Browse Exhibits (23 total)
Menu and Cookbook exhibit
This exhibit is currently physically on display in the Haas Library Atrium until May 2022.
"By the mid-20th century an increasing segment of the menu trade hadevolved into a well-definedmarketing tool. Designs wereproduced with the consumer in mind, and food items were strategically placed in a specific hierarchy to attract the attention of the customer and to sell. In the latter part of the 20th century menu engineering became a science, especially when corporations took over a section of the food service industry. The appearance of fast food outlets and chain restaurants tempered the creative menu and at times eliminated it."
Heimann, Jim, Steven. Heller, and John F. Mariani. Menu Design in America : A Visual and Culinary History of Graphic Styles and Design 1851-985. Köln: Taschen, 2011.
The Archive and Special Collections Library at WestConn has a modest collection of menus and cookbooks that are highlighted in this exhibit.
Our menus from all over the United States date…
Mexican Art at WestConn (in English)
Provenance documentation tells the story of how a piece of art came to be where it physically resides in the world, and that story can contain enough curious twists and turns that it can even overshadow the story of the creation of the piece itself.
This exhibit is an assemblage of art whose provenance story begins in Mexico and has for the time being, oddly enough, stopped 2600 miles to the north and east of Mexico City in Danbury, Connecticut.
The inspiration for this exhibit began in 2007 with one piece of sculpture. The WCSU Archives staff were asked by the then Library Director to remove from a staff conference room a medium sized plastic and wood sculpture of a seated human figure. Rather than throw the sculpture away, which had been suggested, the Archive added the piece, which staff rather liked, to the small collection of art in the University’s Archive.
Moving the piece revealed a small label underneath its wooden base, "H.H. Ysenbourg". For eight years, the piece was…
Mexican Art at WestConn/Arte Mexicano en WestConn
Proceed in English
Proceder en Español
This online exhibit is a hopeful preamble to what we intend to be a physical exhibit of Herbert Hofmann-Ysenbourg pieces at the School of Visual and Performing Arts at WCSU. It was January 2020 when this exhibit was first proposed, and preliminary arrangements were made to mount it for fall of that year. The timing created many hurdles for this undertaking, and we have had to modify our expectations.
However, from the outset, we knew that we had to research Mexican artists known mostly in Mexico, and we would need a Spanish-speaking colleague to navigate sources that English language searches would not find. We also decided that this exhibit should also speak the language of its original audience. Pilar deCola was recommended by Dr. Alba Hawkins of the World Languages Department, and Pilar began assisting with research in the fall of 2021.
A January Term intern at the WCSU Archives (Benjamin Stevens) had done preliminary research on…
Our Own Melodies
This is a book of children'smusic with original melodies written by students in the Danbury Normal School's class of 1925. Each piece of music, most of which are based on Mother Goose rhymes, is accompanied by an original woodcut illustration. Renderings of the melody lines were created by our special projects adjunct archivist, Ann Victor.
See a full descriptionof this item.
Phrenologists, Pseudoscience & The Danbury Octagon House
The city of Danbury’s quest to preserve a singular architectural landmark of the city’s mid-19th century history will be celebrated when Western Connecticut State University presents a special exhibit highlighting the 160-year-old Octagon House and Orson Squire Fowler, whose 1848 book inspired its construction.
Ring a hunter's peal: identifying and saving a 110+ year-old painting by a Connecticut artist.
https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/relatedObjects/ZoomifyDemo/hunter.html
The Hidden Old Main
While "Old Main" is WestConn's oldest andprobably most iconic building, its interior and uses have changed considerably over the last century. For many years it was the college's onlyor mainbuilding (hence the name Old Main) and its original design answered the multiple needs that had to be met by a single facility.
This exhibit aims to bring to light some aspects of this building now no longervisible to most visitors.
Three Women Physicians in Danbury, CT (1871-1935)
https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/relatedObjects/ZoomifyDemo/drsDanbury.html
Turning over a New Leaf: Identification of a Medieval Manuscript Leaf
Manuscripts started to become popular in Europe beginning, roughly, in the 8th century AD. (An example of an 8th century Irish manuscript, courtesy of the Bodleian Library, is available below).
Used mostly for religous purposesby the churchand its adherents, the most common types of manuscripts were bibles, books of hours, and other liturgical texts.
Due to several factors, not all manuscripts survive intact into the present day; sometimes only a page survives, as is the case here at WestConn.
But how much can we learn from a single page from a medieval manuscript?
The short answer: more than I thought.
The long answer: There are some basic methods that can be utilized for document identification in general. To investigate our specific leaf, we knew that there were some things the physical object could tell us, other things that we could infer or suppose, and other things we may never know for sure.