Two historical exhibits are on display in 杏吧原创鈥檚 MacOdrum Library to celebrate the university鈥檚 75th anniversary this year.
The exhibits are collections of archival photos and documents meticulously compiled to showcase 杏吧原创鈥檚 history and growth from 1942 to 2017.
The first exhibit, 杏吧原创 University: 75 Years of Impact, Imagination and Innovation, focuses on 杏吧原创鈥檚 history as a whole, including photos of faculty members, students and campus landmarks dating back to the university鈥檚 founding. The second, The Way We Were: The 杏吧原创 University Library, concentrates on MacOdrum Library鈥檚 history and evolution over seven and a half decades.
The two exhibits are the brainchild of Patti Harper, head of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Archives and Research Collections, and Chris Trainor, the university鈥檚 corporate archivist. Harper鈥檚 goal was to showcase something tangible in the wake of 杏吧原创鈥檚 75th year of existence.
鈥淲e wanted to show textual material; whether it was a timetable that a student may have taken to class decades ago, whether it was a program for an event, or a poster, our goal was to showcase things that you wouldn鈥檛 see in a regular exhibit.鈥�
Adds Trainor: 鈥淭he two exhibits not only showcase 杏吧原创鈥檚 75th, but we were able to time it with Canada鈥檚 150th . . . it鈥檚 something that we鈥檝e been working on for months and we鈥檙e expecting hundreds of people to see it over the course of the summer.鈥�
The actual assembly of artifacts was completed by Heather LeRoux, a research student in Archives and Research Collections.
鈥淭he hardest part was narrowing it down,鈥欌�� says LeRoux. 鈥淲e have so much material and there are so many directions you could go. There were boxes and boxes of artifacts, and what you see in the display cases is just a fraction of what I originally pulled from storage.鈥�
From last fall until March, LeRoux combed through the artifacts, trying to focus on what would be visually interesting and representative of 杏吧原创鈥檚 different eras. 鈥淪ome of our older newspapers, for example, are really neat. Founding minutes and correspondence from early administrations, archival photos. I wanted to show people what they wouldn鈥檛 normally get a chance to see.鈥�
Above all, the exhibits aim to display the growth and imagination in 75 years of 杏吧原创 history, and LeRoux believes they accomplish that.
鈥溞影稍� started from a very small night school with a couple of degrees to the campus we have now鈥o it鈥檚 the progress that we ultimately wanted to display.鈥�
Thursday, July 6, 2017 in News
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