“Many of the topics that we address in this exhibition are ones that are still being discussed in Atlanta.” — Laura Starratt

Curated by Erica Bruchko, W. Michael Camp, Louis Fagnan, Kristin Morgan, and Laura Starratt, the exhibition will illuminate how Atlanta citizens confronted the trials of a rapidly evolving metropolis during the second half of the 20th century. It will focus on four areas:

• The end of the county-unit political system in Georgia and the revitalization of the state Republican Party;
• How Georgia responded to the federal mandate to integrate the public schools;
• The effect of advocacy in social planning; and
• The involvement of neighborhood associations.

“Many of the topics that we address in this exhibition are ones that are still being discussed in Atlanta,” says Starratt, who is also a manuscript archivist in the Rose Library. 

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

The origins of Emory's museum dates to the late 19th century when objects collected from disparate sources made their way to Emory College in Oxford, Georgia. These sources included Emory faculty conducting research and Methodist missionaries living and working abroad. Active collecting efforts supported international research by Emory scholars and brought the outside world to Emory students.

This exhibition explores origins, collections, people, and future directions of the museum. Ultimately, to delve into the history of Emory's museum is to uncover the ways in which it consistently acts as a catalyst for teaching, research, exploration, collaboration, and collecting.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

Randall K. Burkett was hired in 1997 as Emory’s first curator for African American collections. Over the past 21 years, he has led the university’s effort to build collections of rare books, manuscripts, serials, photographs, and print ephemera in this field. He and his Rose Library colleagues have sought to ensure the African American voice is represented and have given priority to African American-authored and African American-published material. The exhibition highlights treasures in the collections and Burkett’s stories of their discovery and acquisition.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

"Building a Movement in the Southeast" highlights the close relationship between our LGBTQ+ collections and our collections that document the history of Atlanta and social justice movements.

This exhibit explores the history, culture, politics, and public health initiatives of LGBTQ+ communities in Atlanta and the American South. It features letters, journals, photographs, and concert and theater programs from the personal papers of activists and artists, the records and publications of cultural and community organizations, and rare books and periodicals published by and for the LGBTQ+ community.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

The exhibit spotlights materials from the Rose Library collections of activist Jesse Peel, playwright and activist Rebecca Ranson, the National Association of Black and White Men Together, The American Music Show, AID Atlanta, the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) and the Emory University Archives in addition to selected covers from an extensive collection of more than 900 gay paperbacks dating from the 1960s and 1970s.

"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories." ― Laurie Anderson

Born digital material is created by the thousands every single hour. Every text sent, every document created, every photograph taken. These materials are vast and ever growing, both in size and formats. But, where did born digital begin? And when did the Rose Library start collecting this material? In this exhibit, we examine the collecting story of born digital materials at the Rose alongside the evolution of the technology creating these materials.

"When the historian of the future seeks from among those who once lived a personality symbolizing the new Negro, he will find James Weldon Johnson made to order." ― Editor, Negro Labor News Service, 1938       

Often remembered as a literary pioneer of the New Negro Era, Johnson’s roles as U.S. Consul to Venezuela (1906-1909) and Nicaragua (1909-1913) are frequently overlooked. Yet, Johnson’s official diplomacy informed later achievements as a popular artist, press critic, and political agitator on behalf of the NAACP. Attending to this neglected facet of his life and legacy, "Black Cosmopolitan" examines Johnson’s early life, his political appointment in the U.S. consular service, and the transnational dimensions of his advocacy for black freedom at home and abroad.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

"'This exhibit will help us emphasize the variety of primary evidence resources the library has,' says Elizabeth McBride, a social sciences librarian who co-curated the exhibit with Chris Palazzolo, head of collection management and adjunct professor in the political science department."

The Ebola cases in the U.S. have sparked an exhibit, based on the government documents collection--occupying two-and-a-half miles of shelf space--at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University, that examines the impact of epidemics and the U.S. government’s response to them throughout American history.

"Before Ebola: The U.S. Government’s Role in Controlling Contagious Disease," drawing from primary evidence, explores smallpox and yellow fever; the 1918  influenza pandemic; venereal disease, including the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the outbreak among World War I military recruits; and the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

"The Danowski Poetry Library, acquired by MARBL in 2004, consists of more than 75,000 volumes of rare and first editions of 20th century poetry, as well as supplemental counterculture material."

In the summer of 2014 four fellows, Dr. Joshua Adams, Dr. Rebecca Roach, Stephanie Anderson, and Dr. Daniel Worden, conducted research in the Danowski Poetry Library for a project called B-Side Modernism. Their articles were published on nonsite.org., an online, open access, peer-reviewed quarterly journal of scholarship in the arts and humanities affiliated with Emory College of Arts and Sciences. A companion exhibit curated by Lisa Chinn, a PhD candidate in English at Emory, features countercultural materials that influenced 20th century poets. These materials include little magazines, such as C-Comics, started by poet Ted Berrigan with cover illustrations by Andy Warhol and Joe Brainard; and manuscripts from poet-translator David Gascoyne.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free

The B-side Modernism project was sponsored by nonsite.org and the Mellon Foundation.

"I am because we are." - African Proverb

This exhibit highlights the Emory Libraries’ efforts to confront racism and promote social justice and presents resources that can be found online.  These include recommended titles for reading, additional library resources, and links to other campus organizations joining the movement.

Social Justice Resources:

Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Black Lives Matter

Social Justice Corner

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Confronting Racism Resources:

Statement on Systemic Racism and the Libraries’ Commitment

Dear John Lewis, Dear C. T. Vivian

Lift Every Voice 2020

"Framing Shadows" the Online Exhibit

Black Student Activism

"'And the Struggle Continues' highlights the efforts of one of the most important human rights organizations to challenge the oppressive political and economic systems of the 20th century."

Based on the extensive Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) records housed in Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, the exhibition reveals how SCLC exposed and transformed a status quo that allowed millions to suffer from poverty, environmental degradation, health care disasters, hunger, homelessness, disfranchisement, and a brutal criminal justice system. It waged these battles on a political terrain that had been fundamentally altered since the organization as created in 1957.

Weekdays: Free after 5pm | Weekends: Free