First Fridays: Sensory Experiences

Join us for 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. This March program in the First Fridays season features presentations by Ellen Engseth, Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA); Marguerite Ragnow, Curator, James Ford Bell Library and Special Collections and Rare Books, and Anne Good; Assistant Curator, James Ford Bell Library.

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.

IHRCA + Art

Presented by Ellen Engseth, Curator, Immigration History Research Center Archives, with special guests
Explore art in the immigration archives, including recent work by local Latinx photographers, and hear from the artists as they share about their work and inspiration.

Instructions on Taste and Smell: Sensory Experience in the Premodern World

Presented by Marguerite Ragnow, Curator, James Ford Bell Library/Special Collections and Rare Books, and Anne Good, Assistant Curator, James Ford Bell Library
Exotic pineapples that smell like strawberries that taste like wine that mean hospitality and abundance – how did the experience of tasting and smelling intertwine and create meaning in the early modern world? This presentation will draw on travel narratives, recipes books, and merchant accounts, to consider ways that paying attention to the senses enriches our understanding of the past.

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: IHRCA + Art and Instructions on Taste and Smell: Sensory Experience in the Premodern World
When: Friday, March 6, 2025 | Lunch at 11:30 a.m. | Presentations begin at noon
Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, room 120 and ONLINE | Parking and directions