Special Collections Research Center

SCRC Exhibitions

Current Exhibition

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse

An exhibition titled A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse is now open for viewing on the sixth floor of E. S. Bird Library. On display are the archives of a still-thriving women’s study club that was formed on October 30, 1875, in Syracuse, New York. The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875 to 1950, includes annual-program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering, and other club documents.

The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women’s access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts, and many other subjects. Members have met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year’s president.

This exhibition is available for viewing onsite January 21, 2009 - May 8, 2009 in the SCRC exhibitions gallery on the 6th floor of Bird Library. The gallery is open between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, excepting holidays.

Past Exhibitions

Dawn of a New Age:

The Immigrant Contribution to the Arts in America

Bolm in Firebird

Adolph Bolm as “Prince Ivan” in Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes production of L’Oiseau de Feu (The Firebird). Photograph by E. Hoppe, 1911.

Dawn of a New Age: The Immigrant Contribution to the Arts in America

In conjunction with this year’s Syracuse Symposium and its theme of “migration”, the Special Collections Research Center presents a fall exhibition titled “Dawn of a New Age: The Immigrant Contribution to the Arts in America.” "Dawn of a New Age" tells the story of five artists who immigrated to the United States during the first half of the 20th century: Adolph Bolm, a Russian dancer and choreographer who performed with the Mariinsky Ballet and Ballets Russes; William Lescaze, a Swiss architect who was one of the pioneers of modernism; Louis Lozowick, a Russian printmaker known for his Art Deco and Precision lithographs; Miklós Rózsa, a Hungarian composer of more than 100 film scores, including "Ben Hur"; and John Vassos, a Greek illustrator and industrial designer. The exhibition draws from the rich holdings of SCRC and showcases more than 50 of the artists' personal papers, manuscripts, photos and artifacts.

This exhibition was available for viewing onsite Sept. 8, 2008 - Jan. 20, 2009 in the SCRC exhibitions gallery. A web version of this exhibit can be found here.

The Marketing of the Candidate: an exhibition of presidential campaign memorabilia

Drawn from the artifactual collections of Syracuse University Library’s Special Collections Research Center, the exhibition of buttons, banners, bumper stickers, brochures, apparel, and other items provides a historical overview of the images and slogans candidates have used to position and advertise themselves in their quest for the White House. This exhibition was available for viewing Aug. 26, 2008 - Jan.20, 2008.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
This exhibition was available for viewing April 29 - September 5, 2008.

Related lecture:

Phobia: Collecting in the History of Fear, an illustrated lecture by Sean M. Quimby, Director, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University. Click on the link to experience the lecture in Windows Media (WMV).

In this lecture, Sean Quimby considers the role of fear in American life. In the post 9/11 world, we have grown accustomed to periodic “terror” alerts, but how did fear figure into the printed discourses of generations past? What, specifically, are Americans really afraid of? Quimby details the Special Collections Research Center’s ongoing project to build research collections that may help us answer these questions. Burgeoning recent scholarship has equipped us with the tools required to examine this elusive topic and, available historical resources—religious tracts, popular psychology texts, eugenics manifestos, self-help, child-rearing and comportment manuals—can help us begin to trace the lineage of fear in America.