Rare Books & Special Collections // Hesburgh Libraries // University of Notre Dame

Physical Exhibits in Special Collections

Rare Books and Special Collections regularly displays materials from its holdings in our Exhibit Room (102 Hesburgh Library, at the west end of the 1st floor concourse) and on our Web site.

All exhibits are free and open to the public during our regular hours.

Current Exhibition

Tragedies of War: Images of WWII in Print Visual Culture

February - July 2025

This exhibit commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) using primarily European visual sources recently acquired by Rare Books and Special Collections. It showcases over forty works on paper, including posters, maps, propaganda ephemera, and illustrated books, as well as photographs and first-hand accounts. The exhibit explores themes of Nazi racial ideology, the Holocaust, children in war, resistance, liberation, and memories of war. By examining images created for personal use and for state-sponsored propaganda, the exhibit presents a visual narrative of the war’s profound impact on individuals and societies, offering deeper insight into how this war was experienced and remembered.

This exhibit is curated by Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), Jean McManus (Catholic Studies Librarian, University Archives), and Julia Schneider (German Language and Literature and Italian Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Libraries).

Thursday, April 10, 4:30 pm
Lecture: Robert M. Citino, "The Fascist Lair: the Battle of Berlin"

Tuesday, April 22, 4:30 pm
Yom HaShoah Program to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust

Exhibit Tours

Meet and speak with curators of the spring exhibit, "Tragedies of War: Images of WWII in Print Visual Culture."

Monday, March 31, 3:30 pm
Thursday, April 10, 3:30 pm
Tuesday, April 22, 3:30 pm

Tours of the exhibit may be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting rarebook@nd.edu.

This and other exhibits within the library are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.

Spotlight Exhibits

January-May 2025 | Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers

In 1980, the University of Notre Dame became the first major university to boycott Campbell Soup products in support of Midwestern farmworkers represented by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Toledo, OH). In a few short months, a small and dedicated cohort of students tapped into a growing movement and convinced the campus to act in solidarity.

This exhibit was created in conjunction with Somos ND, a campus-wide initiative to honor the history and legacy of Latino and Hispanic contributions to the University. It is curated by Emiliano Aguilar, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of History.

Related Event

Friday, March 28, 5:00 pm
"Faith in Action: Solidarity with Regional Migrant Farmworkers" — join us to view the spotlight exhibit and have a robust conversation with curator Emiliano Aguilar.

For information about previous spotlight exhibits, please refer to the History of Spotlight Exhibits page.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Fall 2025

International translations of Dante's Commedia

Spring 2026

TBD

Suggest an Exhibit

Many of the exhibits presented by the Department of Special Collections are produced in collaboration with members of the Notre Dame teaching and research faculty and are scheduled to coincide with significant academic conferences at the University. If you have a suggestion for a future exhibit and/or would like to assist in producing one, please contact Special Collections at 631-0290 or by e-mail.