Past Exhibitions
History of Science Collection’s Mary Anning Exhibit
January 2023-May 2023
This exhibit showcased the life and work of Mary Anning, "The Mother of Dragons", a woman whose fossil discoveries had a vital impact on the study of paleontology. This exhibit was possible through the collection donation from British historian Hugh S. Torrens and his wife Shirley.
Read the articles:
From Tragedy to Triumph: Race Massacre Survivor Stories
September 7, 2020 - June 30, 2021
Visit the "From Tragedy to Triumph" Website
From Tragedy to Triumph tells the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre through a combination of compelling photographs and vivid eyewitness accounts from survivors. In emphasizing the experience of the victims and survivors, the exhibit will demonstrate the resilience of Tulsa's Greenwood District, highlighting how Black residents courageously responded to the destruction of their historic community.
The Game is On
September 25, 2020
Numerical curiosities, brain teasers, tangrams, palindromes, and magic squares seem to be as old as time itself. “The Game is On,” an upcoming exhibit to be located on the 5th floor of the Bizzell Memorial Library, will trace mathematical games and puzzles through time and culture, showcasing items from the History of Science Collections and the Nichols Rare Book Collection.
From brain teasers written in Latin, “The Tower of Hanoi” problem in German, through to flights of fancy through Flatland and Alice in Wonderland, the exhibit will explore the connections of recreational mathematics across multiple disciplines. Also highlighted will be works from recreational mathematics contributors with local connections including Martin Gardner, and former OU professor emeritus of mathematics, Nathan A. Court.
'Wild Little Honker' and birds from the special collections
January 15, 2020 - May 15, 2020
Although, the title comes from a 1951 children’s book by Dorothy Childs Hogner which tells of the migratory adventure of a goose named “Wild Little Honker,” exhibit curator, Melissa Rickman, says the exhibit features a wide variety of books from the collections.
“There are bird books from the Lois Lenski Collection of Children’s Literature, the Jackson Rinn Pope III History of Ornithology Collection, and the general History of Science Collections,” Rickman said. “Many of the books have not been displayed before and are not widely seen by the public. The books include guides for bird identification, bird stories for children, ways of describing bird song with words and notation, and information about bird watching.”
Red Dust Oklahoma: A Poetic History
October 9, 2018 - June 30, 2019
Red Dust Oklahoma: A Poetic History describes a “complex, vibrant Oklahoma previously unimagined” through the poetry and poets in Oklahoma from pre-statehood to 1941. Drawing from the Western History Collections’ unexpectedly rich resources about Oklahoma’s poetic past, the exhibition celebrates the achievements of Oklahoma poets, featuring published works and unpublished manuscripts, revealing history rich with authors, editors, and educators whose work shaped the state’s narrative and features themes of national impact. The poetry of Oklahoma through the 1930s evoked the entirety of its landscape from the prairie sky, to the earth, even down to its roots.
The exhibition is curated by Todd Fuller, associate director of OU’s Center for Research Program Development and Enrichment, and Crag Hill, English education coordinator for the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, and is sponsored by the Mark Allen Everett Poetry Series, the OU Libraries, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education.
News:
- April 16, 2019 - In celebration of national poetry month, Metro Library Podcast invited curator, Todd Fuller, to speak about the exhibition.
- October 4, 2018 - The OU Daily announces the opening of the exhibition.
The Academy of the Lynx and Natural History: Old Science, New Discoveries, and Strange Creatures
July 1, 2019 - September 27, 2019
Visit "The Academy of the Lynx and Natural History" Website
The Academy of the Lynx and Natural History: Old Science, New Discoveries, and Strange Creatures represents the astonishing complexity of natural history and the formidable challenges faced by early naturalists in their attempts to comprehend it. The exhibition begins with the Academy of the Lynx, one of the earliest scientific societies, and continues up through the global voyage of a young Charles Darwin.
The Indians for Indians Radio Show: Sports and Recreation
August 19, 2019 - May 1, 2020
"The Indians for Indians Radio Show" Recordings
Broadcast over OU’s WNAD radio station, the Indians for Indians Hour radio program aired from 1941 through the mid-1970s. The Indians for Indians Hour radio show was a popular intertribal forum for sharing announcements, including those for athletic events or recreational gatherings. The exhibition was on display in Monnet Hall, room 300, through Jan. 3, 2020.
Native Voices Over the Airwaves: The Indians for Indians Hour Radio Show
November 14, 2019 - August 3, 2020
"The Indians for Indians Radio Show" Recordings
Broadcast over OU’s WNAD radio station, the Indians for Indians radio show aired from 1941 through the mid-1970s. The show was created and originally hosted by Don Whistler, chief of the Sac and Fox tribe, and continued by OU’s Sequoyah Indian Club. The Indians for Indians Hour was a vibrant blend of Native music and speech on an incredible array of topics, including community life, military service, religion, education, and advocacy for Native rights. It represents an incredible snapshot of United States history as told through Native American experience.
Renegades at Bizzell
September 22, 2018 - July 1, 2019
Under the leadership of Bruce Goff (1904-82), Herb Greene (b. 1929), Mendel Glickman (1895-1967), and many others, OU faculty developed a curriculum that emphasized individual creativity, organic forms, and experimentation. This radical approach to design drew students to Oklahoma from as far away as Japan and South America and later spread the American School influence to their practices in California, Hawaii, Japan, and beyond. The American School is now captured in a new archive housed within the University Libraries’ Western History Collections.
Poetics of Invention
August 1, 2017 - August 6, 2018
Visit the "Poetics of Invention" Website
The “Poetics of Invention” explored the process of invention from ideation, to fabrication, and to commercialization from the perspective of an OU professor, inventor, and entrepreneur as he attempts to make English more accessible to the 350 million Chinese learners through merging the world’s two most-spoken languages at the level of their phonetic DNA.
Galileo's World
August 1, 2015 - August 31, 2016
Visit the "Galileo's World" Website
Galileo's World was an “exhibition without walls” comprised of 20 exhibits at 7 different locations on all 3 OU campuses, designed to bring the diverse worlds of OU together to celebrate the University's 125th anniversary. Now that the anniversary year is over, the 350 original rare books on display at the different locations have returned home to our special collections.
The Galileo's World exhibition was held at seven locations from Aug 2015 –July 2016: Bizzell Memorial Library, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Headington Hall, National Weather Center, Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library, Sam Noble Museum, and Schusterman Library.
Awards: OU Libraries Honored by Oklahoma Museums Association for Galileo's World