In February, the University of Idaho Library featured a display to celebrate Black History Month, and as a follow up they are showing another as a commencement to Women’s History Month. This is the second display Librarian Shelley Carr has initiated in the spirit of showcasing and celebrating diversity groups on campus.
“I’m trying to do this series of history months and highlight the diversity of our communities and hopefully engage with more patrons,” Carr said. “Also it’s fun! We have some really cool books and this is a fun way for me to show it off.”
This month, she partnered with the Women’s Center to feature books, movies, profiles and other small artifacts that embody the struggles, experience and accomplishments of individuals born as women and those who identify as women.
“It’s women’s history but it’s also women’s identified history, it’s not just those who are born female at birth, it can be an inclusive history month,” Carr explained. “We can have a trans-inclusive Women’s History Month and not leave anybody out.”
Several of the items on display belong to the Women’s Center and Director Lysa Salisbury personally.
One artifact, in particular, is a small pewter candle holder in the shape of the Venus of Willendorf that used to belong to Betsy Thomas, past director of the Women’s Center.
“It’s a paleolithic replica of a statuette that is one of the oldest artifacts in the world,” Salisbury said. “It’s over 2,5000 years old, it’s (very) old, and it’s in the figure of a very voluptuous woman with big hips… it’s kind of been adopted as a feminist symbol and a symbol of body positivity.”
In addition to these artifacts, there are images with short biographies hanging on the whiteboard walls surrounding the book display.
These profiles, put together by the center’s student staff, feature a wide range of women and nonbinary individuals such as Michelle Obama, Indya Moore, Maria Moreno and Princess Diana who have each experienced life and gender in very different ways.
Some of these names may be unfamiliar to the mainstream public but that was one of the goals of this display, to highlight those who do not typically receive the spotlight.
“We gave them suggestions of things that we might include in the display but they decided to highlight two women of notable achievements,” Salisbury said. “And typically during Women’s History Month, it’s the same twenty folks that get highlighted and recognized and so we really encouraged them to look for women whose accomplishments and efforts maybe aren’t as well-known as others. So they came up with a good list, each of them picked two and printed out a picture and wrote a bio.”
One student, Maria Jaurez, Inclusion Diversity Programs assistant was particularly involved in setting things up.
“At work, we were asked to come up with two inspirational women for Women’s History Month so we can put them in the library display so that’s where the pictures came from, my staff and I, we picked the top two and put the bios to get people to look at different kinds,” Jaurez said.
“There’s a lot of different majors who work at the women’s center and so we all chose a variety of really inspiring females to display.”
In addition to these aspects of the display, there are several books that were compiled by Salisbury and Carr and are not only being displayed but are also available to be checked out.
“We have women in activism, trailblazing women artists, I’ve got a bunch of musicians and sheet music from composers and performers, a bunch of memoirs and essays, fierce women in history and then I have a fiction section of strong female characters,” Carr said. “These are all from the library and they are all available to be checked out. It’s not intended to be a stacked display, it’s intended to show off what we have so people can check out some cool stuff.”
While all of these books are currently housed in the library, they used to be a part of a separate library within the Women’s Center.
“The women’s Center used to have a library in our space and a couple of years ago, we decommissioned the library and we moved our entire collection of books over to the main library and so, all of those books that used to be in our collection are now housed in a special collection over there,” Salisbury said. “I don’t think it gets much circulation so I’m hoping that the display will bring some attention to that collection and people will check out those books more.”
All are encouraged to check out this amazing display as long as it is up, as it is important to appreciate not only the work of the women within the display but also those who helped make it happen.
“It’s really nice being displayed,” said Jaurez. “Being female, especially in college, being a minority you see, wow there are so many women that did so much before me and it’s right there, it’s not something you have to look up, it’s there for everyone to see and I think that’s really beautiful.”
Paige Fiske can be reached at [email protected]