Current Exhibit

Beauty Out of the Ashes: Printed Works of the Harlem Renaissance, 1923-1936

On View January 25–June 15, 2023 - Main (Thompson) Library

2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Jean Toomer’s innovative book Cane. This text is now recognized as a high point in the literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, and the centenary of its appearance provides an ideal occasion to reflect upon it and other works of the time. The Vassar Library exhibition Beauty Out of the Ashes: Printed Works of the Harlem Renaissance, 1923-1936 represents one attempt to do this. The title comes from the last line of the essay “Beauty Instead of Ashes,” written by Alain Locke, a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. On view is a representative sampling of titles as they first appeared.

To learn more visit the online exhibition here: https://vclibrary.vassarspaces.net/beauty-out-of-the-ashes/index

Past Exhibits Available Online

• Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo’s Natural and General History of the Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea: An Exhibition
  (Fall 2022)
• Ilse Schreiber-Noll: Nature, and Nature Defiled
  (Spring 2022)
• Some Rare Editions of Dante in Special Collections
  (Fall 2021)
• Work Prints: Eric Lindbloom’s Panoramas of the Hudson Valley
  (Spring 2021)
• Votes for Women: Vassar and the Politics of Women's Suffrage
  (Fall 2020)

Past Exhibit Highlights

• The Bannon McHenry James Merrill Collection
  (January 29 to June 8, 2020)
• Africana Studies, 1969-2019: A History of Imagining Otherwise
  (September 19 to December 22, 2019)
• Ivan Turgenev and His Library
  (January 21 to June 10, 2019)
• Homer's Odyssey: A Sampling of Editions in English 1616-2017
  (January–June, 2018)
• The Children’s Books of Nancy Willard
  (Aug 30–Dec 11, 2017)
• Vincent and Vassar
  (May–October 2017)
• Edna St.Vincent Millay: Treasures from Steepletop
  (January–June 2017)
• Shakespeare at Vassar
  (September–December 7, 2016)
• Seeing the Sun: Maria Mitchell’s Observations, 1868-1888
  (January–June, 2016)
• James Joyce’s Ulysses: Text and Art
  (February–May, 2015)
• The Age of Alice: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Nonsense in Victorian England
  (February–May, 2015)
• Never Before Has Your Like Been Printed: The Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493
  (August–December, 2014)
• The Architect’s Library: Notable Books on Architectural Themes in the Vassar College Library
  (January–May, 2014)
• W.K. Rose and the Rose Fellowship
  (August–December, 2013)
• The Artist's Book in Wales: Shirley Jones and the Red Hen Press
  (January–May, 2013)
• Reexamining Books: Book Objects and Artist's Books by Werner Pfeiffer
  (September–December, 2012)
• Mary McCarthy and Vassar
  (March–June, 2012)
• Hand, Voice & Vision: Thirty Years of Artists' Books from the Women's Studio Workshop
  (January–March, 2012)
• From the Archive: Discovering Elizabeth Bishop
  (September–December, 2011)
• The Most Perfect Education of Body, Mind, and Heart
  (January–June 2011)
• Ars Omnia Tuetur: 25 Years of Fine Printing at the Thornwillow Press
• Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn
  (January–May, 2010)
• Poetry of the Hudson
  (September–December, 2009)
• Charles Dickens in the Marketplace
  (Feburary–May, 2009)
• Robert Owen: The Delicious Dream of the Future
  (September–December, 2008)
• My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
  (April 7–April 30, 2008)
• Walt Whitman and John Burroughs: Literary Comrades
  (January–June, 2008)
• A Life in Art and Letters: Priscilla Morgan
  (September–December, 2007)
• Mapping America: 500 Years of Cartographic Depictions
  (Feburary–May, 2007)
• Bernard Shaw: Portraits and Portrayals
  (September–December, 2006)
• The Fergusson Years: Vassar, 1986-2006
  (January–May, 2006)
• Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary: Sources and Editions
  (September–December, 2005)
• Albert Einstein: Life and Letters, 1905-1955
  (February 1–May 4, 2005)
• Elizabeth Bishop: A Growing Legacy
  (September–December, 2004)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin in Print: The Collection of Mary C. Schlosser
  (January 27–May 15, 2004)
• Teresa Carreño: Walküre of the Piano
  (September–December, 2003)
• Incunabula at Vassar: Examples of Western Printing in its Infancy
  (April–June, 2003)
• Mary McCarthy: Adding to the Legacy
  (October, 2001)
• Treasures of Americana, 1760-1830
  (May–June, 2001)