Racing Louisville jersey to the Main Library Gallery exhibition.
Samantha Cary playing for Iowa in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Second Round. Courtesy of University of Iowa Athletics.
Samantha Cary playing for Iowa in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Second Round. Courtesy of University of Iowa Athletics.
The right side of the headgear worn by the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team in the NCWWC features a Tigerhawk logo.
The right side of the headgear worn by the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team in the NCWWC features a Tigerhawk logo.
The left side of the headgear shows two lines, symbolizing the team’s aspirations.
The left side of the headgear shows two lines, symbolizing the team’s aspirations.
Julius Hecker’s scrapbook is a favorite of Matrice Young, student life archivist, who says “most photographs…get their own wonder.” [RG30.0001.034]
Julius Hecker’s scrapbook is a favorite of Matrice Young, student life archivist, who says “most photographs…get their own wonder.” [RG30.0001.034]
Scrapbooks like this one from the IWA’s Department of Physical Education Records contain a wide variety of materials, creating an almost three-dimensional effect. [IWA0106]
Scrapbooks like this one from the IWA’s Department of Physical Education Records contain a wide variety of materials, creating an almost three-dimensional effect. [IWA0106]
This scrapbook was curated by the Archery Club during the 1940s—a rare coeducational sport. [IWA0106]
This scrapbook was curated by the Archery Club during the 1940s—a rare coeducational sport. [IWA0106]
Handbook, 1915. Board in Control of Athletics Records [RG28.0003.005].
Handbook, 1915. Board in Control of Athletics Records [RG28.0003.005].
