: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
If you want to see the current Bell Library exhibit, you had better hurry. The exhibit, “Bound Fragments: 60 Years of Collecting at the James Ford Bell Library,” closes on February 28.
The exhibit is in the T.R. Anderson Gallery, located on the 4th floor of Wilson Library on the west bank campus and can be viewed Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; evenings and weekends by appointment.
The exhibit is part of the Bell Library’s 60th Anniversary celebration. And as curator Marguerite Ragnow says, it’s important to celebrate such milestones.
“Milestones provide opportunities to come together as a community, to celebrate our common experience, to acknowledge the achievements of those who were key contributors, and to reflect on the future,” Ragnow said. “This special anniversary exhibition is the result of several years of planning and thinking about how best to represent an astonishingly rich collection that has grown to more than 30,000 items.”
About the exhibit
The exhibit materials reflect a variety of topics and themes that were chosen to represent the many facets of the collection, Ragnow said. It includes curator and staff favorites, one-of-kind items that exist nowhere else, and special gifts that reflect the commitment of the Bell family and the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library.
The exhibit also honors those who played a significant role: founder James Ford Bell, curators John (Jack) Parker and Carol Urness, and T. R. Anderson, one of the founders of the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library, as well as the donors who have contributed over the years.
“I think this exhibit will appeal to just about anyone who is interested in history … The James Ford Bell Library represents our collective history,” Ragnow said. “As curator, I feel particularly blessed to have been given charge of this magnificent collection, a collection comprised, as Mr. Bell often remarked, of ‘bound fragments of time.’”
About the James Ford Bell Library
The James Ford Bell Library advances understanding of our global heritage by documenting the history and impact of trade prior to ca. 1800 CE. Its premier collection of rare books, maps, and manuscripts, and its innovative programs support scholarship and education at all levels, enriching our community by helping to make the world we live in more meaningful.
