One Yale College senior will receive library funding, mentoring, and production support to create and curate a professional-quality exhibit based on senior essay research using materials from a Yale Library archive or collection. The 2019 exhibit will open in mid-April and run through October in Sterling Memorial Library's Wall Street Exhibition Corridor. Exhibit proposals are due by Oct. 22, 2018.
The Senior Exhibit program is one of several Yale University Library initiatives to encourage and showcase student research with materials and primary sources from the libraries' diverse collections. The student curator is selected by a library committee based on proposal quality and recommendations from faculty and librarian advisors. Preference is given to projects using less well known collections.
To be considered for the Senior Exhibit opening in April 2019, submit your proposal by Oct. 22, 2018, together with letters of support from a faculty advisor and a librarian exhibit advisor who agree to work with you throughout the project.
The exhibit will be based on the same research as your senior essay or thesis. As a student curator, you will have an opportunity to explore presenting your research in the alternate narrative form of an exhibit -- a form with a strong visual component, a defined physical space, and its own conventions and practices.
Yale University Library's exhibit professionals, under the direction of Exhibit Program Manager Kerri Sancomb, will work closely with the selected student, faculty advisor, and library advisor to plan and mount the exhibit. They will provide production tools, templates, technical expertise, and guidance for the physical production of the exhibit. They also coordinate schedules, deadlines, and management of collections materials. The library will also host an opening reception for the exhibit.
Some academic departments may accept the exhibit as a senior project, or in partial fulfillment of the senior project requirements. Any such arrangement is at the discretion of the academic department. The student curator is responsible for discussing the senior project requirements with the academic department and securing the necessary approvals for use of the exhibit in this way.
For more information, read the guide for Senior Exhibit Project Applicants and the overviews of student curator responsibilities. Review the exhibit production calendar.