Monday, March 23, 2024, a new exhibition opened in the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, which is located on the Oval of The Ohio State University. A collaborative exhibit that spans both the Gallery (THO 125) and the Special Collections Display Area (THO 115) on the south side of the atrium, the exhibition focuses on the teaching that is done by Ohio State’s Special Collections.*

8-foot wide poster with the name of the exhibition "Teaching with Special Collections From Vault to Classroom" with 3 photographs of students looking at special collections materials. Included is a description of exhibit, how long it will be up, and the names of the special collections that contributed to the exhibit.

Teaching with Special Collections: From Vault to Classroom

Jeremy Stone, Exhibitions Coordinator, and Cameron Sharp, Head Exhibitions Preparator, worked with the items and texts provided by the special collections curators to assemble a visual feast with creative staging of books, photographs, ephemera, and a variety of objects.

Note the tiered display of stereo cards that “offer views of historic landscapes and architectural landmarks, such as the original Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, destroyed by the Soviets in 1931” in the Architecture case (outside of THO 105) featuring materials routinely requested by Ashley Bigham for her Architecture 5290 “Slavic, East European and Eurasian Architecture” class from the Hilandar Research Library and the Herman J. Albrecht Library of Historical Architecture, which is on deposit in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.

Half of a glass exhibit case with two books lying flat, a stereo viewer, and six stereo cards stacked, two to a shelf, on a three-tiered plastic support.

Teaching with Special Collections in Architecture 5290

A stereo viewer donated by Angela Brintlinger to the Hilandar Research Library is positioned next to the cards.

The multi-tiered format is also used to great effect in the Theatre Research Institute & Independent Study case to display Colotype Postcards of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s drama The Living Corpse / Живой Трупъ as it was performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1911. These materials were part of an independent study that undergraduate Bailee Wolfe (Astronomy, Physics and Russian) conducted under the guidance of Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute curator Beth Kattelman.

half of a glass exhibit case with a book, photograph, captions and description in front of two panels of standing behind the prone items each with 9 photographs

Teaching with Special Collections in Independent Study Courses

If you have the time between now and July 31, 2024, please drop by the exhibition! Exhibit gallery hours during the Spring semester are Monday-Friday 10am-6pm, Saturdays and Sundays 12pm to 6pm; Summer semester hours are Monday-Sunday 11am to 5pm. The exhibit cases next to the atrium – including Architecture and Theatre Research Institute & Independent Study – are accessible whenever Thompson Library is open.

*Hilandar Research Library, Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library,  Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Medical Heritage Center (Health Sciences Library), Ohio Public Archives, The Ohio State University Archives, and the Historic Costumes & Textile Collection.