Main Library Gallery news

Curator Q&A with Collin Vandewalle

It’s Been Wonderful Knowing You: Wildlife Conservation and Advocacy Through the Lens of Jay N. “Ding” Darling, the fall 2026 exhibition in the University of Iowa Main Library Gallery, features the work of a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist from Iowa who was a major catalyst for the modern American conservation movement. From original cartoons and photographs to correspondence and natural history specimens, each item on display helps tell the story of Darling’s efforts to save America’s wildlife and natural resources.

Collin Vandewalle, exhibition co-curator and Sackner Archive project archivist, next to materials from the Jay N. “Ding” Darling Papers, Special Collections and Archives, UI Libraries.

Collin Vandewalle, Sackner Archive project archivist in Special Collections and Archives, co-curated the exhibition with Lindsay Moen, lead public services librarian in the same department. Through his research for the exhibit’s narrative and his time working closely with the Jay N. “Ding” Darling Papers, Vandewalle has gained significant expertise about Darling and his life’s work.

Question: How did you become involved in the exhibition project, and what did you enjoy most about the process?
Answer: I was a graduate student at the University of Iowa’s School of Library and Information Science and worked in Special Collections and Archives as a student lead. I worked specifically with the Darling Papers, so my then-supervisor—and now colleague—Lindsay Moen asked if I wanted to help her curate the Darling exhibit. I eagerly accepted so I could have a chance to apply all the knowledge I had gained about him. My favorite aspect of the process was the chance to tell a story about a side of Darling that not many people know about: his environmental conservation work.

Q: What draws you most to the story of Ding Darling?
A: I was drawn in most by his unwavering and unending zeal to help protect the natural resources of our country. Not many other people can claim they have worked so hard to save native migratory fowl, especially ducks, as Darling did, and I really admire that fervor.

Q: As a curator, researcher, and Iowan, what does this exhibit mean to you personally?
A: I think it is important to tell the stories of prominent Iowans like Ding Darling and highlight the fantastic history this state has had when it comes to environmental conservation causes. It is so important to connect today’s Iowans to our scientific roots and reflect on how we can continue this kind of work in our state. I am proud that I can take all the research I have done and highlight this history through a curated exhibit.

Q: When did you first hear about Ding Darling, and how have you worked with his materials over time?
A: I had my first encounter with Ding Darling’s legacy when I was nine years old on a family trip to Florida. We went to the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and it was such a fantastic experience that I still remember it vividly 20 years later. I had my second encounter with Darling during my undergraduate experience at Drake University in Des Moines. I worked in the University Archives and Special Collections at the Cowles Library on campus and helped with another Darling exhibit that Drake hosted in 2017. I then worked with his papers for just over three years here at the University of Iowa.

Q: Why is it important to have this exhibit in the Main Library Gallery?
A: I think it is important that the campus community and the broader public gain a better understanding of just how robust the Darling collection is here at the University of Iowa Libraries. It is also amazing that we have the capability to showcase rare materials—like a presidential letter from Franklin Delano Roosevent to Darling, for example—in a safe and professional way through the Main Library Gallery.

Q: What are some of the most surprising things you learned during your research?
A: I was most surprised by just how interconnected Darling was with the politics and culture of his time. It seems like he knew every prominent figure from the turn of the 20th century. He met with Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Walt Disney, Aldo Leopold, and many more celebrities.

Q: What is your favorite object in the exhibit?
A: My favorite object would be the letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) to Darling where he claimed that Darling had pulled the largest “heist” on the United States Treasury in American history. The letter is an amazing piece of history that highlights the tensions that FDR and Darling had for one another, particularly when it came to funding priorities. One will have to come to the exhibit to learn the context of this surreal letter.

Letter transcript:

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

July 29, 1935.

Dear Jay:—

As I was saying to the Acting Director of the Budget the other day—”this fellow Darling is the only man in history who got an appropriation through Congress, past the Budget and signed by the President without anybody realizing that the Treasury had been raided.”

You hold an all-time record. In addition to the six million dollars ($6,000,000) you got, the Federal Courts say that the United States Government has a perfect constitutional right to condemn millions of acres for the welfare, health and happiness of ducks, geese, sandpipers, owls and wrens, but has no constitutional right to condemn a few old tenaments [sic] in the slums for the health and happiness of the little boys and girls who will be our citizens of the next generation!

Nevertheless, more power to your arm! Go ahead with the six million dollars ($6,000,000) and talk with me about a month hence in regard to additional lands, if I have any more money left.

As ever yours,
President Roosevelt

Honorable J.N. Darling,
Bureau of Biological Survey,
South Building,
Washington, D.C. — Letter from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Jay N. “Ding” Darling, July 29, 1935. Presidential Letters Collection, Special Collections and Archives, UI Libraries.

Q: What about Darling’s life and work do you hope visitors will take away from their time in the exhibit?
A: I hope they leave the exhibit understanding that even just one person can spark change when it comes to environmental conservation. I hope they can see that Darling set a fantastic precedent on how we, too, can help protect the ducks and other wildlife of Iowa!

Q: The Jay N. “Ding” Darling Papers in Special Collections have recently had some significant updates that make them even more accessible to researchers. What was your role in this project?
A: My main role was making sure the Darling Papers were easier to use and more accessible to the public before the exhibit started. This meant that I rehoused a majority of the collection into newer archival grade boxes that will protect the material far longer into the future. I also spent a great deal of time intellectually reorganizing the finding aid so that researchers will have an easier time finding specific information from this extensive collection.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?
A: I want to thank everyone involved in making this exhibit come to life. It was a fantastic experience to co-curate this project at the start of my professional career.

I hope everyone who comes to the exhibit leaves having learned at least one new thing about Darling or wildlife conservation. For those interested in a more in-depth look at Darling, I also worked with recent graduate student Hailee McCormick to create a 150-year timeline that spans Darling’s entire life and the institutions that make up his legacy up to 2026. That will be available online soon.

It’s Been Wonderful Knowing You: Wildlife Conservation and Advocacy Through the Lens of Jay N. “Ding” Darling will be on display through Dec. 18, 2026. The Main Library Gallery is open daily. Learn more about open hours: lib.uiowa.edu/gallery.

Cartoonist and conservationist Jay N. “Ding” Darling celebrated in new UI Main Library Gallery exhibition

The Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries welcomes visitors to explore the rich legacy of American wildlife conservationist and popular political cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling (1876–1962) in its new fall exhibition. Free and open to the public, It’s Been Wonderful Knowing You: Wildlife Conservation and Advocacy Through the Lens of Jay N. “Ding” Darling opened on Aug. 24 and will be on display through Dec. 18, 2026.

Ding Darling sitting at a drafting desk in an artist's smock. He is drawing. — Ding Darling at *The Des Moines Register*, undated. Jay N. “Ding” Darling Papers [MsC0170], Special Collections and Archives.

Curated by Sackner Archive Project Archivist (previously Exhibit Support Librarian) Collin Vandewalle and Lead Public Services Librarian Lindsay Moen, both from Special Collections and Archives at the UI Libraries, the exhibition focuses on Iowa cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling’s work in wildlife and environmental conservation.

Darling, who grew up in Sioux City and lived in Des Moines for several decades, was one of the nation’s most influential figures in the American conservation movement. As Iowa’s natural landscape changed over the course of his lifetime, leading to the loss of many native prairies, wetlands, and wildlife species in the state, Darling became a devoted advocate for wildlife and the environment. The Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist for The Des Moines Register used his national renown and platform to spread the word about conservation to newspaper readers all over the country. He often gave public presentations about conservation needs, worked on local and national policy initiatives, and donated funds to conservation activities and organizations across the United States.

Duck stamp featuring artwork of a mallard pair landing in a pond. — First-ever Federal Duck Stamp featuring a brush and ink drawing by Jay N. “Ding” Darling of a mallard pair, 1934–1935. Jay N. “Ding” Darling Papers [MsC0170], Special Collections and Archives.

Darling also served as the chief of the U.S. Biological Survey (now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He spent a year in Washington, D.C., doing this work and, with his staff, initiated the establishment of several national wildlife refuges and crafted the Federal Duck Stamp program—which is still in use today—to raise funds for habitat conservation.

Shirley Briggs stands outdoors in a jacket holding a clipboard. — Shirley Briggs conducting a bird census at Glover Archbold Park in Washington, D.C., undated. Shirley A. Briggs Papers [IWA0197], Iowa Women’s Archives.

The exhibition primarily features materials from the Jay N. “Ding” Darling Papers in Special Collections and Archives such as personal correspondence, photographs, sketches and finished cartoons, first edition books, original duck stamps, watercolors, and more. Books and ephemera from the Shirley A. Briggs Papers and the 100 Grannies Records at the Iowa Women’s Archives tell stories of other individuals in conservation who have made an impact on both national and local levels with their efforts. Duck and egg specimens from the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, an original copper printing plate from the Brunnier Art Museum at Iowa State University, artworks from IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering, and found natural objects from Bur Oak Land Trust are also on display.

“I think it is important to tell the stories of prominent Iowans like Ding Darling and highlight the fantastic history this state has had when it comes to conservation causes,” says Vandewalle. “It is so meaningful to connect modern day Iowans to our scientific roots and reflect on how we can continue this kind of work in our state.”

“This exhibit not only tells the story of Ding Darling and his advocacy work, but it also introduces the visitor to some incredible women, local community groups, and campus collaborations,” says Moen. “We feature Rachel Carson, Shirley Briggs, and their work in environmental education and advocacy. We highlight a local community group, 100Grannies, to show that anyone can continue to make a difference where they are. We also showcase UI student and faculty-led projects like BlueGAP and the Meandering River Project.”

Learn more about the exhibition, related events, and visiting hours at lib.uiowa.edu/gallery.

Stepping back in time: archival audio meets creativity in the Main Library Gallery

Exhibits always present opportunities for innovation.

When co-curators Katie Buehner and Sarah Sudadolnik were envisioning the visitor experience for Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon, an audio interactive was at the heart of it. They wanted guests of their spring 2026 University of Iowa Main Library Gallery exhibition to encounter an immersive space that could feel like James Dixon’s home office: a wallpaper pattern inspired by real designs from his home in Iowa City; a desk accessorized by music scores, photographs from his life, plants, an ashtray, and a coffee cup; a flannel shirt for orchestra rehearsals; and a record player with audio clips of his voice and performances he conducted.

José Jiménez, director of Libraries Information Technology (LIT), knew this record player would require special engineering and was invited to lead its design. After hearing Buehner and Suhadolnik’s idea for an interactive, he was reminded of a project he had seen online involving a mini jukebox that used an RFID (radio frequency identification) reader and tags. He decided to experiment with this idea for the exhibition.

The goal was to embed an RFID reader into a record player, attach pre-programmed RFID tags to real records, and encourage visitors to spin the records on the turntable. This would trigger audio to play through speakers that were connected to a computer hidden near the device.

“I’ve always been a tinkerer, and I’ve always liked solving problems,” says Jiménez, who has worked in information technology at Iowa for over 20 years. “In my day-to-day role, problem-solving usually involves a meeting or a conversation and connecting people to each other. Working on this project for the Main Library Gallery let me go back to my roots a bit, find as simple and efficient a solution to the problem as I could, and let me write a bit of code to boot.”

Jose Jimenez takes a record out of a sleeve. He is standing next to a turntable, a disconnected speaker, and a desk as he works to assemble a special audio interactive. — *José Jiménez, director of Libraries Information Technology, assembles a custom-built audio interactive for the spring 2026 exhibition in the Main Library Gallery. Photo: Sara Pinkham.*

Jiménez originally considered 3D printing the interactive display, which would have been designed to mimic a real record player. After some additional research, he realized the most cost-effective option would be to purchase and retrofit broken technology instead. After incorporating the RFID reader into the existing structure of the record player, Jiménez encountered a challenge.

“The reader could not find the tags,” he says. “There was too much metal in the way. We had to disassemble the record player, cut away some of the metal, and recreate the platter using other materials so the signals would not be blocked.”

Bill Voss, exhibit preparator and a conservator technician in Conservation and Collections Care, helped solve this issue by recreating the entire platter out of plexiglass and matboard. “Without this, the project would not have worked,” says Jiménez.

Collaboration with other colleagues ensured the interactive worked sustainably and matched the exhibit’s design aesthetic.

Will Brown, LIT support consultant, made the project sustainable for the exhibit’s five-month run.

“He provided the platform and the hardware,” says Jiménez. “Will made sure I had all the information and infrastructure I needed to make this a truly hands-off, robust system to power the interactive. I just added the software on top of that to play the audio when the RFID tags were recognized.”

The RFID tags were attached to real records and hidden beneath custom labels crafted by Lauren Coghlan, creative coordinator and graphic designer for the exhibit. Labels for each record were different and all inspired by retro design trends.

A custom label for Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 "Tragic" is shown on a repurposed record. — *Custom labels were designed by Lauren Coghlan. Photo: Sara Pinkham.*

“Being able to pick up a record from the rack, place it on the record player, and listen—as James Dixon might have—to the performance or radio interview in the audio allowed visitors to step back in time and be in the moment,” says Jiménez.

The audio interactive was one of the highlights of the exhibition, connecting visitors with archival audio and new oral history interviews related to James Dixon’s life and career. These sound clips, edited by Buehner, will remain available online.

Katie Buehner leans over the record player interactive and shows a visitor how to play the audio. — Katie Buehner, exhibit co-curator and director of the Rita Benton Music Library, shows a visitor how to use the record player interactive in the spring 2026 Main Library Gallery exhibition. Photo: Krista Hershberger.

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Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon was on display in the Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries from Jan. 2 –June 26, 2026. The exhibition was curated by Sarah Suhadolnik, assistant professor of instruction at the UI School of Music, and Katie Buehner, director of the Rita Benton Music Library.

Mahler’s influence on James Dixon

Black and white portrait of Gustav Mahler in the 1800s. He is posing for the camera in a suit and tie.

The following was compiled by Cecil Campbell, exhibition and engagement student lead for the Main Library Gallery, and features select exhibition text by Sarah Suhadolnik and Katie Buehner.

During his considerable tenure as conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, James Dixon developed a reputation for programming modern compositions, which occasionally ruffled the feathers of his more traditional-minded audience members. Though he faced some objections, Dixon’s love for the music he conducted ultimately led to a wider appreciation in his audiences for newer or more avant-garde compositions. Amidst the repertory Dixon conducted, the works of Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) figure prominently.

Gustav Mahler was born in Bohemia but spent a great deal of his professional life as a composer and conductor in Vienna. His last few years were spent as the music director of the New York Philharmonic (1909–1911), the longest consistently operating orchestra in the United States. No composer of orchestral music exploited the orchestra’s grandness like Mahler. He composed sprawling symphonic works of such breadth that just one can fill an entire concert program. His nine mammoth symphonies require enormous performing forces (up to 500 musicians for the Eighth Symphony) and often stretch over an hour in length (up to 100 minutes for the Third Symphony), making attempts to keep the composer’s music in the public ear a major event. Fearing such a limited program would result in low ticket sales, the Tri-City (now Quad City) Symphony Orchestra avoided programming a Mahler symphony until 1979, when Dixon conducted Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with Martha Sheil (soprano) and Anne Larson (mezzo-soprano) and choirs from Augustana College joining for the performance. The symphony—nearly an hour and a half long—elicited an awed and intense reaction from the crowd.

In response to James Dixon’s conducting of Mahler’s second symphony, The Sunday Dispatch headline read, “Symphony concert of the decade,” with reviewer Bill McElwain in ecstasy over the “powerfully stunning performance of the Mahler Symphony no. 2.”

Mahler once told another composer, “The symphony must be like the world, it must embrace everything.” His symphonic world included a wide array of musical styles and types, including sound effects evoking natural settings (e.g., birdsong, cowbells, bellowing horns), military marches, folk songs, chorales, funeral dirges, children’s music, and playful musical jokes. To conduct Mahler is to explore, with a complex and wide-ranging sound map, the many places in life where sound and music play a role.

For his last performances with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra—April 9 and 10, 1994, at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa, and Centennial Hall in Rock Island, Illinois—James Dixon selected Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler.

A composer with an incredible legacy and impact, the influence that Mahler had on Dixon comes as no surprise. The choice to perform one of Mahler’s symphonies for his last performance speaks to an open mind and considerable talent.

Learn more about James Dixon and his accomplishments both locally and abroad in the spring 2026 Main Library Gallery exhibit Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon.

James Dixon’s lasting impact on the Quad City Symphony Orchestra

Black and white photo of conductor James Dixon in formal tails. He is smiling and seated.

In 1916, the Tri-Cities area—Rock Island, Illinois; Moline, Illinois; and Davenport, Iowa—was the smallest community in the country to support a full symphony orchestra. Now the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO), it is one of the oldest continuously operating orchestras in the United States.

In 1965, 37-year-old James Dixon was hired as the music director, appointing him steward of this legacy and the most recent director in a line of (at the time) seven before him. Although Dixon’s programming choices initially tested the tastes of audiences and administrators alike, he quickly garnered a reputation for steady leadership.

While learning to work with professional musicians, Dixon also grew into his role in the organization’s ongoing efforts to secure subscribers—members of the community who provide essential annual support. The care and discipline Dixon brought to his work transformed him into a local celebrity. While that may seem like high praise, Dixon’s celebrity status could be seen in more than just reputation. For example, at the time Dixon joined the QCSO as conductor, the organization had a modest budget. By the time he retired in 1994, budgets were significantly larger owing to his fundraising efforts.

Dixon’s—and the QCSO’s—long-term investment in local community has paid large dividends. When one considers not only how important the orchestra is—and was—to its audiences, but to the musicians themselves, it makes his level of commitment stand out all the more. As one of the Quad Cities’ oldest community groups, it makes sense that the QCSO has played a significant role not just in the lives of area residents, but in many of its members’ lives as well.

In a now-archived blog post from the Davenport Public Library’s website, special collections librarian Sarah J. Wesson wrote, “The Symphony has remained a cohesive group, weathering storms and uncertainties together. Though none of the original [early] musicians remain, of course, many of the current members have been with the orchestra for a remarkable length of time.”

After 29 years with the QCSO, James Dixon left an impression as significant as his orchestra. Former QCSO executive director Lance Willett said, “I think it’s something that rarely, if ever, will be seen again in most communities. That kind of dedication and connection to a community…is the sort of relationship that exists very, very, rarely.”

Learn more about James Dixon and his local impact in the spring 2026 Main Library Gallery exhibit, Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon, which closes June 26.

Curator Q&A with Katie Buehner

Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon, the spring 2026 exhibition in the University of Iowa Main Library Gallery, provides a glimpse into the life of its namesake through stories and objects from the recently donated James Dixon Papers. From newspaper clippings and photographs to official documents and correspondence, each item on display helps piece together his adventurous international career as an orchestra conductor while celebrating his roles as a longtime director of both the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.

Katie Buehner, director of the Rita Benton Music Library, co-curated the exhibition with Sarah Suhadolnik, assistant professor of instruction at the University of Iowa School of Music. Buehner played an important role in facilitating the donation of the Dixon Papers to the Libraries.

Question: What inspired you to co-curate this exhibition?
Answer: When the Libraries received the donation of James Dixon’s papers, I knew they would make for a great exhibit. It’s a big collection—over 1,200 music scores to start, and we’re still working our way through the papers portion—and so there’s been a great deal of content from which to tell this story. When I met with the donors Carey Bostian and Miera Kim, one of our stated aims was to get the collection into the public eye so that they could use it for research and to spur their own creativity. An exhibit is a great way to start that process.

Q: What drew you into the story of James Dixon (1928–2007)?
A: I think listening to the stories from people who played under Dixon’s baton really drew me into wanting to know more about him and his philosophy of music-making. There’s great admiration for him as a skilled conductor and musician, even if he could be gruff and demanding. I also was so impressed by his mentor, Dimitri Mitropoulos, who despite being a world-class conductor lived such a humble, simple existence. One thing I feel I share with Dixon is the statement he made at his retirement party: he learned to love teaching, and that’s where he really felt he’d left something enduring behind.

Q: What has curating this exhibit meant to you as both a librarian and musician?
A: I haven’t seen many exhibits about music, especially centered on classical music stories, and that’s a world I’ve inhabited for decades now. It’s very easy to say that classical music or orchestras are passe and not accessible to the average person, but I think this exhibit tells a different story. It shows how orchestras can and are community-rich organizations that connect people with all kinds of music and experiences.

Q: How did the Dixon Papers come to Iowa?
A: I moved to Iowa in 2014 to become the music librarian, and a colleague at the Libraries—Christine Bellomy—introduced me to local musicians Carey Bostian and Miera Kim. Carey waited about two seconds before telling me all about Dixon’s score collection and other papers he had stored in every hidey-hole in their house, and it’s possible that my jaw hit the floor when I saw what they had. It would be another five years before we started moving the collection to the Rita Benton Music Library and another couple before the donation was completed. I’ve been humbled by the trust of Carey and Miera in the Libraries to steward this collection, and I’m also so glad to call them friends.

We’ve been able to process most (so close to all) of the collection, partially due to financial support from Carey and Miera, and I’m hopeful we’ll be announcing a completed finding aid soon.

Miera Kim, Carey Bostian, Sarah Suhadolnik, and Katie Buehner pose together behind a table displaying scrapbooks and a conducting baton. — Miera Kim, Carey Bostian, Sarah Suhadolnik, and Katie Buehner with materials from the James Dixon Papers.

Q: Why is it important to have this exhibit in the Main Library Gallery?
A: The Main Library Gallery opened not long after I was hired at Iowa, and it’s a fabulous space for exhibits. I’ve seen the gallery mature during the last decade, and the exhibits staff have found so many clever ways to present content. I’m constantly impressed. The space allowed us to tell a story of a particular size that suited the collection and narrative well. The Main Library is also open more hours than the Rita Benton Music Library, so there’s time for people to experience it.

Q: What are some of the most surprising things you learned during your research for this project?
A: Dixon’s time in the U.S. Army is such an interesting corner of his history, and the history of the United States in post-World War II Europe. There’s a book about the Seventh Army Symphony, Uncle Sam’s Orchestra, for anyone who is equally fascinated by the topic.

The International Society for Contemporary Music festival in Boston was also a bright spot in researching Dixon’s time at Iowa. We found a reel from the event that had an interview with Dixon, and then the performances by the orchestra. As I listen to these recordings, I cannot believe it’s a college orchestra performing such complicated music. University of Iowa alumnus Greg Eriksen, who played in that concert, drove to Iowa City this spring to see the exhibit and let us scan a really cool poster from that event, which you can see here. Iowa was one of only two college orchestras to perform at that event, with the New England Conservatory orchestra being the other. ISCM has only been held in the United States that one time in 1976. And Iowa was there.

A red poster that says The Major International Contemporary Music festival. ISCM World Music Days. October 24 through 30, 1976. New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. — *Poster from ISCM/World Music Days, 1976. Contributed by Greg Eriksen.*

Q: What is your favorite object in the exhibit?
A: While I’m a sucker for telegrams, and I really like the one we have in the exhibit, I’m going to say the letter Dixon wrote to Maxon P. Roller. Roller was a symphony patron who wrote to Dixon lamenting the programming of contemporary works. Dixon responded with grace and a clear statement of his approach to programming and the importance of playing new music. He’s not snide or judgmental—he’s thoughtful but unapologetic. It’s a handwritten, muti-page letter, and I find it exemplary that he would take the time to respond so thoughtfully to this one audience member.

Q: What do you hope visitors will take away from their time in Orchestrating Community?
A: I hope visitors take away new ideas about orchestras and how they inhabit their own communities. But I also like when exhibits lead people to ask questions of themselves and others, so I hope some of that happens, too.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?
A: I’m so glad I worked with a co-curator on this exhibit. Sarah Suhadolnik created the community frame for the narrative, and it beautifully anchors Dixon’s story and the story of his many orchestras. Exhibit work is highly collaborative, and I am grateful to every person who contributed to this project. Take a look at the credits and see how many cooks were in the kitchen as well as all the people who supported this endeavor. And, come back to the Main Library Gallery this fall for the Ding Darling exhibit, which, from what I’m hearing, sounds like it will be amazing.

Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon will be on display through June 26, 2026. The Main Library Gallery is open daily. Plus, hear audio clips from Dixon’s conducting career online.

Curator Q&A with Sarah Suhadolnik

Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon, the spring 2026 exhibition in the Main Library Gallery, provides a glimpse into the life of its namesake through stories and objects from the recently donated James Dixon Papers. From newspaper clippings and photographs to official documents and correspondence, each item on display helps piece together his adventurous international career as an orchestra conductor while celebrating his roles as a longtime director of both the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.

Sarah Suhadolnik, assistant professor of instruction at the University of Iowa School of Music, co-curated the exhibition with Katie Buehner, director of the Rita Benton Music Library. The broader Dixon collection, now part of the University Archives at the UI Libraries, provided a strong foundation for Suhadolnik’s exhibition research.

Question: What inspired you to co-curate this exhibition?
Answer: I always listen with great interest to Katie’s tales of how the library collects the rare items it accumulates. Discussions of the work involved in acquiring the Dixon materials pushed me to develop my graduate seminar “Histories of U.S. Orchestras.” When it came time to put the exhibit together, Katie thought my work on the course would prove useful in developing the narrative for the exhibit. It did.

Q: What drew you into the story of James Dixon (1928–2007)?
A: Accessibility of, and advocacy for, public arts experiences are essential talking points in orchestral music right now. The Maestro gives us a lot to reflect on when thinking about both.

Dixon hints in some of his public remarks at frustration with the notion that an artist interested in a sustainable performance career must invest a certain amount of energy in what we today call their “personal brand.” Even though he had a New York Philharmonic conductor on proverbial speed dial, Dixon’s aversion to “selling himself,” cultivating the type of public following we now measure with social media accounts and the like, limited both the number and prestige of performance positions available to him. At the same time, orchestras were not an abstract public good to him. He operated at all times with a tangible vision of what his ensembles contributed to their respective communities and could speak very clearly and effectively about that.

Q: What has curating this exhibit meant to you as both a scholar and musician?
A: At its most personal to me, the exhibit is an ode to what I fear can get lost in conservatory-style music education. Long hours alone in a practice room can make it hard to feel enmeshed in a larger musical ecosystem. The rigors of this type of musical training can undermine a performer’s relationship with prospective listeners, and/or make attending a live performance as part of an audience into a chore.

Q: How did you approach your research in the archives?
A: Throughout, I have organized my research for the exhibit around two core objectives: firstly, to introduce the broader public to the breadth of what is available in Dixon’s collected papers; and secondly, to trace the depth of Dixon’s roots in the local community. This often meant working in multiple directions simultaneously.

To be able to accomplish the first objective, I had to understand what was in the collection, and the only way to do that was to explore what I could while it was being processed. Work towards the second objective looked a lot like storyboarding. As I got to know the collection a bit better, I collected what fragments I could of the stories waiting to be told with the materials. I built up a holistic view of Dixion’s life and work as it relates to the lesser-known history of regional orchestras.

Q: Why is it important to have this exhibit in the Main Library Gallery?
A: If the exhibit were not in the gallery, I wouldn’t have had the chance to collaborate with the amazing team that works there. I have learned more from Sara, Lauren, and the rest about public-facing scholarly work than I have from any number of papers, conference presentations, and seminars on the topic.

Q: What are some of the most surprising things you learned during your research for this project?
A: I learned a lot about what a tragedy it is to lose local news. Papers in small communities like Guthrie Center had so many subtle yet significant ways of maintaining strong bonds among close-knit residents. For instance, a lot of the local newspaper announcements I found for concerts on the University of Iowa campus included the names of students who had grown up in the place of publication.

Q: What is your favorite object in the exhibit?
A: “The Conductor’s Study,” which is more of a built environment than a singular object. It’s this element that allowed me to fully experience what the medium of exhibitions can accomplish that scholarly publication cannot.

Q: What do you hope visitors will take away from their time in Orchestrating Community?
A: I expect the pictures of Dixon’s return to Guthrie Center with the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra to personally resonate with a lot of visitors. If they weren’t a member of an ensemble performing in a gymnasium like the one pictured, or a guest at the type of school reception pictured, they likely know someone who was. I hope visitors take a moment as they enjoy all the exhibit has to offer to think about all the people and places they are connected to because of such community music experiences.

Iowa conductor James Dixon honored in new Main Library Gallery exhibition

The Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries welcomes visitors to go “behind the podium” in its new exhibition about local orchestra conductor James Dixon (1928–2007). Free and open to the public, Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon opened on Jan. 20 and will be on display through June 26, 2026.

Dixon was an Iowa native, and a longtime director of the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Curated by Assistant Professor of Instruction Sarah Suhadolnik from the UI School of Music and Rita Benton Music Library Director Katie Buehner, this exhibition explores Dixon’s adventurous international conducting career as well as his important impact on orchestras and musicians at home in Iowa.

The exhibition includes personal correspondences, photographs, artifacts, music scores, audio clips, and much more from the UI Libraries Special Collections and Archives and the Rita Benton Music Library that help tell the story of Dixon’s life and work. These materials and the stories shared by the curators also celebrate the ways in which orchestras of all sizes connect with their local communities.

“This is a story about Iowa and Iowans,” says co-curator Katie Buehner. “While many of the characters in the exhibit travel a great deal to other locations, their roots stay firmly in this community. This is also a story about music and how it brings people together.”

“Dixon operated at all times with a tangible vision of what his ensembles contributed to their respective communities,” says co-curator Sarah Suhadolnik. “I hope visitors will leave the exhibit with a better appreciation for the arts of all sorts as fundamentally collaborative undertakings.”

Photo of a long exhibit case filled with paper ephemera like letters, photos, newspaper clippings, and concert programs. — From the Orchestrating Community: The Public Service of Iowa Conductor James Dixon exhibition in the Main Library Gallery. Photo: Krista Hershberger.

The James Dixon Papers were recently donated to the UI Libraries by Carey Bostian and Miera Kim, close friends of Dixon. They are also leaders of and core musicians in local nonprofit organization Red Cedar Chamber Music.

Learn more about the exhibition, related events, and visiting hours at lib.uiowa.edu/gallery.

Curator Q&A with Giselle Simón

Paper Engineering in Art, Science, and Education, the fall 2025 exhibition in the Main Library Gallery, features an array of unique items from University of Iowa Libraries collections that share the history of paper technologies and movable books. Giselle Simón, university conservator and director of Conservation and Collections Care at the Libraries, co-curated the exhibition with Damien Ihrig and Elizabeth Yale. Her expertise in paper conservation and experience as an artist both contributed to her vision for the exhibition.

In the following questions and answers, Giselle shares her thoughts on curating for the Main Library Gallery and some of her favorite discoveries.

Giselle sits at a table and carefully opens a historic psalter book. — University Conservator and Director of Conservation and Collections Care Giselle Simón. Photo: Sara Pinkham.

Question: What inspired you to co-curate this exhibition?
Answer: My initial interest in researching materials for a paper engineering exhibit was quite simple: I thought these things were cool! This one-sided view led me to realize I needed some expertise and thoughtful perspectives. Co-curators Beth Yale, associate professor of history and at the University of Iowa Center for the Book, and Damien Ihrig, curator of the John Martin Rare Book Room, brought this in spades.

Q: As a conservator, what does this exhibit mean to you personally?
A: As a book conservator and sometimes visual artist, I’ve always been in love with paper. So much so I’ve recently learned how to make it. It’s a constant in my work, whether through conservation treatment or my own art investigations. As with any craft, there are layers of history, science, and skill. The technical aspects of understanding paper—down to the actual forming of sheets—reinforce and inform my conservation treatment decisions. Beauty, strength, translucency, and flexibility are all qualities I look for in both conservation and art making.

Giselle stands in the library's gallery and places boxes onto a cart. — Giselle Simón prepares a cart of collections materials in the Main Library Gallery during installation for *Paper Engineering in Art, Science, and Education*. Photo: Sara Pinkham

Q: What do you like about having this exhibit in the Main Library Gallery on campus?
A: The initial inspiration for this exhibition was the anatomical and medical flap books in the John Martin Rare Book Room (JMRBR) at Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. This treasure trove of unique and fantastic printed materials immediately caught my attention when I first arrived at the UI Libraries in 2012. I was also on the team that helped design and open the Main Library Gallery in 2016. So it’s terrific to see a project featuring the JMRBR’s flap books materialize in this space. It’s the exhibit I envisioned in my own mind when we were brainstorming about the future of our library exhibitions.

Q: What are some of the most surprising things you learned during your research for the exhibit?
A: One of the surprising things to me was the fact that the different objects we were interested in made sense together, and that there was ease in choosing. Thanks to Damien and his knowledge of the collection of the JMRBR’s medical flap books—which I feel are at the core of the show—everything came together easily. It seems like the content and connections we found grew from those selections.

Q: What are some of your favorite objects in the exhibit?
A: There are so many favorites. I’d like to point out Shawn Sheehy’s A Pop-Up Culinary Herbal [N7433.4.S5355 P82 2013] from the Szathmary Collection in Special Collections and Archives. His expertise can be seen in this delightful romp through the garden. The genius is in the paper engineering and the subtle and simple movements that identify each plant. The paper comes alive. We were fortunate to partner with the University of Iowa Center for the Book (UICB) this fall to bring Shawn to campus as the Nadia Sophie Seiler Visiting Artist in November 2025. Shawn presented a public lecture, conducted demonstrations for students, and worked on his own project in the UICB studios.

Q: Is there anything especially unique about the juxtapositions you have made?
A: The historical examples of the medical flap books in the exhibit gave way to the inclusion of 19th- and 20th-century mass printed “toy” movable books, so certainly there was a lot of content to explore across many time periods. Being a historian, Beth had a knack for pairing seemingly unrelated objects. She found the visual connections from one century to the next, even if the intention of the objects were very different. To place a modern photographic pop up next to a 1688 flap book never would have occurred to me! What a pleasure to have that perspective in this exhibit.

Q: What do you hope visitors will take away from their time in the exhibit?
A: Beth, Damien, and I are grateful to the many modern book and paper artists represented in the exhibition, and especially those who have shared their thoughts about process and inspiration. I hope this illuminates the fact that many contemporary artists are utilizing paper engineering in their work and that it has a rich history of artists and craftspeople figuring out inventive ways to express ideas through paper. Indeed, there are many more works of paper to explore in the UI Libraries collections and beyond.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?
A: We were all very much inspired by the work of Suzanne Karr Schmidt, curator of rare books and manuscripts at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Suzanne has done extensive research into Renaissance movable book elements, such as volvelles and other early paper mechanisms. She supported our research and had some wonderful insights for us when she visited our Remmelin flap book on campus in 2024. Suzanne invited us to present virtually at a Movable Book Society meeting last year, and the reactions from the group were reassuring: there were others out in the world excited about flaps and movable paper parts!

Paper Engineering in Art, Science, and Education invites visitors to explore paper dolls, flap books, pop-ups, tunnel books, volvelles, and books that use paper to make sounds while learning about their historical and contemporary significance. It is open to the public through Dec. 19, 2025.

Students investigate: eye-catching color in early children’s books

This series features the work and research of UI students. The following was written by Cecil Campbell, exhibition and engagement student lead for the Main Library Gallery.

There are a number of hallmarks that we look for when identifying children’s media: big pictures, bold and eye-catching colors, large fonts. Children’s books especially are known for these traits, and have been since the 19th century, when they first became their own market and genre. Much like kid’s television shows today, stories often included a moral, or lesson, that extolled virtues like selflessness, patience, and kindness.

Orbis Pictus by Johannes Amos Comenius was published in 1658. As one of the first instructional picture books for children, Comenius’s approach leaned heavily on visual learning and the use of instructional pictures and drawings. The goal was to teach learning comprehension through association: pairing words with images by placing them next to each other, until reading the given word independently recalled the corresponding image. Scholar Andrea Korda, in their journal article “Thinking with Pictures: Memory, Imagination, and Colour Illustration in Victorian Teaching and Learning,” writes that pictures were essential to Comenius’s methods not only because of their familiarity as iconic representations, but also because, according to Comenius, “children (even from their infancy almost) are delighted with pictures.”

An important and equally iconic aspect of early children’s books was the chromolithograph. The process of the chromolithograph involved drawing a picture using an oil or grease-based ink and transferring that image to stone or metal plates and then printing over that image multiple times using differently colored versions of the same image. When put together fully, the colors of the different layers would produce a fully colored and detailed image that evoked the feeling of an oil painting, but at a fraction of the cost. Depending on how much detail a chromolithographer wanted in their picture, they might use anywhere from as little as eight plates to as many as forty to complete an image. Though used many times in children’s books, the chromolithograph was also used in collectible trading cards, Christmas cards, and calendars.

Children’s books such as A Party of Six: A Movable Toybook by notable 19^th-century author and bookmaker Lothar Meggendorfer also boasted interactive elements. These took the shape of flaps, pull tabs, and pop-up pictures that gave the book a feeling as though it were alive, as though it were a small puppet theatre instead of a book. These types of books enchanted children. Due to the significant amount of effort and detail they took to produce, these books typically were affordable only to richer and more affluent families.

As both time and the children’s book industry progressed, chromolithography fell out of style, making way for modern machine color printing, which made color printing both cheaper and easier. Because of this, brightly colored children’s books, trading cards, calendars, and the like became much cheaper and accessible to people outside of the upper classes.

A Party of Six is on display in the Main Library Gallery’s Paper Engineering in Art, Science, and Education exhibition, which showcases the fascinating world of paper technologies. Curated by Giselle Simón, Damien Ihrig, and Elizabeth Yale, this interactive exhibition invites visitors to explore paper dolls, flap books, pop-ups, tunnel books, volvelles, and books that use paper to make sounds while learning about their historical and contemporary significance. It is open to the public through Dec. 19, 2025.

Further reading:

Korda, Andrea. 2020. “Thinking with Pictures: Memory, Imagination, and Colour Illustration in Victorian Teaching and Learning.” Paedagogica Historica 56 (3): 269–92. doi:10.1080/00309230.2018.1550520.

Visit the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and Archives to view editions of Orbis Pictus and other historic children’s books.