MIT Libraries

Throughout her life, Katharine Dexter McCormick widened the horizons of what was possible for women. A suffragist, philanthropist, and scientist, she broke boundaries from an early age, becoming one of the first women to graduate from MIT. She later went on to fund McCormick Hall, the first on-campus dormitory for women at MIT.

MIT Distinctive Collections saved a set of striking windows of gypsum and stained-glass, dating to the late 18th- to 19th c. Ottoman Empire. This exhibition illuminates the life of these historic windows, tracing their refracted histories from Egypt to MIT.

From Samurai into Engineers marks the 150th anniversary of the graduation of MIT’s first Japanese student, Eiichirō Honma (SB 1874), and highlights the experiences of Honma and other Japanese students at MIT who followed in his footsteps.

A new exhibit in Lewis Music Library celebrates the visionary contributions of Afrofuturist artists across various genres and mediums. From the cosmic jazz of Sun Ra and the psychedelic funk of Parliament-Funkadelic and George Clinton, to the neo-soul of Erykah Badu and the sci-fi narratives of Octavia E. Butler, these artists have pushed the boundaries of creativity and imagination.

The “Dead Cities” are a group of over 820 settlements in northwestern Syria. Masterfully carved out of gray limestone and built without cement, many stood in pristine condition until the early 20th century. This exhibit features detailed drawings, as well as maps, models, academic books, and photographs.

Under the Lens examines the work of women scientists in biology and chemistry at MIT beginning with Ellen Swallow Richards, MIT’s first woman student, through the present day, when many women scientists hold leadership positions at the Institute.

Sisters in Making works to explore and reveal the multi-level efforts of women surrounding the invention and implementation of Core Rope Memory and Magnetic Core Memory in the Apollo Guidance Computer that put man on the moon in 1969.