Exhibits
Exhibits are held year-round in the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center, located on the fourth floor of the Humanities, Social Science and Education Library in Stewart Center.
Current Exhibition on Display:
December 5 – December 19, 2025: “Beyond the Binding: Medieval Manuscripts from Farm to Fragment”
About the exhibit
“Beyond the Binding: Medieval Manuscripts from Farm to Fragment,” is curated by students in the fall 2025 course ILS 595: Medieval Manuscript Studies. The display features materials from Purdue’s own collections, alongside nine medieval manuscripts on loan from Les Enluminures through the Manuscripts in the Curriculum program.
Curated in collaboration with Assistant Professor Kristin Leaman and Clinical Associate Professor Adriana Harmeyer, the exhibit highlights rare and remarkable manuscript volumes and leaves selected and researched by students as part of their coursework. Whether you’re a lifelong medievalist or simply curious about these centuries-old texts, we invite you to explore the craftsmanship, history, and meaning embedded in these extraordinary artifacts.
Online Exhibits
Through internal and external partnerships Archives and Special Collections has created or provided materials for digital exhibitions highlighting the scope, content, and varied nature of our collections. Visit the online exhibits listed below to explore a part of Purdue history.
Flight and Space
- Amelia Earhart
- Jerry L. Ross: An Astronaut’s Journey
- Purdue’s Place in Space: From the Midwest to the Moon
Indiana History
Purdue History
- COVID Stories
- Customs and Traditions
- Facilities and Buildings Historic Database
- Historical Timeline
- History of Undergraduate Research at Purdue
- . . .Or the Fire Next Time: A Timeline of African American History at Purdue
- Purdue Publications Index
- Voices, Identities, & Silences: Investigating 150 Years of Diversity in the Purdue Archives
Purdue Alumni
- Advancing the Construction Industry through Innovation: A Part of the Charles Pankow Legacy Project
- Donald N. Heirman
Women’s Archives
- Not Given But Earned: Women’s Fight for the Vote
- We were always here: Purdue Women’s History timeline
- Quest for Equality
Collaborative Partnerships
- Queer Histories/Queer Futures: Purdue University LGBTQ Center’s 10th Anniversary, produced by the LGBTQ Center using records preserved within Purdue University Archives and Special Collections
- George Winter, with original materials are housed at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association