Love is in the Air... of the Archives!

 

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, Special Collections & Archives has created a new exhibit entitled "Love in the Archives"--a tripartite collection of romantic materials culled from the collection by Angel, Kate, and me (with Amy's guidance, of course!).

I quickly claimed any love letters we might have, since I find the correspondence between lovers fascinating. Love letters offer a unique glimpse into a person's character and into their inner emotions, thus showing a different side of a person than the public may normally see. I composed a display called "Enveloping Desire" that contains materials ranging from war letters written to sweethearts to poetry written to historical women. Unfortunately, the letters in our collection seem to have a depressing theme of unrequited love: from Sam Houston's letters to a young lady who rejected him for one of his best friends to the poetic passion of a 12th century nun for the general that left her alone for the rest of her life, hardly any of Special Collections' romance seems to end happily.





Thankfully, Kate chose a happier topic, concentrating on the various romantic productions that Trinity's Theatre department has staged throughout the years. Kate was inspired to create her display by the fact that these plays, whether modern or Shakespearean, proclaim the same transcendent power of love; a topic both contemporary and ancient audiences can agree on. She focused on Trinity's production of Romeo and Juliet in 1978, Candida in 1989, The Importance of Being Earnest in 1977, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1978.

Finally, Angel combed through the Dicke Smith collection for her display, "Mastering the Art of Love," which exhibits romantic instances of visual art found in the collection. Each of the books that Angel used in this display showcase a different type and era of artistic expression. Examples range from a collection of glamour shots of Hollywood stars to the Postsecret book (which is made up of selections from the Postsecret blog of anonymous postcard confessions) to selections from Renoir's achingly beautiful portraiture.








Make sure to stop by while the exhibit is up and enjoy these choice specimens from Special Collections & Archives! As always, questions and comments are appreciated.

--Faith Bradham, '13