Exhibit Workroom

Our fall exhibit is up in Special Collections! The theme this time is Caribbean maps. The exhibit was mounted in conjunction with the Eighth Virginia Garrett Lectures which took place October 5th. The lectures brought scholars from all over to discuss their research in the area of the Caribbean and how they used maps to further that research. While the lectures are over, the exhibit will be up until February 9, 2013. Along with featuring overview maps of the Caribbean this exhibit also highlights maps of individual islands from many different time periods. Maps from the 1600s through the 20th Century are on display.

For more information on the exhibit visit here!
To see more images from the exhibit visit here!

Blurb:
“Few people would argue that Caribbean islands have not played pivotal roles in American history. From Columbus’ discoveries to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison debate, events on islands of the West Indies have impacted our history. While most of these islands are not that distant, our personal knowledge of them is often scant. With the help of old maps, there are interesting facts to learn and more importantly, connections for us to make. Old printed maps of the Caribbean islands depict not only the geography of the islands but also reflect many of the themes of Caribbean (and American) history as well as cartographic history.

Pearls of the Antilles: Printed Maps of Caribbean Islands shows how maps of the Caribbean incorporate many of the themes of cartographic history found in maps of other geographical areas, from technical developments to increasing diversification in types of maps, and from leading “national schools” in certain time periods to such themes as the growth of a tourist map industry.

Pearls of the Antilles: Printed Maps of Caribbean Islands is located in Special Collections, 6th floor, UT Arlington Central Library and runs through February 9, 2013. Hours are 9 a.m – 7 p.m Monday and 9 a.m – 5 p.m Tuesday through Saturday. This exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information call 817-272-3393.”

Our summer exhibit is up and takes on the subject of politics in Texas, very timely in an election year I’d say. The focus of the exhibit is seeing politics through different “identities”. For example labor union members, women, minorities, families, etc. After all our views on political issues are shaped by how we identify ourselves. The exhibit will be up through the beginning of August so make sure you stop by and get the chance to see it. It will definitely make you think about how politics effect our lives and also how many of the political issues of the past (such as health care and women’s rights) are still subjects we are dealing with today. More info HERE

Blurb: What is politics? When you think of politics, does it apply only to certain parts of your life? Or can everything be considered political?
Every person has multiple axes of identity: gender, sexual orientation, religion, race/ethnicity, political affiliation. As we go through life, we also have more changeable and/or ephemeral identities: student, parent, family member, professional, and so on. This exhibit focuses on political identities in Texas from 1900 to the present and the ways in which politics have become intertwined with our identities. The word politics, like propaganda, often has negative connotations, but it’s really just a descriptive term that can be fraught with complexity and emotion.
Texas “Identity” Politics: 1900 – present shows different groups advocating for their civil rights in relation to various aspects of their identities, such as worker, mother, or citizen. When people advocate for or against any piece of legislation or policy that affects people’s lives in any way, then they are being political.

Images: Cesar Chavez on the picket line at a grocery store with other Farm Worker strikers. Fort Worth, ca. 1969. United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, Fort Worth Boycott Papers, Special Collections, University of Texas-Arlington.

Occupy Austin Texas. 2011.

I’m happy to announce that our western art exhibit has been extended until April 28, 2012. Also, we have another wonderful photography exhibit on display in the parlor. Titled “India Unveiled” it features the photos of Robert Arnett and his travels throughout the country. The exhibit is based on Arnetts book of the same name (more info here). “India Unveiled” will be on view until May 26, 2012. As with all our exhibits both are free and open to all and are located on the 6th floor of the Central library.

More info here

We have 2 great exhibits up on the 6th floor which opened this fall. Impressions of the West: Works of Art from Special Collections features over 30 paintings, sculptures, and prints which showcase how the American West has been viewed by artists and popular culture. The exhibit will look at how artists interpreted the land and peoples of the southwest and west. Focusing on artists who worked during the twentieth century, Impressions of the West will explore whether western art is a truthful recording of a bygone era, or an idealized version of history, or merely kitsch created for the popular market.
Featured in the exhibit will be works by such greats as Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell, who epitomize western art, as well as Bert Phillips, one of the founding members of the Taos School. Works by other well know western artists such as Olaf Wieghorst and Fremont Ellis are also on display.

Also, on display is Life and Death in the Northern Pass: The Photography of Dominic Bracco II which features images from Ciudad Juárez taken by photojournalist and UT Arlington alumnus Dominic Bracco II.

Both exhibits run through January 14, 2012 and are free and open to the public. Our hours are Monday 9-7, and Tuesday-Saturday 9-5.

The spring and summer exhibit up here on the 6th floor was What You Wish the World Could Be: The Early Years of Six Flags Over Texas. Originally scheduled for only the spring semester it was held over into the summer due to popular demand. It became SPCO’s most popular exhibit and shattered attendance records here. We were all sorry to see it go.

Along with wonderful images from our archives we were able to work with private collectors and enthusiasts to display a wide array of physical objects in the exhibit. Six Flags graciously loaned us one of their carousel horse (which always got a wonderful reaction from our younger visitors). Also, on display was a Spee-lunker dressed as Abe Lincoln. An original 1965 map of the park was also on display as well as many employee related items. I hope you had the chance to stop in and see the exhibit while it was up. Images of the exhibit can be found here.

Some exciting news! We are putting together an exhibit of artifacts from UT-Arlington veterans for display during the Spring 2011 semester. If you’re a veteran and would like to contribute items for the exhibit please contact me at SPCO-EXHIBIT@uta.edu. This artifact exhibit will compliment an Iraq War photo exhibit which will be on display in the parlor.
For more information check out: This!
I’m so happy to be working with campus veterans to present their stories to the UT-Arlington community.

Sorry, this is a bit late (the exhibit opened August 23rd) but we’ve got a new exhibit up in Special Collections. Charting Chartered Companies: Concessions to Companies as Mirrored in Maps, 1600-1900 is a wonderful Map exhibit which explores companies and how they influenced regions, history, and cartography.

What is a chartered Company?
The chartered company, considered a precursor to the modern corporation, played an important role in the history of cartography. Chartered companies were an effective means to encourage overseas exploration, trade, expansion, and colonial power. Chartered companies often assumed the lead in settlement, land development, and the building and maintenance of transportation networks.
Companies relied upon maps and charts for planning, implementation, and operation. A chartered company’s presence in an area often changed that region’s political, historical, and cultural boundaries.(brochure text)

This exhibit shares the theme of the Seventh Biennial Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography, which will take place on October 8, 2010. For more information about that please see http://library.uta.edu/spco/Garrett2010/.
I hope to either see you touring the exhibit or perhaps attending our wonderful lecture series!

For All Workers: The Legacy of the Texas Labor Movement, 1838-2010 opened on May 17th and is inspired by J.W. Jackson’s generous donations of labor archives records and personal papers.

In the 1960s, J.W. Jackson began compiling and cataloging multiple boxes of labor records stored in the basement of the Wichita Falls Labor Temple; in the 1980s, when he retired, his purchase of the Carpenters Local 977 union hall prevented the destruction of all of these historic records. This collection was donated to the university in 2009, culminating a 40-year effort to acquire these materials. The records of the numerous Wichita Falls labor unions, as well as J.W. Jackson’s personal papers, provide a window into the impact of labor in a small Texas town.

This exhibit, which highlights records and papers from J.W. Jackson’s donation, also includes treasures from the Texas Labor Archives. Labor union signage, photos, letters, membership materials, posters, and strike signs are just some of the highlights that can be seen in the exhibit.

The exhibit is divided into 3 sections. The first explains what labor unions are and why they are important. The second shows the importance of the labor movement as seen through the life of J.W. Jackson. The last section concludes with accounts of labor events that have impacted Texas history. This exhibit shows that the labor movement, a little-known aspect of Texas history, is nevertheless inextricably intertwined with the legacy of what it means to be a Texan, shaping the makeup of who we as a state are today.

The exhibit was curated by Claire Galloway,and in the near future Claire will be organizing a tour of the exhibit. Anyone are welcomed to attend and I’ll be sure to post it here we get it scheduled. If you need anymore information on the exhibit you can contact me at 817-272-2179 or Claire at 817-272-7511.