This event was originally scheduled for February 2026. It will instead take place on Friday, June 5.

First Fridays: Sensory Experiences

Join us for the final event in the 2025-2026 season of First Fridays as we explore the things you can see, hear, touch, taste or smell in Archives and Special Collections. The program features presentations from the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies and the Children’s Literature Research Collections.

Light lunch at 11:30 a.m. Presentations begin at noon. A tour of the archival caverns will take place after the event concludes. ASL interpreters will be present for all First Fridays events.

Save the date for this event. Registration will open in April.

Our Ancestors Held This: Intergenerational Memory Transmission through Queer Archival Touch

Presented by Aiden Bettine, Curator, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies
The Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies holds thousands of objects and millions of sheets of paper that LGBTQ people have made, held, written on, drawn on, worn, flown, treasured, and gifted to the community. The archival materials in Tretter are meant to be touched and held by younger generations of queer and trans people to transmit the knowledge of a deep rooted and robust community history. To touch is to make an underrepresented past tangible. This presentation will share the lessons we can learn when we enable touch in the Tretter Collection.

Heartfelt, Groundbreaking, Unexpected: How Indigenous Characters Are Portrayed in Children’s Materials

Presented by Lisa Von Drasek, Curator, Children’s Literature Research Collections
Join the curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections in an examination of how Native children were portrayed in children’s literature. How did these images influence the perception of Indigenous peoples? How have these illustrations changed in contemporary publications?

About the First Fridays series

First Fridays is a series of intellectually stimulating conversations from the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries. First Fridays is made possible by a generous gift from Governor Elmer L. Andersen and Mrs. Eleanor Andersen in honor of former University Librarian Dr. Edward B. Stanford.

Event details

What: First Fridays: Our Ancestors Held This: Intergenerational Memory Transmission through Queer Archival Touch and Heartfelt, Groundbreaking, Unexpected: How Indigenous Characters Are Portrayed in Children’s Materials
When: Friday, June 5, 2025 | Lunch at 11:30 a.m. | Presentations begin at noon
Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, room 120 and ONLINE | Parking and directions