Online Exhibits
Smith Digital Collections
100 Years Empowering Change [Internet Archive]
A website of the history of the Smith College School for Social Work made to commemorate its 100 year anniversary, featuring images, texts, oral histories, and videos.
"A Perennial Blessing": Celebrating Sophia Smith [Internet Archive]
An online exhibition documents what is known about Sophia Smith -- her life, her times and her continuing legacy -- based on contemporary sources and original materials in the archival collections at Smith College. Adapted from an exhibit prepared by College Archivist Margery Sly and Jacque Bradley '97 on view in the Smith College Archives from January to August 1996.
Abundant Life to All: The Y.W.C.A. of the U.S.A
An exhibit of images and documents from the records of the YWCA of the U.S.A., dating from the late 19th-century to the 1980s. Major themes of the exhibit are interracial education, Christian faith and social action and Industrial awakening.
Across the Generations: Exploring U.S. History through Family Papers
A rich selection of documents and images portray American family life from the early 19th to the mid-20th century. From the collections of four families: the Bodmans, Dunhams, Garrisons, and Hales. Themes of the exhibit are Family Life, Social Awareness and Reform, Arts and Leisure and Work.
Agents of Social Change: New Resources on 20th-Century Women's Activism
An exhibit featuring eight collections of 20th-century progressive activists: Constance Baker Motley, Dorothy Kenyon, Mary Kaufman, Frances Fox Piven, Jessie Lloyd O'Connor and Gloria Steinem; and two grassroots feminist organizations: the National Congress of Neighborhood Women and the Women's Action Alliance.
Cabinet of Culinary Curiosities: Books & Manuscripts from the Mortimer Rare Book Collection
This is an array of more than fifty culinary curiosities from books and manuscripts, featuring images and descriptions of food and eating from the 16th through the 21st centuries. The exhibition was inspired by Renaissance cabinets of curiosities, private collections of esoterica and by the 2010 Museums10 theme "Table for Ten: The Art, History and Science of Food."
Charles Dickens at 200
An online exhibition of archival materials by and about Charles Dickens, the 19th-century British author. Includes a number of his serialized novels in "original parts" and illustrations from the Mortimer Rare Book Collection. The exhibition was on view from January 15 - April 15, 2012.
Charles E. Skaggs: A Life with Letters
Charles Skaggs was a printer, calligrapher, typographic and book jacket designer, mainly in Chicago and New York in the 20th century. His entire career is highlighted in this exhibition featuring original art work and calligraphy, his book and jacket designs and articles written by him. The work of a number of his colleagues in the world of lettering and book arts also is shown.
Drawing From the Past: Maya Antiquity Through the Eyes of Frederick Catherwood
An online exhibition of lithographs from Frederick Catherwood's Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan (1844) curated by students in the First Year Seminar, “Making Sense of the Pre-Columbian" in the Spring of 2006.
Ever-Widening Circle of Friendship: YWCA Overseas Secretaries from China to Liberia
An online exhibit of selections from the personal papers of five American women who worked across the world for the Young Women’s Christian Association from the 1910s to the 1960s in Brazil, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, India, Liberia, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey.
Girl Zines in the Sophia Smith Collection [Internet Archive]
A sampling of Zine covers from the Girl Zines Collection created primarily by young women and girls, circa 1980s to the present.
Growing Branches: A History of Smith College's Specialty Libraries [Internet Archive]
Each of Smith College’s branch libraries has its own unique history and place within the scholarly community. These exhibitions, from 2010, give some background of the events and people behind the libraries' founding, and the physical spaces they have occupied over the years.
Heart of Our Place of Learning: William Allan Neilson Library, 1909 - 2009 [Internet Archive]
Neilson Library opened for research and discovery on November 22, 1909. To celebrate the Library’s centennial and document the history of Smith's first library building, the College Archives presents this exhibition, which includes letters, photographs, architectural drawings and ephemera, illustrating the library's history.
History of the Black Students Alliance at Smith College [Internet Archive]
Otelia Cromwell, matriculated. The BSA was chartered in 1968. This online exhibition (2008) includes photographs and news clippings. Significant moments include the Mwangi Cultural Center (Lily Hall) and the October Occupation (1980).
Jane Lakes Harman: A Woman of Intelligence
An exhibit celebrating the life and work of U.S. Representative Jane Lakes Harman (Smith class of 1966), particularly her first three terms in Congress (1993-1998).
Leslie Stephen's Photograph Album
In this online exhibition, images from Leslie Stephen's photograph album are accompanied by descriptions and quotations from his epistolary memoir, the Mausoleum Book, written to mourn the death of his wife, Julia, in 1895. Leslie Stephen (1832-1904) was an editor, biographer, philosopher, intellectual historian, alpinist, literary critic and Virginia Woolf's father.
Marion Dodd and The Hampshire Bookshop [Internet Archive]
An exhibition of books and images—from Smith College Special Collections—marks the centennial of the founding of The Hampshire Bookshop in Northampton, MA in 1916.
Power of Women's Voices: Selections from the Voices of Feminism Project
An exhibit of selections from the personal papers of three participants in the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project: Joan E. Biren (JEB), filmmaker, photographer, lesbian activist; Loretta Ross, reproductive rights and civil activist; Carmen Vázquez, lesbian activist.
Revealing the Obscure in American Journalism: Pauline Frederick and the German Problem [Internet Archive]
An exhibit which highlights the papers of noted World War II correspondent Pauline Frederick and offers a unique and intriguing look into the cultural climate of post-war Germany.
Unconquered by Flames: The Literary Lights of Yaddo
The renowned artists' retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York, is highlighted in this exhibition including images and documents from the paper of poet Lola Ridge, one of the creative community's first guests, and poet Constance Carrier, Smith class of 1929.
Warm Place in My Heart: Mary Josephine Rogers and Smith College [Internet Archive]
Mary Josephine Rogers (1882-1955) graduated from Smith College in 1905. Rogers went on to found the Maryknoll Sisters, a group of Catholic Sisters dedicated to missionary work overseas. This exhibition documents her life as a Smith College student and the development of her interest in Catholic missions.
Women Reading in America [Internet Archive]
An exhibition curated by students as a supplement to "A Place of Reading," a loan exhibition from the American Antiquarian Society on view in Neilson Library in the Spring of 2013. The exhibition showcases books selected from the Mortimer Rare Book Collection that are written by, about or intended for women in the late 19th century.
Woolf in the World: A Pen and a Press of Her Own
An exhibition of Virginia Woolf's manuscripts and Hogarth Press first editions mounted in conjunction with the Thirteenth Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf, held June 5-8, 2003 at Smith College. The focus of the exhibition reflects the theme of the conference--Woolf in the Real World.