Special Collections Displays Student Curated Exhibits

News item published on: 2017-04-13 09:21:00

University Libraries’ Special Collections at Southern Miss is hosting an exhibit opening April 25 from 4 – 5 p.m. in McCain Library room 305 to highlight three exhibits curated by Southern Miss students.

Special Collections created an exhibits program that allows students opportunities to curate mini-exhibits, featuring materials from the Libraries’ collections. Students learn how to select items for display, install the materials, write label and exhibit text, and how to publicize the exhibit. This year’s exhibits feature the work of two undergraduate history majors and an English doctoral student.

Looking Back: The Fight, the Contributions, the Devastation that Led to Northern Victory, curated by sophomore history major Anna Morgan, looks back on the victory of the North in the Civil War. Using books, diaries, and pictures, Looking Back takes the audience through the Civil War and explains who contributed to the Northern victory. Looking Back also gives an idea of the camp life of Northern soldiers, and their experiences of fighting alongside men they might never see again.

Legends and Folklore of Mississippi and the Gulf Coast, curated by history undergraduate student Dale E. Autry, explores some of the stranger stories and tales originating in the Gulf Coast and Mississippi River region. These stories, whether real or imagined, often become part of the local tradition and at times even enter the popular culture of their time. Though easily dismissed by most, these stories and myths have nonetheless affected the lives of many people, and at the very least, make for entertaining reading.

From Typescript to Hardcover, curated by Center for Writers doctoral student Sara A. Lewis, showcases the process of editing a manuscript for publication. A handwritten note among Ezra Jack Keats’s papers in which he claims the process of publishing a book “is pretty much of a mystery to most people” inspired this exhibit. In an effort to demystify this process, edited sections of John Green’s Paper Towns, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, and Episode 333 of Saturday Night Live are on display, tracking the development of these projects from the draft stage to the final product.

These exhibits will be on display on the third floor of McCain Library and Archives through February 2018. If you have questions about the program or the exhibits on display, contact Jennifer Brannock at  or 601.266.4347.