2月. 22, a 新展览 opened in Canaday exploring the lives and legacies of four people who shaped Bryn Mawr's history: 莎莉布朗, Umeko Tsuda (Class of 1893), Hilda Worthington Smith (Class of 1910), and Enid Cook (Class of 1931).
Today, thanks in part to the 伊妮德·库克31中心, 大多数布林莫尔学生, 教师, and staff know that Cook was the first Black student to attend Bryn Mawr. But perhaps they don't know that she became a world-famous virologist and, 对于许多, the other individuals celebrated by the exhibit are still mysteries.
然而, 作为展览 shows, when we ask the question “谁建造了布林茅尔??” the stories of these individuals—and of so 许多 others still untold—are essential to our history.
“的 panels for the exhibition are located on four pillars in Canaday to reinforce the idea that these individuals are pillars of the institution,” says the College’s Chief of Staff Ruth Lindeborg, who has been involved with the project since its inception.
的 genesis of “谁建造了布林茅尔??” goes all the way back to 2017, when the College created a History Working Group to examine histories of exclusion in the College’s past.
Discussions and plans related to the College’s histories continued the next year with several working groups, and in the Fall of 2019 a History Advisory Committee of 教师, 学生, 于是就有了工作人员, as was the idea for “谁建造了布林茅尔??”
的 initial exhibition is a combined effort of 研究 done by Special Collections staff including College Archivist Allison Mills, Curator for Arts and Artifacts Carrie Robbins, Special Collections Director Eric Pumroy, student intern Emma Ruth Burns ’21, and members of the President's Office staff.
Professor of History Ignacio Gallup-Diaz works with 学生 on this project and others in the College Archives through his Telling Bryn Mawr Histories Praxis course, and he will mentor four paid student interns this summer.
其他教师, 学生, and staff interested in the project can learn more about becoming involved at an 本周五的活动.
“很多, 许多, 许多 people built the College, and we aim to make it possible for the community to honor people of color and working-class people who are part of our past,盖洛普-迪亚兹说. “的 goal of the project—识别, 研究, and amplify the contributions made by lesser-known figures to Bryn Mawr's history—is important to both the College and to me and I'm looking forward to working with the student interns this summer.”
的 making of Bryn Mawr is ongoing. Its 学生, staff, and 教师 members continually reshape the College. How we tell the College's histories should reflect this diversity of voices and experiences. “谁建造了布林茅尔??" is envisioned as an ongoing, collective 研究 project aimed at telling the College's history in new ways.
This is only the beginning of a much larger project. 的 College is committed to this collective effort to change the way we understand our history. 访问 这个页面 to contribute your thoughts and ideas about whose stories should be told, who should be commemorated, 以及如何.
Student Researcher Emma Ruth Burns '21 on the Project:
"It’s really important to me to know the history of the places I am, it helps me understand my surroundings and begin to feel like I know a place. I have learned this past year how it’s necessary to interrogate what I believe to be my 'understanding,' as the history I am able to interact with easily is always only a part of the story… how I interact with it is going to be very different from others due to our differing pasts and presents.
"的re's an excellent group of people working on this project. 的y are super supportive and excited to have 学生 working to direct the project and actively help define Bryn Mawr’s past.
“这项工作很重要. 的 initiative is the outcome of years of student activism on campus in its 许多 forms, Bryn Mawr is already and will continue to be indebted to these individuals who push the school into the future. If Bryn Mawr is to use its past as a method of looking forward, it must be a past from which we have learned lessons. It must be a past that acknowledges the wrongs perpetrated and uses all the modern tools of historical critical inquiry available to us."
正在发展的历史
- Learn about student work, College projects and programs, exhibitions and more on the Bryn Mawr History Projects 页面.
- 的 Bryn Mawr History Opportunities 页面 includes information on student jobs, 相关的课程, 学生资助, 教职员工, and other avenues of support.