In conjunction with the Steen Family Symposium & Earth and Diversity Week, the Archives presents “Clover Creek @ PLU,” an exhibit highlighting archival material housed in the Pacific Lutheran University & Chambers-Clover Creek Watershed Grant Papers, 1955-2019.

[Exhibit supported the Steen Family Symposium and Earth and Diversity Week.]

During the 2022-2023 academic year, 237 PLU students participated in global and local study away programs to acquire new perspectives on critical global issues, advance their language and intercultural skills, form valuable new contacts and lasting connections, and advance their academic and career trajectory. We are excited that students were able to travel more widely in the world following the pandemic.

The Annual Wang Center Photo Contest is an opportunity for #LutesAway students to reflect upon their study away experience and provides a way for students to share the world’s images, from their perspective, with the PLU community.

See the online version of this exhibit here.

[Exhibit supported the Wang Center and Global Studies.]

This exhibit includes a selection of the library’s print books about women published within the past five years. The books cover a wide variety of issues affecting women’s lives, cultural contexts, political work, artistic achievements, and other issues. The library has an additional 383 e-books and open access online books with subjects about women that were published from 2018 to 2023. We celebrate Women’s History Month by “commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.” (https://www.womenshistorymonth.gov/).

See the online version of this exhibit here.

[Exhibit supported the Center for Gender Equity and Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies.]

Black Art Matters uplifts the diverse contributions of Black visual artists working a variety of mediums. Art as a creative expression examines history, contemporary life, and the future by documenting lived experiences; engaging social commentary, protest and social justice; surfacing uncomfortable histories; exploring emotion; creating parodies; and embracing new ways of representing ideas. The Black artists’ work in this exhibit of library books display the range of topics noted above and additional topics such as slavery, Black humanity, and Black pride expressed in a variety of styles and methods.

See the online version of this exhibit here.

[Exhibit supported the Center for Diversity, Justice, & Sustainability; Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies; and the Black Student Union.]

On November 11, the United States celebrates Veterans Day, a day dedicated to honoring those who have served our country through military service. Veterans Day honors America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. This exhibit illustrates the experiences of military veterans. It intends to share the diversity that veteran students, staff and faculty bring to Pacific Lutheran University. The exhibit was created by PLU Vet Corps Navigator Kara Atkinson (PLU ’23) as a service project to reconnect the PLU community with veterans that they may see across campus

We invite you to learn more about Lutes who are veterans, see the online version of this exhibit here.

[Exhibit supported the Center for Military Student Support; the Center for Diversity, Justice, & Sustainability; and Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies,]

October is LGBTQIA+ History Month. While we encourage engaging with these topics year-round, October is a special time to reflect on the history of LGBTQIA+ movements, moments, and iconic figures. In this exhibit, the Center for DJS, in collaboration with the PLU Library, is choosing to uplift queer authors and their work from the past to the present. We chose these authors in particular to highlight their multifaceted identities and intersecting movement work — they show up across social and civil rights movements, mediums, and communities.

We invite you to explore these authors and delve into their worlds; see the online version of this exhibit here.

[Exhibit supported the Center for Diversity, Justice, & Sustainability and Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies,]

August is Women in Translation (WIT) Month; a time to highlight some of the incredible translated writings by women from around the globe. Only 30% of women who write and publish in languages other than English are translated in the U.S. and only 36% of books translated into English are from non-European countries (Women in Translation, 2022). WIT month hopes to make changes to these numbers by celebrating translated women authors every August and making these works known to wider audiences.

The PLU Library is excited to highlight a portion of our own collection of women in translation and we hope this display brings new voices to your attention. See the online version of this exhibit here.

[Exhibit supported the Center for Gender Equity and Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies, and Languages and Literature Studies]

During the 2021-2022 academic year, 149 PLU students participated in global and local study away programs to acquire new perspectives on critical global issues, advance their language and intercultural skills, form valuable new contacts and lasting connections, and advance their academic and career trajectory. Due to the worldwide pandemic, 46 students returned home early in spring of 2020 and PLU study away was put on hold for 2020-2021. We were so excited to send students into the world again this year!

The Annual Wang Center Photo Contest is an opportunity for #LutesAway students to reflect upon their study away experience and provides a way for students to share the world’s images, from their perspective, with the PLU community.

Here is the online version of the exhibit which includes all the winning photos and videos plus each winner's explanation.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are “commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.” (https://www.womenshistorymonth.gov/).

This exhibit includes a short list of just a few women’s first achievements in the past six years, from 2017 to 2022, and print biographies about women from the Mortvedt Library collection. While there are many women and transwomen who have been the first in their position, this abbreviated list is designed to highlight the length of time in American history that women have not been included in leading roles in entertainment, business, and politics.

Here is the online version of the exhibit, which includes information about the women noted and abstracts of the books in the exhibit.

The books in this exhibit support the 10th Biennial Wang Center Symposium, "Healing: Pathways for Restoration and Renewal," which will take place online on March 9-10, 2022. Included are books are about healing, in all its forms, and books by panelists in their area of scholarship.

"Healing: Pathways for Restoration and Renewal" will explore the concept of healing understood in the broadest sense as described in the 2015 article, Healing, A Concept Analysis:
"Healing is an intervention, an outcome, and a process, and at times, all three. It also describes an ability or power, energy, and cleansing of grief, trouble, or evil. The concept is relevant in a wide range of disciplines, including medicine, nursing, psychology, public health, education, religion, and spirituality. Healing occurs in multiple dimensions—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, familial, social, communal, and environmental. Healing occurs at multiple levels from the micro level, as cellular wound healing, to the macro level, as in national and global healing." (See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653605/)

Here is the online version of this exhibit, which includes links to articles written by panelists and other resources.

(CNN)- President Joe Biden committed to nominating the nation's first Black female Supreme Court justice, as he honored retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the White House on Thursday. "The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court," Biden said. "It's long overdue in my view. I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment." - from CNN 

In honor of Black History Month, this exhibit focuses on the intersections of race, law, and justice and features print books from the collection that highlight topics that include Black women intellectuals and lawyers; women and the Supreme Court; Supreme Court cases such as Dred Scott v. Sandford and Loving v. Virginia; Jim Crow laws and the Voting Rights Act.

Here is the virtual exhibit with links to resources.

This display intends to highlight The Mortvedt Library’s graphic novel collection and their power of visual storytelling. Graphic novels are a compelling medium which combine elements of the visual arts and literature. This curated display focuses on stories related to social justice, resilience, and diverse voices. Additionally, this display contains books about graphic novels and their history and impact.

Here is the virtual exhibit with links to resources.

January is Stalking Awareness Month. The PLU Center for Gender Equity is choosing to uplift stalking awareness in this library exhibit because it often falls to the wayside in discussions of domestic violence, healthy relationships, and romantic gestures. Across media and society throughout the decades, stalking behaviors have frequently been mischaracterized as romantic, not a big deal, sweet, funny, and harmless. In reality, stalking can be scary, dangerous, isolating, and traumatic. A stalker is most often a current or former intimate partner, an acquaintance, or a family member.

Here is the virtual exhibit with links to resources.

This exhibit highlights resources for exploring the south Puget Sound indigenous Salish family of languages, including Twulshootseed. As the PLU land acknowledgement notes, “PLU is on the traditional lands of the Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island and Steilacoom peoples; we acknowledge and respect the traditional caretakers of this land.” This exhibit also highlights articles that speak to how land acknowledgements have been used, what they communicate, and what they don’t say.

Language, oral and written, is key to culture transmission and retention. To revitalize Twulshootseed, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians has a language program and a website with extensive language-learning resources such as videos, literacy books, online classes, audio files, etc. The language has an alphabet of 43 characters with 18 sounds that are not verbalized in English. To learn more about Twulshootseed visit https://www.puyalluptriballanguage.org/about/.

Translations of languages by non-indigenous speakers can be fraught with misinterpretations, misrepresentations, mispronunciations, and colored by the translator’s own biases. The language books in this exhibit, which include translations, are not authored by indigenous people.

Here is the virtual exhibit with links to resources.

"Although homeless people are often detached from the mainstream of society, they are far from antisocial. Homeless people everywhere have their own sets of skills, specialized knowledge, and codes of behavior, which help them survive and cope with the adverse conditions under which they live. Nevertheless, most members of mainstream society who encounter homeless men and women neither understand nor appreciate the root causes of homelessness, the intelligence and resourcefulness of the homeless community, and the daily struggles for survival on the street.”
— From Deutsch, J. I. (2013). Homelessness. In C. G. Bates, & J. Ciment (Eds.), Global social issues: An encyclopedia. Routledge. 

This exhibit highlights the many resources on homelessness policies, current affairs, causes, effects, etc. that can be accessed or located through the search box on the library home page and the library’s online databases, including newspaper articles, academic journal articles, book chapters, reports, e-books, and print books on the library’s shelves. Below is the virtual exhibit with links to resources. Here is the virtual exhibit with links to resources.

The 2021-2022 academic year Common Reading book is the critically acclaimed graphic novel, The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. In this timely and breathtaking memoir, Bui explores her experiences as a daughter of Vietnamese immigrants who escaped the fall of Saigon in 1975. Her book describes how she has come to understand her family’s history and her sometimes fraught relationship with her parents in light of who she has become as a daughter, wife, and a mother. Told in a graphic novel format, Bui explores the universal themes of immigration and migration, family, racism and discrimination, duty, and redemption as they relate to the modern-day Vietnamese Asian-American experience. – from https://www.plu.edu/first-year/common-reading/

Mortvedt Library has many resources to support your reading of and engagement with The Best We Could Do. In addition to print books, the library has online films and journal articles and links to other content. Here is the virtual exhibit with links to resources.

During J-Term 2021, students in Assistant Professor Kate Drazner Hoyt’s (more info here) Media Literacy COMA 388 class culminated in a final “Critical Making” project, where students built, designed, or mocked up a media literacy tool. The goal of the assignment was to envision a web that prioritized the circulation of credible information. Critical making is a process where students apply theories and concepts to a creative project or artifact, and where imaginative design – focusing more on engagement with theory and concepts, rather than functionality – is encouraged.

The students created designs and mock-ups of browser extensions, mobile apps, and other online utilities for users to help determine the credibility of online information. Their work is featured here.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, 350 PLU undergraduate students participated in global and local study away programs to acquire new perspectives on critical global issues, advance their language and intercultural skills, form valuable new contacts and lasting connections, and advance their academic and career trajectory. Due to the worldwide pandemic, 46 students returned home early in spring of 2020 and PLU study away was put on hold for 2020-2021.

The Annual Wang Center Photo Contest is an opportunity for #LutesAway students to reflect upon their study away experience and provides a way for students to share the world’s images, from their perspective, with the PLU community. The print photos are displayed in PLU’s Mortvedt Library lobby and the digital photos are displayed here as a virtual exhibit.

This exhibit is comprised of books by Black authors who discuss and analyze race and racism. The books are recent contributions to scholarship and narrative, most having been published since 2019. Book topics include feminism, fatigue, discourse, vilification, education, real estate, racism history, police violence, and mass incarceration. Themes such as social justice, criminal justice reform, persecution, exclusion, and structural inequality are explored alongside examples of persistence, resiliency, Black liberation, and humanity.

E-books as well as print books are included in order to make the exhibit accessible to campus community members who are not able to be on campus due the coronavirus pandemic. See this link.

Mortvedt Library is hosting a new popup exhibition from the National Archives, Rightfully Hers, “commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment." 

The right to vote has been denied to people based not only on gender and race, but based on other qualification/disqualifications, such as the intersection of gender and race with citizenship (who counts as a citizen?), land ownership (who owns real estate? how much real estate qualifies?), religion (e.g., in various states Baptists, Catholics, Quakers, and non-Christians were banned from voting), age, and literacy.

While the physical exhibit resides in the Mortvedt Library lobby, on the web we’ve added links to Open Access resources on the topics of 15th Amendment (Black men’s right to vote), 19th Amendment (White women’s right to vote), and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (securing Black, Latinx, and Asian women’s right to vote and Indigenous peoples right to vote). The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also made it illegal to use poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation to prevent people from voting — these tactics had been used in many states to suppress voters who had the legal right to vote.