Guide to Exhibitions

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Schaffer Library hosts numerous exhibits throughout the library and online each year. While our subjects are far ranging and based on the richness of the collections as well as the curators, many exhibits center on history, literature, the Union College experience, and nature. This guide is not an exhaustive list of our contents but a set of suggestions to begin your exploration. We encourage you to browse all of our exhibit pages to fully experience the breadth of resources and subjects within them. 

Adirondack Mountains

Exhibits that center on the Adirondact Mountains include:

• The Kay Flickinger Dockstader papers
• Pioneers in the 20th Century Adirondack Park Conservation Movement
• Grassroots Activism and the American Wilderness
• National Wilderness Preservation Act: 50th Anniversary
• Adirondack Portraits: the Photography of Osmond D. Putnam

Art

Exhibits featuring art and artworks include: 

• Blake at Union: From Print to Digital To Print
• Artists' Books: Where to put the Apostrophe?
• LOST ART: Ancient Iranian Bronzes in the Union College Permanent Collection

Audbon, John James

Union College's first president, Eliphalet Nott,  purchased a complete set of the four-volume, double-elephant-folio, The Birds of America, from John James Audubon in the summer of 1844. Exhibits about those materials have been featured in: 

• The Owls of Audubon
• John James Audubon's Magnificent Obsession
• John James Audubon and Extinction
• The Flight and Return of the Audubons 

Bigelow, John and Bigelow Family

The Bigelow papers is one of the largest collections at Schaffer Library and has provided many opportunities for exhibitions and displays. These include: 

• Quietly Shaping History: John Bigelow's Influence on 19th Century Politics
• John Bigelow: An American Abroad Between 1850-1886
• Sex, Religion, and Politics: The Heterogeneous Library of John Bigelow
• Jane Bigelow's Diaries
• Remembered First Citizen

Engineering and Science

Union's emphasis on liberal arts and engineering education has inspired multiple exhibits: 

• Brick by Brick: 175 Years of Engineering at Union College
• Charles Proteus Steinmetz
• Humanities & Engineering @ Union

History

While many exhibits center on Union College history, many provide information beyond Union's walls including: 

• We Want Books
• National Wilderness Preservation Act: 50th Anniversary
• Gazes on the Colonial Maghreb: North African Postcards of Jewish Women
• Mitzvah, Midrash and Matriarchs
• Reformation, Restoration, and Romeyn
• Digging Deeper

Literature

Exhibits that feature literature include: 

• 100 Years of Ulysses
• Black Space: Reading (and writing) Ourselves into the Future
• Blake at Union: From Print to Digital To Print
• The World of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• Literature in English 1713-1913
• Dickens in America
• Look! Seeing the Stories in Schaffer Library's Graphic Novel Collection
• Look! Of MAUS and Men(sch)
• We Want Books

Union College History & Experiences

Union College was founded in 1795 and has a rich and storied past. Exhibits about Union College history include: 

• Blake at Union
• Out in the Archives: An Exploration of LGBTQ+ History at Union College (Digital Exhibit)
• Tales from the Picture File
• Reformation, Restoration, and Romeyn
• Pillars and Walls
• Browsing the Past @ Schaffer Library
• Treasures and New Acquisitions: Favorites
• The World of Mrs. Perkins
• LGBT: A Library Perspective
• Darwin @ Union

Union Experience exhibits include:

• Night of the Living Radio
• The Social Distancing Experience (COVID-19)
• 50th Anniversary of Coeducation
• Hell No, We Won't Go!
• ReUnion Class of 1969 Exhibit
• The Faces of Change: Women at Union College
• Locally Grown