Current Exhibition

The Canine Chronicles: Documenting Dogs in the Archives

“ Roger Caras, an animal welfare activist, said in 1993 that "some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place with curators in museums; others we take for walks." The archival items in The Canine Chronicles exhibit provide a glimpse into how people's lives have been impacted by dogs over the past few centuries.”
The relationship between humans and dogs spans thousands of years. The Bonn–Oberkassel dog, which is the first archeological evidence of the domestication of dogs, is 15,000 years old. Since then, dogs have made their way into every aspect of our lives. Dogs are so many things to humans - they are our best friends, our family. They offer companionship and protection. Dogs pop up throughout Rose Library’s archival collections and rare books. In some cases (like the Robert Winship Woodruff papers) pups take center stage with plenty of documentation about their birth, lives, and deaths. More commonly, though, dogs can be found in the margins. They are present in family photos or anecdotally mentioned in a letter. Despite being on the archival sidelines, dogs are an integral part of many people’s lives.