The Perkins Gallery remains closed for renovation until August 2008.
Special Collections Gallery
Picturing Home: Family Albums as Historical Memoir
This evocative exhibit documents the history of four generations of the Davis family of Hampton, Virginia. Chloe Tarrant Campbell created the first photography album in the 1870s prior to moving from Alabama to Mississippi. Her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughters continued the photographic tradition, creating a rich record of African American life from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement. The exhibit, which traces the maternal line of Chapel Hill donor Louise Davis Stone, is drawn from the Davis Family Papers Collection.
“I’m impressed by what collections can teach someone who has no knowledge of black middle class life. White people don’t know our aspirations, goals and gracious living. It’s about dispelling stereotypes. We had a life. We still have a life. We enjoyed the creature comforts despite segregation and racism.”
–Louise Davis Stone
Driftless: Photographs from Iowa
Black-and-white photographs by Danny Wilcox Frazier of a contemporary rural Iowa of vanishing towns and transformed landscapes. As viewers study these images, they will also see what is happening in many other parts of the United States. A version of this exhibit is available online.
Hours for the Special Collections Gallery: Monday-Saturday, 9am-9pm, and 10am-9pm on Sunday. Call 919.660.5968 or visit http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/ for more information.