Special Collections Student Curator Exhibit Opening Set for April 3

News item published on: 2025-03-19 10:28:00

University Libraries’ Special Collections invites the University and Hattiesburg communities to an exhibit opening and reception on April 3, 2025, from 1 – 2 p.m. in McCain Library and Archives room 305. The event will showcase exhibits curated by three Southern Miss students.

The Special Collections’ Student Curator Program offers students a hands-on opportunity to create one-case exhibits using materials from the library’s collections. Through the program, students gain valuable experience in selecting items for display, writing exhibit labels and descriptive text, installing materials, and promoting their exhibits to the public.

The Grimmest of the Grim: The Tale of Little Red, curated by Emily Smith, a freshman student of history and English, surveys a history of the revisions of Little Red Riding Hood, with media from the 1800s to 2010s, each harkening back to the question: who's the Grimm-est of them all? Since their inception, fairytales have served as cautionary folklore and were eventually used to keep children in check, even if resorting to surprising amounts of violence. Surprisingly, this prevalence of (and reliance on) violence has morphed over time.

From Freedom Summer to “Ms.”: A Story of Activism and Identity, curated by Ramsey McManus, a history major and library science minor, explores the life and work of American feminist and civil rights activist Sheila Michaels. Best known for her role in popularizing “Ms.” as a form of address for women regardless of marital status, Michaels spent her life challenging the societal constraints imposed by gender, race, and class. The exhibit features items from the Sheila Michaels collection, including personal writings, publications, flyers, photographs, and memorabilia, that highlight her involvement in Freedom Summer, the feminist movement, and other social justice efforts, while also offering visitors a glimpse into her personal life and evolving identity.

Through Foreign Eyes: Nepal in the 70s, curated by Nobel Paudel, a freshman majoring in political science and applied economics, uses materials from the Cherry Burns Collection to offer a rare glimpse into Nepal’s landscapes, culture, and daily life as seen through the eyes of an outsider. This collection of photographs, journal entries, and archival materials comes from a traveler who documented their journey through Nepal in the 1970s. Much of Nepal’s history focuses on its political events and prominent figures, but little is preserved about the everyday lives of its people—those who built its temples, walked its streets, and lived in its remote villages. Tourists, however, captured candid moments that might have otherwise been lost, photographing and writing about everything they found fascinating.

This year’s exhibits highlight and breadth and variety of research opportunities in Special Collections. “It’s wonderful to see how students choose topics and collections for their exhibitions. There are so many potential topics in children’s literature and zeroing in on how font conveys tone is a particularly creative. After processing the Sheila Michaels Papers under a recent grant, it is gratifying to see it chosen. The use of the Cherry Burns Collection is an example of how unpredictable the use of archival material can be. She worked for the State Department in Germany during the Marshall Plan years, but here is one of our students, from Nepal, that found that the photos she took on her world travels could fill in a gap in his country’s photo documentation,” said Lorraine Stuart, head of Special Collections.

These exhibits will be on display on the third floor of McCain Library and Archives through March 2026. For more information or questions about the program or the exhibits on display, contact Jennifer.Brannock@usm.edu or 601.266.4347.