Digging Up the Past

February 12 through May 18, 2018

Digging Up the Past uncovers the diverse, delightful, difficult, provocative, and unexpected stories from University of Minnesota’s Archives and Special Collections that have been unearthed as part of Umbra Search African American History’s effort to digitize nearly 500,000 African American history materials from across our collections.

You’ll see photographs, manuscripts, slave manifests, letters, works of art from over 160 collections and 18 collecting areas that dramatize the ways that African American history is found in our archives.

Representation of the lives and culture of African Americans comes from multiple perspectives — from the Givens Collection of African American Literature to the Andersen Horticultural Library, from the Tretter Collection of GLBT Studies to the Children’s Literature Research Collections.

Some profoundly racist and others liberatory, the materials in Digging Up the Past demonstrate how African American history shapes not only our archives of the past but also an understanding of our present.

The exhibit is open February 12 through May 18 during regular building hours at Elmer L. Andersen Library.

Exhibit Curator: Mary Lodu
Curator, Givens Collection of African American Literature: Cecily Marcus
Exhibit Designer: Darren Terpstra

Exhibit details

What: Digging Up the Past: Hidden African American Histories Across University of Minnesota Collections
When: February 12 through May 18, 2018
Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library Gallery