Libraries

Exhibits

Frontispiece showing colored image of Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy sewing and talking from Little Women illustrated by Louis Jambor

Little Women, Illustrated : The Exhibition
 (case outside library entrance)

Coinciding with the Playhouse in the Park production of the playful drama, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (Jan. 17-Feb. 15, 2026), that unfolds as if Alcott is writing the novel in real time with characters based on her family, this exhibition highlights the work of a dozen illustrators who helped make this classic American novel so popular for 158 years

Featuring original books from UC Libraries and private collections published between 1868 and 2025, the display includes reproductions of art by and mini biographies of such celebrated American and English artists as:

May Alcott
Hammatt Billings
Clara M. Burd
Barbara Cooney
Betty Fraser
Millicent Etheldreda Gray
Louis Jámbor
Frank Merrill
Norman Rockwell
Jessie Willcox Smith
Harvé Stein
Alice Barber Stephens
Tasha Tudor

Cover of Little Women illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith
Illustration by Frank Merrill

Book jackets, frontispieces, and illustrations bring to life the adventures, bonds, romances, and losses of four March sisters--Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy—coming of age in Civil War-era Massachusetts.

Depicted honestly in both words and images, these characters desire belonging, independence, love, and purpose.  Their passions and contradictions make them eminently relatable, universal, and timeless.

Illustration by Hammatt Billings, 1869
Little Women Cover illustrated by Barbara Cooney, 1955
works-of-spirit-exhibit.jpg

Works of The Spirit
 (circulation desk case)

Works of The Spirit (2025) offers a broad perspective of relationships with religion from the lenses of DAAP students, Caity Tuttle, G Bhalerao, Issac Makanda, and Leah Kubitz. Curated by fellow DAAP Student Nico Kangur, Class of 2027, this exhibition showcases an intimate glimpse into the experiences of other students' relationships with religion in both written and artistic accounts. Religion throughout history has been an integral part of society, this fact remains unchanged. From large devotional buildings like a Cathedral in Italy to a small Byzantine necklace, personal relations within religion have been vast and complex throughout human history. By offering a contemporary lense, Works of the Spirit offers viewers an opportunity to look inward to their own relationship within modern religion and practices.

Alexander Girald wooden dolls

The Wooden Dolls by Alexander Girard 
(entryway cases)

The Wooden Dolls by Alexander Girard are a large family of wooden figures representing human and animal characters. Girard designed them in 1952 for his own use as decorative objects for his home. 

Miniature Chairs from the Vitra Museum

Furniture Miniatures Collection
(freestanding cases on first floor of library)

For over two decades, the Vitra Design Museum has been making miniature replicas of milestones in furniture design from its collection. The Furniture Miniatures Collection encapsulates the entire history of industrial furniture design – moving from Historicism and Art Nouveau to the Bauhaus and New Objectivity, from Radical Design and Postmodernism all the way up to the present day.