Binghamton University Libraries' Exhibits: Bartle Library

Eclectic Collections

Where do library collections come from? Eclectic Collections looks at both personal and institutional collecting. The act of collecting can be very emotional or very deliberate, and the term eclectic supports the diverse, interdisciplinary, inclusive and multifaceted nature of the process. The Exhibit itself seeks to inform the viewer of the history of collecting, how collections were formed in the Binghamton University Libraries, and to showcase the personal collections of individuals across campus.

The exhibit was officially on view Fall 2019 through Spring 2020. However, the exhibit remained in place until Fall 2023.

Treasures from the Earth: Archaeology Through a Feminist Lens

Ready to dig in and unearth some great resources on archaeology? This exhibit will give you a glimpse into the distant, and not so distant past, by way of our diverse library resources. Explore history as discovered by women, women's experience in the field of archaeology and how feminist archaeology seeks to uncover the full spectrum of the human experience. Treasures from the Earth features contributions from the Binghamton University Anthropology Department.

Behind the Curtain: The Art of Theatre Design and Research

Have you ever wondered how the Emerald City was created? Or the Castle on the Hill? Visitors learned how theater productions are designed and studied in a behind-the-scenes exhibit at the Bartle Library. In a collaboration between the Libraries and Theatre Department, Behind the Curtain featured theatrical designs, stories, artifacts, research methods and more.

Behind the Curtain featured contributions from the Theatre Department:

• David Bisaha, PhD
• Tommy Iafrate, MFA
• Andrea Lenci-Cerchiara, MA
• Elizabeth Mozer, MFA
• Barbara Wolfe, MFA

The exhibit showcases items from our Center for the Study of the 1960s collection that recall an important year in a tumultuous decade. The exhibit was on view from May 11-October 8, 2017.

The online version of this exhibit is available. It highlights on the art and social movements that defined 1967 and a generation of young Americans as well as how the influence of the Summer of Love is still felt today.

This exhibit featured aristocratic life in the Middle Ages at the Bartle Library. Illuminated Lifestyles: Food, Sport and Books in Medieval Life gives viewers a glimpse into the past through library resources and interactive technology. Selections from the extensive publishing history of Binghamton University's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies were featured.

This exhibit featured Marion C. Link, author, journalist, philanthropist, and underwater archaeological researcher. Marion C. Link was the wife of Edwin A. Link, a prominent inventor of the Link Flight Trainer and Underwater submersible technology.

The exhibit featured primary documents from Special Collections covering multiple stages of Marion's life including family postcards, Marion's personal photography, her diary entries, college scrapbook, and various newspaper articles.

The Binghamton University Libraries developed Augmented Reality Magic Book bring these sources to life though a book visitors can browse through while hearing the voice talent of Professor Anne Brady of the Theater Department and Binghamton University Theater Major, Eric Berger.

The Binghamton University Libraries' Exhibits Committee would like to thank the Stephen David Ross University and Community Projects Fund of the Binghamton University Foundation for their generous support in funding The AR Magic Book Outreach Project.

The Glenn G. Bartle Library celebrates International Women's Day with "Make it Happen," was an exhibit featuring books, posters, and Binghamton University campus activities that promote women's equality. International Women's Day activities of the Binghamton University Globalistas are highlighted, along with the history of International Women's Day as an international endeavor. Posters from China featuring the event, which was made a national holiday, are also included. Numerous books on the topic of women's studies written by Binghamton University faculty are displayed, along with feminist campus publications such as "Hera."

Nature has been the inspiration of many great works of art, literature, and poetry. Binghamton University's Glenn G. Bartle Library and featured some of these items on display. Included was the nature photography of Binghamton University alumnus, Matthew A. Kull. This collection of beautiful full-color images is composed of scenes captured at the Binghamton University Nature Preserve. Other works on display include book selections from the Bartle Library collections on art, poetry, and literature that feature nature as the theme. 

Many of us were introduced to maps from the books we read as children. Fantasy worlds, Milne's Winnie the Pooh or Tolkien's Hobbit, visually chronicle protagonists' adventures through detailed maps of expansive mountain ranges, over oceans, or just of the backyard. Maps are not exclusive to children's books, fantasy, or science fiction novels, however. Many modern novels, such as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, include maps that are either based loosely on Earth's cartography, or that resemble a town or land which the novel parallels. These maps serve not only as guides, as a conventional map would serve, but as an additional narrative element that gives us a deeper breadth and depth of understanding. A character's inward journey is shaped by their physical one, and vice-versa.

The gardens of Japan, China, and Korea have been admired as aesthetic marvels, botanical wonders, and architectural feats, displaying the wealth of private citizens, and beautifying the holy grounds of temples. Displayed at Bartle Library were East Asian Garden books and materials from the Libraries' collections. This exhibit was in honor of the 49th annual meeting of the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) here at Binghamton.

Binghamton University’s cinema collection includes books, magazines and journals, DVDs, and yes, films. The history, theory, criticism, cinematography, and social and artistic impact of popular, documentary, and experimental films are explored in depth in the collection. DVD and VHS titles can be checked out at the Newcomb Reading Room Circulation Desk. The cinema holdings have been greatly enhanced by several donations of Allan Rogg, a New York based private collector and bibliographer, to the Libraries starting in 2006. His gifts include over 9,000 monographs spanning over one hundred years (1893-2010). Most of the Allan Rogg Collection of Modern Cinema can be found in the Fine Arts Library Stacks. However, several limited editions and unique and fragile items are housed in Special Collections.

To escape the Black Death ravaging Florence, ten young people - seven women and three men - flee to the countryside where, to pass the time, each tells one tale per night for ten days. These one hundred novellas form The Decameron (ca. 1350-3) by Giovanni Boccaccio. The Decameron weaves a kaleidoscopic web of stories of love, vice, deception, wit, and tragedy; of lusty monks, traveling merchants, adulterous wives, lovesick suitors, and jealous lovers. The tales, meant to both instruct and delight, display Giovanni Boccaccio’s passion for a tale well told. This Library exhibit featured reproductions from Boccaccio titles in Special Collections, books from the Bartle Library stacks, and images from our Digital Image Collections relating to the themes of "Love and Sex" illustrated in the Decameron.