In November, a small group of Special Collections staff, other library employees, and some volunteers from the Latah County Historical Society worked to install a new exhibit on the 2nd floor of the library. It took all day, but at the end of the day, the “NEH On the Road” exhibition “For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights” was up and ready for visitors.

This exhibit uses a compelling assortment of photographs, television clips, art posters, and historic artifacts to trace how images and media disseminated to the American public transformed the modern civil rights movement and jolted Americans, both Black and white, out of a state of denial or complacency.

We were able to bring the exhibit to the UI Library through a partnership with the Latah County Historical Society (LCHS). Over the last few months, the LCHS hosted several talks in conjunction with the exhibit, which was on display from November 2020 through March 2021. Anyone with VandalCard access was able to view it during the library’s open hours. Community members were able to view the exhibit Mondays between 10am-12pm and Thursdays between 2pm-4pm, or by appointment.

A couple of weeks ago, when campus was quiet due to Spring Break, Special Collections was busy in the library. The final day for our NEH On the Road exhibit “For All the World to See” was March 16th, The following day (St. Patrick’s Day), Special Collections, with a vast amount of help from the rest of the library and the Latah County Historical Society, worked frantically to uninstall the exhibit. We started the prep work at 9:00 a.m. and the exhibit was dismantled and back in its crates by 3:00 p.m. The next day, Special Collections staff began moving crates out of storage in preparation to be shipped on Friday. Then, on a grey and drizzly Friday morning, we loaded the sixteen crates into the semi-truck parked in front of the library. There were a couple of snafus throughout the process, but we successfully saw the exhibit off to its next destination. We are so glad that we were able to host such an incredible exhibit, and we hope to have similar opportunities in the future.

One of our Special Collections staff owns a restaurant with her husband, who brought us wontons and burgers when he came to help us move crates! Thanks to Paradise Grill and Cafe for the amazing moving-day treats!