Their latest exhibit, “Dog Days,” features man’s best friend. But the photographs are much more than just friendly portraits of puppies. Curated by Library Specialist Marcy Werner, “Dog Days” showcases dogs as part of the thread of American history.
“The exhibit isn’t really about dogs, but about the many stories we can tell in one exhibit spotlighting our best friend,” Werner said.
Archives and Special Collections staff at UofL Libraries came up with the idea for the exhibit as they inventoried pictures earlier this year. They found dozens of photographs of dogs within the each of the collections.
“These puppies were everywhere,” Werner said. “It is striking how many photographers saved a frame or two for the dog, even in times when film was not cheap or easy to use.
The exhibit photographs span decades and come from both private and public documentary collections housed at Photographic Archives. They show dogs with African American women voters at the polls in 1920, with American soldiers in Siberia in World War I and with a young child working on a farm.
“Dog Days” is on exhibit through Aug. 29 at in the Photographic Archives Gallery at Ekstrom Library. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.