Proposals are being accepted through Monday, April 8, 2019, for three exhibits to be displayed in the Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room in 2020.
Library staff, faculty, graduate or professional students, or other campus affiliates may propose and curate exhibits using materials from library collections. Individual undergraduates are not eligible for this opportunity, but faculty may submit proposals involving students from a specific course.
To learn more, join the exhibit selection committee for an open house Tuesday, March 26, 3 – 4:30 p.m. in the Memorabilia Room.
“The exhibit program is one of the best ways we have to show the incredible breadth and depth of the library’s collections,” said Exhibits Program Manager Kerri Sancomb, who chairs the selection committee.
A typical exhibit in the Memorabilia Room features between 100 and 125 objects in ten exhibition cases. The library provides funding for production expenses and supports the curator with scheduling and management of collections materials, production tools and templates, and guidelines for writing exhibit text. Materials requiring special display conditions or security may be presented in facsimile.
Proposals for 2020 may be on any topic, Sancomb said. However, in honor of the 50 Women at Yale 150 celebration, the committee will give special consideration to proposals related to women’s experience and contributions at Yale or in society as a whole.
Key selection criteria are the strength of the concept and the visual potential of the materials. The committee is particularly interested in proposals that draw on less well-known collections.
The committee will host an exhibit-program open house Tuesday, March 26, 3 - 4:30 p.m., in the Memorabilia Room. Sancomb will provide a brief overview of the opportunities, and librarians who have curated past exhibits will be on hand to answer questions. Prospective curators may also use this time to speak with a committee member about a specific exhibit idea.
See more program details and the 2020 exhibit schedule.
Photo: Beth Morris, librarian at the Yale Center for British Art, curated "Moving Earth," a 2016 exhibit on the creation of the British Landscape in the Memorabilia Room.