MIT Libraries Partner with History Faculty on Slavery Project and Class
The Institute Archives and Special Collections is partnering with Craig Wilder, Barton L. Weller Professor of History, on a new fall undergraduate course and Institute project on MIT and Slavery. Students will study the history of MIT and those who supported its founding and explore the role that the slave trade and human slavery played in the development of MIT in light of 19th-century scientific and engineering needs. The Libraries’ User Experience and Web Services team will help create a website for the larger project where faculty research and student projects will inform an evolving history of MIT and slavery.
Art and Science Meet in Three-dimensional Display
This fall Hayden Library is hosting “EarthArt,” an exhibit allowing library users to create and show expressive work on the iGlobe, a large, spherical display used for presenting images, movies, and real-time data. Glenn Flierl, professor of oceanography, is organizing the exhibit, which is supported by a grant from the Council for the Arts at MIT. “We hope to engage a broad spectrum of students, researchers, staff, and faculty who would like to express their knowledge about and concern for the Earth and our environment,” says Flierl. Although the emphasis is on work related to climate and environmental concerns, students are welcome to create any type of art on the iGlobe.
MIT Reads Builds Momentum
By the numbers, the first year of the Libraries’ community-wide reading program was a great success. Three selections—Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, and The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu—explored different dimensions of diversity and inclusion. The Libraries provided more than 200 free books to students, and library copies circulated 152 times. Discussion sessions drew 138 people, and nearly 600 attended author events. Even better, MIT Reads achieved its goal of fostering understanding across the Institute. “It really did make me feel more connected to the MIT community, even while I was far away doing dissertation research,” said one participant. “I loved knowing that each book was selected by a student group on campus.”
Keep reading: This fall, the MIT community is reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chosen in partnership with My Sister’s Keeper, an initiative designed to support the continued success of MIT’s black women students. Visit libraries.mit.edu/mit-reads
