Archives & Special Collections
Forgotten, Neglected and in Ruins: Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Connecticut
Richard Schimmelpfeng Gallery
Dodd Center for Human Rights
Monday - Friday, 9am to 4pm
This exhibit shows images of factories, railroad stations and railyards, lighthouses and textile mills that were part of Connecticut’s industrial past but still remain in our towns and cities in ruins. Photographs are from the Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection and the Railroad History Collections in the UConn Archives.
Past Exhibits
- Fables, Pictures, Pulp & Pen: An Exhibition Honoring the Legacy of Richard H. Schimmelpfeng (August 30-October 15, 2021)
Online Exhibits
25 for 25: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Collecting
Online Exhibition, UConn Archives & Special Collections
Archives & Special Collections presents 25 for 25: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Collecting, a virtual, year-long exhibition celebrating collections and collecting. 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights, which brought together the collections and practices of the University’s Historical Manuscripts & Archives and Special Collections departments for the first time. Over the course of a year, Archives & Special Collections staff will explore 25 objects selected from the collections, engaging with and reflecting on the meaning of these objects and the activity of collecting over time. Through these objects, Archives & Special Collections celebrates the act of historical preservation and the recognition that collections constantly evolve, grow, and expand so that future educators, students, researchers, and learners may be inspired and informed by the objects within.
The American Approach to Montessori Teaching and Learning
Online Exhibition, UConn Archives & Special Collections
The Montessori method of education was first introduced to the United States in the early 1900s yet quickly fell out of favor with American educators. Widespread American interest in Montessori did not return until the 1950s, thanks in large part to teacher Nancy McCormick Rambusch. Rambusch founded the American Montessori Society in 1960, which sought to promote the Montessori method in the United States. AMS succeeded in reviving the Montessori method in the United States and gaining recognition for it as a valid educational system. This exhibit explores the origins of the Montessori movement in the United States and the Americanization of the Montessori method. It is comprised of materials from the American Montessori Society Records, which were donated to the UConn Archives in 2006 and digitized beginning in 2016.
Homefront: Connecticut Businesses in World War II
Online Exhibition, UConn Archives & Special Collections
The outbreak of World War II dramatically changed Connecticut businesses. Long a vibrant part of New England industry, local firms switched from making clocks and wool coats to mass producing artillery cartridges and Army pea-coats. Selections from the Connecticut business collections held by the University of Connecticut’s Archives & Special Collections paint a detailed portrait of this remarkable moment in history through the lives of the people who lived it.