Musselman Library Exhibits

Special Collections Reading Room, 4th Level

Gettysburg College has been educating women since 1885. Despite this early entry into co-education, there has always been pushback against women. A new exhibit in Special Collections and College Archives, Musselman Library, explores the steps forward made by Gettysburg College women and the challenges they faced in the classroom, on the field, and in life on campus. Co-curated by Abigail Adam ’22 and Alicia Method ’23, Educating Women at Gettysburg College: Progress and Pushback uses archival documents, photographs, and artifacts to relate over a century of women’s experiences.

This exhibit is available to view in the Special Collections Reading Room during their open hours: Monday - Friday 1-5 PM and Tuesday & Wednesday 6-9 PM.

Main Level Window Bays

The posters in this series focus on parts of the Gettysburg College story that have been minimized or neglected altogether in previous histories – particularly with respect to underrepresented groups, issues, and activisms. Based on sometimes incomplete sources, they represent imperfect knowledge and are not comprehensive. They are a beginning, not an ending.

For that reason, we invite your feedback – corrections, additional information, people and events not pictured. We also invite contributions of relevant documents, photos, etc. to the College Archives, or via our digital repository, “What We Did Here: Activism at Gettysburg College.”

The story of change at Gettysburg is being written every day. You can help write it!

Additional resources:

• Gettysburg College: A Diversity Story: library-supported student project on the diversification of Gettysburg College
• This is Why We Fight: Student Activism at Gettysburg College: library-supported student project on student activism at Gettysburg College
• College and Community in Adams County: examines the evolution of service partnerships between Gettysburg College and the local community

Library Stair Tower

In the summer of 2016, Musselman Library launched the Digital Scholarship Summer Fellowship, an immersive, two-month, paid internship for Gettysburg College students.

Each fellow, with the help of a librarian partner, designed their own project and learned how to use digital tools to conduct their research and communicate their findings.

This exhibit, in the main stair tower of Musselman Library, showcases the individual projects of the summer 2021 fellows and provides a window into the DSSF experience!

Alternatively, view the exhibit online via this PDF link.

Library Apse, Main Level

Explore the artwork of First Nations artist, Carl Beam, exhibited in Musselman Library, main level apse.

Beam was one of Canada’s most ground-breaking Indigenous artists and the first contemporary Indigenous artist whose work was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada.*

From 1989 to 1992, Beam created a series of juxtaposed images called The Columbus Suite that intentionally coincided with the 500th anniversary of Columbus arriving in the Americas. These juxtapositions address the legacy of European colonization in the Americas, personal and tribal references, and treatment of the environment.

The works will be exhibited now through June 2022.

Featured image:
Carl Beam
"Sitting Bull and Whale"
1990
etching on Arches paper
Gettysburg College Fine Arts Collection

*Southcott, Mary E., "Carl Beam".  In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published December 20, 2011; Last Edited January 27, 2021.  https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/carl-beam

Library Main Level

Humans have been gazing upon the stars since ancient times. Musselman Library’s Stargazing exhibit takes you from Mayan astronomers in 3114 BCE, to Gettysburg College’s first observatory and guest registry of 1874, to the present day selection of Special Collections “heavenly” rare astronomy books.  The Stargazing exhibit, located in five display cases on the main level by the Browsing Room, will be available to view now through June 2022.