Browse Exhibits (4 total)

Selections from Trinity College Art Collection

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The mission of the Trinity College Art Collection is to support teaching using original works of art, to preserve works of art entrusted to the Trustees of Trinity College, and to document and make such works accessible for study to students, faculty and the public.

 Assembled largely from gifts by alumni and other donors, the Trinity College Art Collection spans a diverse range of objects and time periods.  Represented primarily by individual permanent collections, holdings encompass more than 4,000 objects.

 Included are 14th-16th Century European paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Study Collection, 18th-19th Century Japanese woodblock prints from the Philip Kappel Collection of Prints, Trinity College Presidential Portraits, the Edwin Blake Memorial Collection, the George Chaplin Collection, and the Edith A. Graham Collection of Haitian Art.

 Various works from the Collection are on view in public buildings throughout campus and in special exhibitions in the College’s Widener Gallery.

The Books Behind History 219: Planet Earth: Past, Present, and Future

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This exhibit showcases the books that influenced the creation of a Trinity College class “Planet Earth.”

The class explores the effect of the natural world on human history and of humans on the natural world. Our focus is on the earth as a global system. We begin with a consideration of human and natural histories in deep time, well before the written record, and offer an argument for why those histories matter. We then examine how the historical past can be understood in the context of these planetary themes, reframing familiar events and periods in ancient and modern history by highlighting major natural changes that accompanied them, such as the redistribution of various plants and animals, the fluctuation of climate, and the development of planet-altering technologies. The course culminates in a consideration of the future planetary conditions that past and present actions may cause.  

 

Most of the books listed here are also on exhiit in the Trinity College Library on Level A near the circulation desk. They are available to be checked out and read. A few are also available online.

Freedom of Speech, the Right of Expression

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This first amendment of the United States Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

What actions fall under freedom of expression rights?  What topics or concepts are and are not protected?  What constitutes supression of these rights?  The answer to these questions may never be completely clear.  But that should not stop individuals from educating themselves on the history and philosophy behind freedom of expression in order to come to their own conclusions.

The Trinity College Library and Watkinson Library have a multitude of resources regarding freedom of expression in their collections. From secondary sources analyzing the concept in variety of ways to primary sources that serve as examples of these rights in action throughout history, these resources give researchers a wide ranging look at freedom of expression, its interpretations and practices.

This exhibit was created in conjunction with the display of freedom of speech related materials opened in February of 2018 in the Raether Library atrium display case.

Connecticut Women Fight for Suffrage

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100 years ago, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment became part of the US Constitution, forbidding discrimination based upon sex and thus guaranteeing American women the legal right to vote.  

Although a nationwide effort, brave women from Hartford and other Connecticut towns played an important role in the decades-long fight to force a male government and judicial system to support and pass the Amendment. These women were from all backgrounds and walks of life: single or married with children, students or college-educated professionals from wealthy supportive families, businesswomen, working class women laboring to support themselves in mills and factories. 

Connecticut women supporting the suffrage cause were often also active in fighting for other rights and protections such as equal rights for African Americans, establishment of worker protections and the right to unionize.  Connecticut activists included female munitions workers and union members, and even the president of a women's machinist union in the state.