By Timothy Shipe
Curator, International Dada Archive
Co-Curator, Sackner Archive exhibition
Mary Ellen Solt is the only poet in the Sackner Archive exhibition who is also part of the UI Libraries’ Iowa Authors Collection. Born in 1920 in Gilmore City, Iowa, Mary Ellen Bottom graduated from Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI) in 1941. She married Leo F. Solt in 1945 and received her M.A. in English Literature from the University of Iowa in 1948. In 1955 the couple took up teaching positions at Indiana University: Leo in History, Mary Ellen in Comparative Literature.
Mary Ellen Solt. A Trilogy of Rain. Urbana: Finial Press, 1970. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.
In the 1960s Mary Ellen Solt began writing concrete poetry, and came into contact with most of the early figures in the worldwide movement. She is best known for her series of flower poems, which have frequently been included in anthologies, and for Concrete Poetry: A World View, which she edited with Willa Barnstone, and which (with Emmett Williams’s Anthology of Concrete Poetry) is considered one of the two defining anthologies of the movement.
Mary Ellen Solt. Concrete Poetry: A World View. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.
During the era of the Vietnam War, Solt created a series of anti-war graphics that drew on the principles of concrete poetry. She was also known for her scholarly study of William Carlos Williams.
Mary Ellen Solt. Vietnam. Circa 1970s. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.Mary Ellen Solt. Change. Circa 1970s. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.
After spending a year teaching at the University of Warsaw, she became director of Indiana’s Polish Studies Center. Solt died in 2007.
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Sackner Archive will be on display in the Main Library Gallery through mid-December 2020. The Main Library Gallery is available to visit by appointment. To learn more about the exhibition and see online resources, including videos and a small virtual exhibit, please visit the Main Library Gallery page for Sackner Archive.
By Timothy Shipe
Curator, International Dada Archive
Co-Curator, Sackner Archive exhibition
In former Czechoslovakia, concrete poets were at the heart of dissident movements seeking to reform or overthrow the Communist regime. Two of these poets are included in the Czech section of our exhibition.
Foreground: Jiří Kolář. Evidentní Básně. Prague, 1966. Background: Václav Havel. Vernisáž. Prague, 1975. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.
Jiří Kolář was a poet and visual artist best known for his work with collage techniques. (Coincidentally, his surname is pronounced “collage.”) After joining the Communists at the end of World War II, he soon left the Party, and his work was frequently banned. While he became more publicly active during the Prague Spring, his work was again prohibited following the 1968 Soviet invasion. After signing Charter 77, a manifesto calling upon the Communist government to guarantee basic human rights, Kolář was forced into exile. Kolář’s collages frequently incorporate written or printed text. Like many of the artists featured in our exhibition, it may be difficult to draw a line between his literary and his artistic work.
Left: Václav Havel. Vernisáž. Prague, 1975. Right: Jiří Kolář. Evidentní Básně. Prague, 1966. Upper right: Jiří Kolář. Improvisation Offset. Paris: Revue K, 1991. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.
As with Kolář, I first encountered Václav Havel’s name in Emmett Williams’s Anthology of Concrete Poetry. A generation younger than Kolář, Havel became a leading dissident playwright whose works were also banned. He was a signer of Charter 77 and was frequently imprisoned. As founder of the Civic Forum Party that spearheaded the 1989 Velvet Revolution, Havel became the first (and only) president of post-Communist Czechoslovakia, and later, of the independent Czech Republic. Now if you fly to Prague, you will arrive at Václav Havel Airport! Our exhibition includes examples of Havel’s concrete poetry as well as a rare samizdat (illegally self-published) edition of one of his banned plays.
Václav Havel. Antikódy. Prague: Odeon, 1993. Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.
Timothy Shipe, curator of the International Dada Archive and co-curator of the Sackner Archive exhibition in the Main Library Gallery, has some stories to share about poet artist Kurt Schwitters and his Merz publications in this new video.
Merz no. 2 appears in the Fall 2020 Main Library Gallery exhibition.
Objects on display in Sackner Archive are from the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, The University of Iowa Libraries.
The Sackner Archive exhibition was curated by Timothy Shipe, Peter Balestrieri, and Margaret Gamm and will be on display through December 11, 2020.
To learn a bit more about Kurt Schwitters and about Merz as an art style, check out these websites:
The Art Story – Kurt Schwitters and his work
Tate Modern, London – Merz and Dada as art terms
Smithsonian Magazine – A Brief History of Dada
Learn more about the International Dada Archive here: dada.lib.uiowa.edu
More information about this exhibition, the Main Library Gallery, and how to schedule a visit: lib.uiowa.edu/gallery
On display in the Main Library Gallery: Guillermo de Torre. Hélices. Madrid: Mundo Latino, 1923 (foreground). John Furnival. The Fall of the Tower of Babel. 1995 (background). Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Special Collections, The University of Iowa Libraries.
The Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries recently opened Sackner Archive, an exhibition featuring select pieces from the world-renowned Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry.
Founded by Ruth and Marvin Sackner in 1979 in Miami Beach, Florida, the Archive has always combined the couple’s great appreciation for art and words with their love of collecting unique works. Comprised of more than 75,000 pieces, the Sackner Archive holds the largest collection of concrete and visual poetry in the world. Many of the most significant poet-artists from the past hundred years are celebrated through the collection. After decades curating, cataloging, and caring for the rare and remarkable objects in the Archive with Ruth, Marvin Sackner sought a permanent home for their collection.
In 2019, the University of Iowa Libraries was pleased to announce that Special Collections had been chosen to care for the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. This ensures that Ruth and Marvin Sackner’s impressive collection will be available for students, faculty and staff, and the public – both local and worldwide – to research and enjoy for years to come.
From artists’ books to reference works to large-scale pieces of visual poetry, the Sackner Archive offers so many wonderful resources for everyone. While items from the Sackner Archive are available to view in the Special Collections Reading Room now and into the future, a few highlights from the collection are currently on display as part of theMain Library Gallery’s Fall 2020 exhibition. Sackner Archive is on display through December 11, 2020.
The exhibition has been curated by a team from Special Collections at the University of Iowa Libraries: Timothy Shipe, Curator, International Dada Archive; Peter Balestrieri, Curator, Science Fiction & Popular Culture; and Margaret Gamm, Head, Special Collections & University Archives. Support for Sackner Archive has been provided by Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries.
On display in the Main Library Gallery: Jiří Kolář. Improvisation Offset. Paris: Revue K, 1991. Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry, Special Collections, The University of Iowa Libraries.
Important Note: Visits to the Main Library Gallery are by appointment onlyat this time due to COVID-19. Guests are encouraged to visit the Main Library Gallery website for additional information about the exhibition and about planning a visit. The Main Library Gallery is open to the public, and admission is free. (Appointments are available Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 4:00pm, and must be booked in advance. All are welcome, including classes, individuals, and small groups.)
Find more information about Sackner Archive in the Main Library Gallery via the Gallery’s website and by exploring the LibGuide created for this exhibition, which includes many helpful resources.
To make an appointment to visit the Main Library Gallery, please contact Sara Pinkham.
From The Pull of Horses on National and Local Histories and Identities in the Main Library Gallery. Photo by Barry Phipps.
While The Pull of Horses on National and Local Histories and Identities, curated by Dr. Kim Marra and Mark Anderson, is no longer on display in the Main Library Gallery, a virtual celebration of the Spring 2020 exhibition is available online!
Learn more about the exhibit here, and find a link to explore the online content and photos of the exhibit while it was in the Main Library Gallery. The original documentary upon which the exhibition was based is also available to view for free.
Article by Mark Anderson, Digital Scholarship & Collections Librarian, Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio.
In 2016, University of Iowa Professor Kim Marra answered a call that the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio made to University of Iowa faculty to “Get Digital with Your Scholarship”. Kim arrived at the Studio with a portfolio of horse-themed illustrations and an idea for a project to develop an immersive, multimedia, scholarly experience.
The current exhibit and video on display at the UI Main Library Gallery is a product of that idea. Unlike her books on other topics and the numerous articles Kim has written on the subject of people’s relationship with horses, the exhibit combines a rich variety of photographs, documents, sound, video, and equipment to tell the story of horses’ significant impact on the development of two locations: New York City and Iowa City.
The image that started us down the collaboration path. Art Supplement to Appleton’s Journal – The Grand Drive at Central Park. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1869. From the private collection of Dr. Kim Marra.
The Studio’s mission to collaborate with faculty and students on the digital design, implementation, and circulation of their research is a perfect match with Kim’s vision for the Pull of Horses project. A number of Studio staff assisted in project elements such as video editing, digital mapping, and supporting the student sound designer, Wade Hampton, who quickly became an essential partner in the group.
Collaborations of this nature rely on areas outside the boundaries of the Studio. The UI Libraries’ Preservation Department was a huge help in digitizing the early 1900s magazine illustrations that became a major part of the video, (forcing me to learn the procedure for using the “Ken Burns” effect in Adobe Premiere – the editing software used to make the video). Additionally, it is hard to overstate just how fortunate we were to have Professor of Piano Dr. Alan Huckleberry from the School of Music, and his enthusiastic participation. He offered to record several pieces of horse -themed piano music for the video, for which there are no other recordings available. An excerpt of Dr. Huckleberry’s piano performance of “Meadowbrook Foxtrot” is available here.
One of the memories that will stay with me of preparing for the exhibit was that, on an unusually hot day in early fall (very unlike the temperature at the exhibit opening), Kim and I, and Mary Bennett and Hang Nguyen from the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City were inside with the air conditioning and box after archival box, selecting and pulling photographs. We could not have pulled off the exhibit without their assistance and mastery of the collection.
Likewise, without the effort and skill of Bill Voss and Giselle Simón from the UI Libraries Conservation Department; Chris Clark and Will Brown from Library Information Technology; and the dedication, guidance, and hard work of Exhibition Coordinator Sara Pinkham and Exhibit Designer Kalmia Strong, there would be no exhibit. There are even more who lent their time and talents, and I hope they are just as proud of the Pull of Horses exhibit as I am.
The Pull of Horses on National and Local Histories and Identities will be on display in the Main Library Gallery through March 29, 2020. Visit lib.uiowa.edu/gallery for hours, events, and additional details about the exhibition.
Mark Anderson, Dr. Kim Marra, Mary Bennett, and Hang Nguyen at the opening event for the exhibition in January 2020 at the Main Library Gallery.
Along with our ancestors, horses helped build Iowa City, the state, and the nation. In the process, they profoundly shaped human identities. The current Main Library Gallery exhibition, The Pull of Horses on National and Local Histories and Identities, explores the physical and social impact of these huge, powerful animals by screening on a loop the original documentary film The Pull of Horses in Urban American Performance, 1860-1920 at life-sized scale amid displays of local and national equine history. The exhibition contains glimpses of Iowa City town and campus life, as well as national equestrian culture – especially as multitudes of women took up the sport of riding and advocated for suffrage.
Original and reproduction publications, photographs, artifacts, and ephemera from Special Collections, the University Archives, and the Iowa Women’s Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries; the State Historical Society of Iowa; and from private collections share a sampling of stories about life alongside horses from Iowa City’s, and the nation’s, past. The exhibition was curated by Kim Marra, PhD of the University of Iowa Departments of Theatre Arts and American Studies, and Mark Anderson of the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio at the University of Iowa Libraries.
In celebration of this Main Library Gallery exhibit, the University of Iowa Libraries is pleased to answer this intriguing question for the curious person wandering around downtown Iowa City:
Where were downtown Iowa City’s horse-related businesses?
Blacksmith and wood work, Iowa City, Iowa. Southeast corner of Washington Street and Capitol Street. Current site of Old Capitol Town Center. Circa 1890-1900. Frederick W. Kent Collection of Photographs, 1866-2000. University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives. Accessible via UI Libraries’ Iowa Digital Library.
It is important to first understand the demand for these businesses. By 1900, according to the Decennial U.S. Census, the state of Iowa was home to 2,231,853 humans and 1,268,000 equines. In Johnson County, out of 24,753 humans, 9,773 were classified as urban, with most of those humans—7,987—concentrated in Iowa City. Equines numbered 18,493 in the Johnson County, with 1,602 living in urban areas. Given the high concentration of urban human population in Iowa City, most of those 1,602 equines were likely living here as well—around 1,000 would be a fair estimate.
To find out which buildings contained horse-related businesses, the curators turned to Sanborn maps and local business directories. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide helpful insight when researching the history of an area. The Sanborn Map Company published detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns, which allowed fire insurance companies to assess the fire risk of each building. Overall, these maps show the locations and types of businesses by year, along with structural information.
There are 186 stables depicted in downtown Iowa City alone in 1899, according to the entirety of that year’s Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Many of those stables are shown connected to businesses, while others are connected to private homes. Stables are prominently marked with an “X” across the footprint of each building. Most accommodated multiple equines, and the largest, Foster, Thompson, and Shuck Livery (later Foster, Graham, and Schaffer Livery), at 217-221 East Washington Street (current site of The Englert), would have accommodated several dozen. The quantity and placement of all these Iowa City stables give a sense of the extent to which horses were embedded in human life. Other key businesses needed to support working equines are also visible on the map, notably blacksmith shops, harness and saddlery shops, carriage and wagonmakers, feed stores, and veterinary surgeons.
The Main Library Gallery exhibition includes reproductions of the original 1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Iowa City in their entirety, and calls out specific locations that correspond with images found in the archives at the University of Iowa Libraries and the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City.
For those ready to tour downtown Iowa City looking for these historically horsey buildings (or former building sites in many cases), the particular map sections emphasized in this blog post are from the 1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Iowa City. Horse-related businesses are highlighted by virtue of their addresses listed in the 1899 Iowa City business directory. Some locations are approximate due to the changing landscape of downtown Iowa City over the years, but all featured establishments include the names of businesses housed there in 1899 and at the time of this post in 2020.
The Pull of Horses on National and Local Histories and Identities will be on display in the Main Library Gallery through March 29, 2020.
Text describing the maps below is available by request.
Clipping from Sheet 6, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.
Clipping from Sheet 12, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.
Clipping from Sheet 11, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.
Clipping from Sheet 11, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.Clipping from Sheet 13, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.Clipping from Sheet 14, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.Clipping from Sheet 14, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.Clipping from Sheet 14, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. Published June 1899, Sanborn Map Company. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Originals available in the University of Iowa Libraries Maps Collection.
Text: Sara J. Pinkham and Dr. Kim Marra Clippings and cross-referencing: Sara J. Pinkham
Exhibition Support: Friends of the UI Libraries, Arts and Humanities Initiative, Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, UI Theatre Arts Department, UI Department of American Studies
The Main Library Gallery’s current exhibition, Rising Together | Protest in Print, features a few historic examples of protest from Special Collections at the University of Iowa Libraries. Along with these pieces, such as Thomas Paine’s famous 1776 pamphlet entitled Common Sense (x-Collection 973.3 P14c), more contemporary expressions of protest are also present. One of these books was created right here at the University of Iowa. In 2010, members of the Combat Paper Project visited the University of Iowa Center for the Book for a week-long residency. Julia Leonard, co-curator of the exhibition, was there.
“There are a number of works [in the exhibit] that I find to be moving and beautiful examples of how print and artistic expression can address social and political issues,” she said. “They can contribute to affecting change, and also provide a ‘snapshot’ of concerns facing particular moments. A piece of personal significance is Paper Soldiers.” (x-Collection N7433.38.C653 P37)
The Combat Paper Project, founded in 2007, “transforms military uniforms into handmade paper.” Their website states: “We believe in this simple yet enduring premise that the plant fiber in rags can be transformed into paper. A uniform worn through military service carries with it stories and experiences that are deeply imbued in the woven threads. Creating paper and artwork from these fibers carries these same qualities. We have found that all of us are connected to the military in a myriad of ways. When these connections are discovered and shared it can open a deeper understanding between people and expand our collective beliefs about military service and war.”
“With us for a week, Combat Paper veterans, local veterans, and UICB faculty and students made paper from military uniforms belonging to participants, printed poetry, prose and images addressing conflict, and produced a collaborative edition,” said Leonard. “During a time when we as a country were confronting the decisions that took us to war, the project brought people from various places and viewpoints together through the sharing of ideas and making of artwork.” The edition was then bound by the UI Center for the Book and added to Special Collections at the University of Iowa Libraries.
Julia Leonard shared more about the experience of working with the Combat Paper Project in this short video:
Rising Together | Protest in Print is on display in the University of Iowa Libraries’ Main Library Gallery until January 3, 2020. Access to the Gallery is through the Main Library’s North Lobby, and is always free for the campus community and the general public. Visit lib.uiowa.edu/gallery to check open hours.
This exhibition was curated by Julia Leonard, Associate Professor at the University of Iowa Center for the Book and at the School of Library and Information Science; and Kalmia Strong, Creative Coordinator at the University of Iowa Libraries and Program Director at Public Space One, a nonprofit arts organization in Iowa City. Art pieces from Rising Together: An Exhibition of Artists’ Books, Prints and Zines with a Social Conscience, a traveling exhibit from the College Book Art Association, also feature heavily in the Main Library Gallery alongside Special Collections items. Stay tuned for additional behind the scenes videos from the curators!
When Julia Leonard was approached by the College Book Arts Association (CBAA) about hosting their traveling exhibition, Rising Together: An Exhibition of Artists’ Books, Prints and Zines with a Social Conscience, she knew it would be a great fit for the Main Library Gallery and a meaningful way to connect items from the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections to contemporary works. She invited Kalmia Strong to co-curate the exhibition, and together they decided to pair select juried pieces from the CBAA exhibition with carefully chosen works from Special Collections. In addition to Special Collections items, they also chose to include zines from the Public Space One Zine Collection.
The exhibition overall features artist books, prints, zines, sculptural bookworks, altered books, chapbooks, broadsides, protest signs and banners, and historical examples of printed dissent. These real protest pieces give activism a visual voice, and comment on politics, power, war, immigration, the environment, human rights, and much more.
Zines
Underground and alternative publishing models have been critical to activists, dissidents, and artists for hundreds of years. One of these methods of publication, the zine, surfaced in the 1930s as way for fans of science fiction to trade ideas, fan fiction, art, and more. In the decades that followed, this type of underground self-publication began to gain a wider appeal.
But what is a zine, exactly? Zines in general are self-published, and typically cheaply-produced, publications which have a diverse history and reach. Their most distinguishing trait is that they are driven by the passions of the maker, whether those passions are political, related to fandom, or are responses to mainstream culture. Rising Together | Protest in Print displays a selection of zines drawn from the Public Space One Zine Collection, which features personal zines, and zines concerning anarchist and radical politics dating mostly from the 1990s and 2000s.
On display:
Strong Hearts, Rod Coronado Force Fed, Miss Kristie Chainbreaker, Shelley Lynn Jackson American Dream: Free Enterprise, Seth M. Ferranti
Sharing the case with these zines are a few examples of Cartonera publications and samizdat. Cooperative Cartonera publications were pioneered by the Eloísa Cartonera collective following Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis, and now are popular through Central and South America and Europe. Cartonera books are made using inexpensive printing methods and feature uniquely hand-painted cardboard covers sources from cartoneros, or cardboard collectors. They usually contain literary texts, some of which are politically oriented. Samizdat was a dissident underground publishing endeavor in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries following Joseph Stalin’s death. Works protesting the suppression of freedom of expression and other unsavory policies, or works containing material deemed “subversive,” were often produced by hand-copying or by using a typewriter and carbon paper. While most samizdat was written, underground music/audio and visual art were also part of this movement.
On display:
Poesia y Politica: antología de poesía irreverente, Eloísa Cartonera, 2012 Ayotzinapa: Desaparicio Political, Pensaré Cartoneras, 2014 Russian Samizdat Art, Charles Doria, editor; Willis Locker and Owens; New York, NY; 1986
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Rising Together | Protest in Print is on display in the University of Iowa Libraries’ Main Library Gallery until January 3, 2020. Access to the Gallery is through the Main Library’s North Lobby, and is always free for the campus community and the general public. Visit lib.uiowa.edu/gallery to check open hours.
This exhibition was curated by Julia Leonard, Associate Professor at the University of Iowa Center for the Book and at the School of Library and Information Science; and Kalmia Strong, Creative Coordinator at the University of Iowa Libraries and Program Director at Public Space One, a nonprofit arts organization in Iowa City. Excerpts from the exhibition’s annotated guide to items from the University of Iowa Special Collections were included in this blog post. Stay tuned for additional behind the scenes videos from the curators!
Kalmia Strong, co-curator of Rising Together | Protest in Print, helping with exhibit installation in the Main Library Gallery.
University of Iowa faculty and staff are cordially invited to submit Main Library Gallery preliminary exhibition proposals for January 2021 – December 2022. Preliminary proposals must be received by November 22, 2019.
About Exhibitions in the Main Library Gallery:
Exhibits at the Main Library Gallery give the campus community and the general public access to items from the rich collections of the University of Iowa Libraries, including those which are rare and historically significant. Exhibit curators select unique objects, photos, papers, and books from these collections to tell stories about a range of fascinating topics, some of which have included:
ground-breaking space discoveries of UI professor James Van Allen
Shakespeare’s First Folio, a rare volume of the bard’s plays published only one year after his death
Star Trek movie memorabilia from the personal collection of Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer
the accomplishments and legacies of African American Hawkeyes
early movie making in Iowa as seen through the lens of Frank Brinton
a celebration of Walt Whitman
Some exhibitions make exclusive use of UI Libraries collections, while others incorporate loaned items or traveling exhibitions from partner institutions and organizations.
Curatorial Commitment:
Curators thoroughly research their topic of choice, make selections for display from Libraries collections, are actively involved with the exhibit production team from start to finish, and are able to serve as subject matter experts for the duration of the exhibition. While the exhibit is on display, the curators are committed to providing a selection of public programs, including guided tours. Curators may also be involved with class visits to the Main Library Gallery, as their availability permits. Class visits are mainly from University of Iowa students and faculty, though community schools may also have an interest in learning more about certain topics. Curators should expect to devote at least 15 months to exhibit production, including providing in-person education for visitors as needed while exhibits are open.
Selection Process
Short preliminary proposals, or statements of interest, will be collected between October 18 and November 22, 2019 and reviewed by the Gallery Advisory Team. If your statement is selected by the team to move into the second round of the selection process for Main Library Gallery exhibits, you will then be asked to complete a more thorough form with greater detail about your proposed project. This will include information about your vision for curricular initiatives and tie-ins, potential funding you can bring to the project, detailed learning objectives for visitors, possible campus and community partnerships, a more complete abstract, a list of proposed University of Iowa Libraries objects and/or loaned objects to display in the exhibition, and more. The due date for second round proposals is December 13.
Exhibitions for 2021 and 2022 will be selected in January 2020 from finalist proposals submitted in the second round.
Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to hearing your ideas for the Main Library Gallery! If you have questions about your submission or the selection process, please contact Sara J. Pinkham, Exhibition and Engagement Coordinator for the Main Library Gallery.
