Looking Forward into the Past
at the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department

An Exhibit of Things Rare, Odd, and Unexpected
Karen Adler Abramson, University Archivist

If the Boston Sunday Globe is correct, then "thing studies" appears to be on the rise in academic scholarship.¹ Recent publications have addressed how products of material culture, such as the Bialetti espresso maker and the Russian constructivist flapper dress, have both influenced, and been influenced by, human history. Certainly, archives, museums, and special collections repositories have much to contribute to this growing discourse, as they are blessed in things ranging from the prosaic to the profound. This fact is reflected in the current exhibit on display at the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department. Entitled "The Rare, the Odd, & the Unexpected: Secrets from the Vault," the exhibit highlights the more unusual and surprising "things" housed in the Department. Objects that are rare, humorous, thought-provoking, macabre, iconic, priceless, commonplace, and even bizarre are on display, demonstrating that archives and special collections inventories include far more than traditional books and manuscripts. We invite all members of the Brandeis community to visit the exhibit and to enjoy a sampling of the many treasures housed within Archives and Special Collections.

For more information, please call 781.736.4701 or e-mail kabramso@brandeis.edu.

¹"Ideas." Boston Sunday Globe 9 January 2005: F5.

Archives Photo Op

Martin Luther King, Jr. with Brandeis students during his visit to the campus in 1957.

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