New Special Collections Exhibits

Special Collections has two new exhibits currently on display.

“Finding Safe Spaces During Segregation,” curated by Head of North Carolina Collections Jennifer Daugherty, coincides with the traveling exhibition “Navigating Jim Crow: The Green Book and Oasis Spaces in North Carolina.” Both exhibits are located on the first floor of Joyner Library and will be on display through March 27.

On the third floor of Joyner Library in the North Carolina Collection Room, Special Collections presents “The History of Commercial Sound.”  Curated by University Archivist Alston Cobourn and Archives’ Graduate Assistant Kristen Daniel, the exhibit covers how commercially recorded audio media and the recording industry have changed. It contains physical media and playback equipment from wax cylinders to iPhones. “The History of Commercial Sound” will be on display through the end of the spring 2023 semester.

Group listening to wax cylinder recordings on Ballard Beach, Seattle, circa 1913. Photograph by Carl Henry Moen. University of Washington, Museum of History and Industry.

In conjunction with “The History of Commercial Sound,” community member and collector Mickey Elmore will be presenting a complimentary cylinder playing demonstration and talk on April 12, 2023, at 4 pm in Joyner Library’s 4th-floor rotunda room. This event is free and will be open to the public.