January - February 2024 Display

In honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black History Month, this display located near the library's Reference Desk featured materials from the College History Archives.  On display were winning examples of the college's annual MLK Poster contest and playbills from the MLK Campus Play Series.  The Series celebrated its 26th annual production, "Miss Lydia's Church," on January 20, 2024.  Dr. Dorothy E. King, retired assistant professor of sociology at Penn State Harrisburg and founder of PenOwl Productions Theatre Company, has written all of the MLK Campus Plays since 1999.  For more information about the MLK Campus Play Series, see the Penn State Harrisburg news release online here.  Faculty and staff in Archives and Special Collections are honored to be working with Dr. Dorothy King in 2024-2025 to archive and preserve all of the productions from the MLK Campus Play Series so that they will be accessible for generations to come!

 

November 7, 2023 - February 28, 2024 Display

"Tall-Tales Vintage Postcards," was curated by David Wyche, American Studies PhD Candidate and Graduate Archives Assistant in Archives and Special Collections. The display featured beautiful, color reproductions of postcards from the amazing private collection of Mr. Alan Mays. 

 

 

November-December 2023 Display

Remembering all of our U.S. veterans and military families for Veteran's Day, November 11, 2023. Thank you for your service and sacrifice today and always. This display included the scrapbook for the veteran's fraternity, XGI (Chi Gamma Iota), established at the college ca. 1970.

 

October 2023 Display

"LGBTQ+ History Month"

Did you know that, in 2023, Penn State was again named as one of the nation's most LGBTQ-friendly universities?  In partnership with Penn State Harrisburg's Student PRIDE Club, we commemorated LGBTQ+ History Month during October.  The display included LGBT-related books and materials from the College History Archives and the Alice K. Marshall Women's History Collection.  There was also free SWAG (first-come, first-served) available with the display, courtesy of the PRIDE Club!

 

 

October 2023 Display

"Zonta International and Golden Z Student Club at Penn State Harrisburg" 

Zonta International was established in 1919 and is the leading global organization for professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. In December 2019, the Zonta Club of Harrisburg-Hershey held a Charter Induction and Installation Ceremony for the new Golden Z Student Club at Penn State Harrisburg.  Advised by Professor Heather Jackson, Golden Z is a recognized and active student club on campus. If you are interested and want to get involved with Golden Z, visit https://psuharrisburg.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/goldenz.

 

 

November 7 - December 31, 2022 Display

"Happy 100th Birthday Charles M. Schulz!"

The year 2022 marked the centennial celebration of Charles M. Schulz and what would have been his 100th birthday.  Schulz was born on November 26, 1922, and became a world-famous American cartoonist and the beloved artist who created the PEANUTS© Gang and popular characters such as Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Franklin, and many others.  The Madlyn L. Hanes Library happily joined in on the celebration and offered visitors a unique and light-hearted display that featured items from the library's collections as well as from local, private collectors, including two faculty members from Penn State Harrisburg.  In the display, visitors could view Schulz's books such as Happiness is a Warm Puppy, the Apollo 10 Snoopy Astronaut Doll (ca. 1969), as well as new and vintage ephemera, toys, and collectibles that provided a welcome respite from the stress, exams, and deadlines of the fall 2022 semester.  Want more PEANUTS© and Snoopy in your life during 2023?  From January 21 through April 16, 2023, the Reading Public Museum hosted the traveling exhibition, "To the Moon:  Snoopy Soars with NASA," which was on loan from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, Santa Rosa, California. For more information about the Schulz Centennial Celebration, please visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum at https://schulzmuseum.org/.

 

May - September 2022 Display

"Summer Sounds:  Rocking Out at Penn State Harrisburg"
For most of the 1970s, students at the Capitol Campus (the original name of Penn State Harrisburg) organized a music festival every spring in May.  This tradition, which initially took place on a Sunday in front of the Olmsted Building, is one of the most celebrated events in the college's history.  The student organizers, who called themselves “Good People Productions,” aimed to provide a day of free music and fun for the entire campus community. As student and co-chairman of the event, Howie Wietz, stated, “Music does bring people together.” The first festival planned for spring 1970 was, unfortunately, canceled due to bad weather.  But, on Sunday, May 16, 1971, the first Harrisburg Rock Festival drew a crowd of over 15,000 people.  The 1972 Harrisburg Rock Festival was even more popular and held on Sunday, May 21, 1972, drawing more than 25,000 to the area and earning the event the name "Little Woodstock."  This display included photographs and ephemera drawn from the Penn State Harrisburg College History Archives.  In Spring 2023, faculty and staff in Archives and Special Collections created a blog that highlights more information about this unique tradition. 

 

March - April 2022 Display

"Women at Penn State Harrisburg (1968-2015)"
In honor of Women's History Month this March, and as part of the celebration honoring Dr. Madlyn L. Hanes (pictured left) and renaming the library in her honor, this display featured a small selection of women and women's history events that have taken place at Penn State Harrisburg since 1968.

Dr. Madlyn L. Hanes, who served as the Senior Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor from 2010-2021, retired from Penn State University on August 1, 2021, after a 33-year career at the University.  Prior to this pivotal role for the University, she served as Penn State Harrisburg's Chancellor from 2000 to 2010, and the Chief Executive Officer at Penn State Great Valley from 1997 to 2000.  From 1988 to 1997, she was the Chief Academic Officer of Penn State Delaware County, now Penn State Brandywine.  

 

January - February 2022 Display

"Honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." 

Each year, Penn State Harrisburg's Diversity and Educational Equity Committee (DEEC) honors Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s memory by sponsoring a Poster Design Contest. The winning submission is always printed in a limited run of posters. Archives and Special Collections is proud to preserve copies of the winning posters and pinback buttons and has selected several from our collection to share in this display.  The theme for the contest in 2021 was “Black Social Justice Trailblazers.” Designed by Penn State Harrisburg student, Jailyn Figueroa, the winning poster is pictured left. Please stop by to see the display near the Reference Desk in the library.

 

November-December 2021 Display

"Thank a First Responder!  Have a Holiday Season Full of Gratitude" 

Did you know that there are over 25 million first responders in the US?  During the 2021 holiday season, as we gathered with friends and family, we remembered that some tables have empty chairs because their heroes were (and still are) keeping you safe.  We honor, appreciate, and thank the many first responders in Fire, Police, EMS Personnel, Dispatch, Corrections, and Healthcare who work tirelessly to protect and help all of us every day.  This display featured original photographs of firemen and policemen in Steelton, PA, from the John Yetter Collection, as well as photographs of nurses from the Alice K. Marshall Women's History Collection.  

 

October 2021 Display

"Zonta International and Golden Z Student Club at Penn State Harrisburg" 

Zonta International was established in 1919 and is the leading global organization for professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. In December 2019, the Zonta Club of Harrisburg-Hershey held a Charter Induction and Installation Ceremony for the new Golden Z Student Club at Penn State Harrisburg.  Advised by Professor Heather Jackson, Golden Z is a recognized and active student club on campus. If you are interested and want to get involved with Golden Z, visit https://psuharrisburg.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/goldenz.

 

September 2021 Display

"We Remember 9/11:  Commemorating 20 Years of Sacrifice" 

September 11, 2021, marks twenty years since the terror attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  We remember those who lost their lives as well as all those who lost loved ones, family, and friends.  As we look back over the past twenty years, we honor the great sacrifice of the members in the U.S. military, first responders, and everyday heroes like the ones on United Airlines Flight 93, at the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, who risked their lives to save others.