Beyond the Margin draws from Haverford’s Quaker and Special Collections including the college archives to explore the reading communities and rituals of early Haverford students from its founding to the early 19th century.
Included in the materials are editorials which declare a need for Quaker young men to have a liberal education and urge the founding of Haverford, library catalogues of student literary societies, and remnants from a yearly, student-run textbook cremation ceremony including invitations and an urn.
This exhibit began with a question about the subversive: were these extravagant student ceremonies with rich costumes, fantastical imagination, and the burning of textbooks antithetical to the rigorous, practical Quaker foundations of Haverford?
What we found is that the answer is more complex than a simple yes or no. Over time, the lens shifted from considering the contradictions to instead looking at the ways that the Quaker intentions of the college seemed to inspire and even license student agency and creativity. While such engagements in textbook cremations may have been fanciful, they were not frivolous. Through their participation in such a ritual, students were committed to intense curiosity, the development of agile organizational structures, production of knowledge, and the celebration of community.
We hope this site which summarizes much of the physical exhibit which opened on March 21, 2014 at Magill Library in Haverford College will provide a space to wander through these materials and their histories.
Gratitude
Exhibits, especially those of hybrid media are always the work of many hands and much generosity.
A special thanks to:
My collaborator and curator of the Neatline Invitations as well as digital designer extraordinaire, Nate Rehm-Daly, HC ’16. Nate is a member of Haverford’s Digital Scholarship Team.
Terry Snyder and Laurie Allen who really guided this exhibit from its inception and met with me often to offer generative ideas and generous feedback.
Darin Hayton, Robert Germany, Bret Mulligan, Deborah Roberts, and Sydnor Roy who were greatly enthusiastic about the project even when it’s threads were only loosely connected.
Ann Upton, Margaret Shaus, and Jeremiah Mercurio for their endless willingness to engage with the ideas and share their expertise.
Terry Snyder, Lindsay Reckson, and Laura McGrane for inviting me to test out ideas in their classes and providing the provocative frameworks such as the Mummer’s Parade, Lady Gaga, Frankenstein, and 18th century circulation networks; these truly lent a new sense of spectacle and embodiment. Also thanks to Katherine Rowe, whose class first prompted me research technologies of reading and archives.
Mike Zarafonetis, Ivan Goldsmith HC ’16, Mohamed Abdalkader ’14, and Laurie Allen whose digital daring and expertise allowed us to trial new ways of using platforms.
Kaye Edwards, Margaret Shaus, Chris Densmore, Pat O’Donnell, Ann Upton, Jim Krippner, and Laurie Allen, who despite an extremely busy semester lent their eyes and open minds to a slew of labels.
Bruce Bumbarger and David Cook who made the sketches behind the physical exhibit a reality, especially Bruce whose ideas for displaying the invitations captured all we’d hoped to highlight.
And last but in no way least to Dan Burger-Lenehan who spread the word about the exhibit and the discussion we had.
–Jen Rajchel, Digital Scholarship Curator at Haverford Libraries