Browse Exhibits (34 total)
Book Bans on the Rise: Libraries, Authors, and Communities Resist
For countless communities across the United States, libraries are crucial spaces. They provide resources and services for those in need and those who are curious, and just about everyone in between. Equitable Access to Information and Library Services and Intellectual Freedom are just two of the key action areas of libraries, according to the American Library Association. But over the last few years, local and statewide book challenges have steadily increased. Many have gone to social media platforms to voice their opposition to the bans and provide their perspectives.
This collection and exhibit attempts to document just some of the responses to book bans between 2020 to 2022. The 30 artifacts in this collection come from a variety of sources, ranging from the American Library Association, state level library associations, local libraries, authors, and local community members who oppose book banning. This collection is meant to demonstrate the breadth of support for intellectual freedom and access in the face of book bans.
Embroidery of Ukraine: The Exhibit
Embroidery flourishes in many parts of the world. It seems to be an art whose practitioners freely trade designs since similar motifs exist in many cultures. This online collection focuses on the European country of Ukraine and embroidery as they practice it there and in Ukrainian American communities here in the United States.
Ukrainian embroiderers ascribe spiritual meaning to the designs they use in their craft. This collection looks at some of the most prevalent, enduring motifs that one can choose for special projects or intentions.
As an unsought war devastated the land and people of Ukraine, in May 2022, Twitter saw many greetings exchanged for Vyshyvanka Day, a holiday dedicated to the traditional embroidered blouse, vyshyvanka. The collection looks at the origin and celebration of this day. During such devastation, this joy and pride can seem surprising. It expressed hope and meaning that caught on beyond the borders of Ukraine.
Like all immigrants to the United States, Ukrainian people bring the gift of their culture with them; one aspect is embroidery on shirts and more. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, with local cultural heritage groups, conducts ethnographic studies around the country. This collection highlights some of the work done in Ukrainian American communities in Chicago, Illinois, and Rhode island in the 1970s.
For visitors who feel inspired to try their hand at Ukrainian-style embroidery, the last page of the exhibit displays several patterns for consideration. These patterns also provide an example of one of the ways embroiderers communicate and learn their art.
The resources in this collection come from the Internet. The sources are online news services, a blog, an online encyclopedia, a foundation website, social media, a digital library, and a web archive. They are shared here with the intent of educating viewers as well as inspiring creativity and human solidarity.
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Worship the cat: the rise of cat memes
Worship the cat: the rise of cat memes is a digital exhibit dedicated to showing the different kinds of cat memes that have been shared on the internet throughout the 21st century.
There has been evidence of cat worship since the days of Egypt and through the many depictions of cats since, but the age of the internet has rocketed the domestic house cat into inescapable visibility. Cats have become jokes to vessels for particular emotions or expressions. It is nearly impossible to visit a social media website and not find some evidence of cats and cat memes.
This exhibit focuses on some "template" memes, iterations of those memes, webcomics that have some foot in the cat meme world, videos, gifs, and articles. Together, these illustrate a vast time from early blogs to TikTok to BBC and how these formats have disseminated memes.