Special Libraries News

Three New Special Libraries Exhibits for the Summer

Northwestern's Special Libraries have given visitors to campus this summer several attractive reasons to stop by the library. Three new exhibits showcase areas of our collections with strong visual components.

Just after entering the library, visitors can explore the lost art form of the phonograph album cover. Sound Design: The Rise and Demise of Album Art is a new exhibit that celebrates the glory days of the album cover, explores its dual identity as an art form and a marketing strategy, and mourns the loss of a consumer experience that has been gradually extinguished by the advent of downloadable music. Classic flower-power covers of the 60s and 70s--the original skull-and-roses cover on the Grateful Dead's eponymous 1972 release or the psychedelic, fish-eye portrait of Jimi Hendrix on his 1967 album, Are You Experienced—alternate with the dignified covers and distinctive crown-of-tulips logo of Deutsche Grammophon, the brainchild of advertising consultant Hans Domizlaff (1892–1971), now recognized internationally as one of the fathers of modern marketing. This fascinating exhibit, drawn from the vast collection of more than 25,000 LPs in the Northwestern Music Library, was curated by Music Library and Art Collection staffers Greg MacAyeal, Stephanie Hewson, Lindsay King, and Morris Levy. It runs through September 10, 2009. More information can be found here.

Then, in the corridor to Deering Library, the exhibit Daniel Burnham at Northwestern marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of architect Daniel H. Burnham's Plan of Chicago by adding a very local touch to the current city-wide celebrations. This mastermind of big-city planning became a resident of suburban Evanston in 1887 and designed over twenty buildings in the area. Although Northwestern can claim just one Burnham building—Fisk Hall, built in 1898—Burnham's connection with Northwestern dates to 1895, when he received an honorary degree, and continued to 1905, when he submitted several potential "Plans of Northwestern" to the Board of Trustees. This exhibit, co-sponsored by the University Library and the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, and featuring materials from the University Archives, includes documents and photographs, blueprints from the construction of Fisk Hall, and sketches of Burnham's proposals for a redesigned Evanston campus—which make for an interesting comparison with the Plan of Chicago he produced a few years later. The exhibit, which will continue into the fall, was curated by Associate University Archivist Janet Olson. For more information, please click here.

Finally, upstairs in Deering Library, we celebrate Northwestern University Library's extensive collection of international children's literature with the exhibit Best of Bologna: Edgiest Artists of the 2008 International Children's Book Fair. Produced in collaboration with the Bologna Book Fair and the Itabashi Art Museum in Tokyo, "Best of Bologna" features works by 23 talented children's illustrators from around the globe—Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Iran, Japan, and Russia, among other countries—a selection from an original pool of more than 3,000 artists who competed to be featured in Bologna at the world's largest and most important annual children's book event. The exhibit includes a movie about the Bologna Fair created by Ayami Moriizumi along with personal statements from each of the illustrators, offering intriguing glimpses into the ideas and experiences that inspire these artists. "Best of Bologna," curated by Special Libraries staff members Kim Specht and Jeff Garrett, will run through October 8, 2009. Click here for more information.

All exhibits are free and open to the public during the Library's public hours (Monday–Friday, 8:30–5:00). "Burnham at Northwestern" is also viewable Saturdays 8:30-noon.