KU Libraries partner with Social Welfare associate professor to launch inaugural David M. Bergeron and Geraldo Sousa Exhibit

LAWRENCE — In a new exhibition in Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, historical texts and contemporary artwork sit side by side, inviting intergenerational exploration and new ideas about the universal experience of growing older. 

A collaboration between KU Libraries and Sarah Jen, KU associate professor of social welfare, the “Aging, Art, and Activism: Reimagining Our Aging Futures through Creative Representations and Personal Narratives” project represents the inaugural installation of the David M. Bergeron and Geraldo Sousa Exhibit Program, with an opening reception at 5:30 p.m. March 31 at Spencer Research Library. 

Over the past year, Jen and graduate assistant Zhiqi Yi collaborated with Kansas Collection Curator Phil Cunningham and a team of Spencer Library staff to identify and select items, prepare materials for display and develop a complementary digital component. Jen’s background in social work, gerontology and intergenerational art projects combined with the libraries’ curatorial expertise and collection knowledge to bring the project to life, creating an installation that integrates archival pieces, artworks, interpretive labels and an online exhibition. 

“One of my key takeaways from participating in this process is just the overwhelming richness of the Spencer archives,” Jen said. “I came away with at least five new ideas for directions for my scholarship, including contemporary articles to write, new historical collections to explore and ways to mentor doctoral students into archival work as a possibility for their own scholarship.” 

Jen spent the majority of last summer poring over more than 100 boxes of archival material, books, magazines and other media with Yi, selecting items for the exhibit with Cunningham’s guidance and assistance from Public Engagement Librarian Caitlin Klepper and the libraries’ conservation and digitization labs to form physical and digital displays.  

“What inspired me to work with the libraries on this was the very unique opportunity to really delve into their archival materials with a clear purpose, a message about which I feel very passionate, and access to the expertise of such talented people,” Jen said. “The library staff provides so many strengths and professional skill sets that I could never attempt to replicate. The curators know their collections so well and helped me navigate what felt like an endless amount of potential exhibition material.” 

The exhibit not only highlights but builds on and extends Jen’s previous work. Beginning in 2021, she supervised the Sigler Family Aging Scholars Program in the School of Social Welfare in which students interested in working with older adults participated in community service or other hands-on projects during the academic year. A digital exhibition, the “Untold Stories of Aging,” was created through that program, featuring artworks on aging-related themes from local artists of various experience levels and a wide range of ages. In 2022, a one-day, in-person exhibition of that artwork was attended by more than 150 community members, facilitating intergenerational conversations around aging and approaches to later life.  

Given that success, Jen had been looking for ways to share the artwork with additional audiences in new formats, and the Bergeron and Sousa exhibit program provided an opportunity to venture into creative research methods and arts-based interventions with older adults while learning about displaying artwork and creating an exhibition. 

The experience has had multiple benefits for Jen. 

“I grew my professional network. I had to try new things and remain open to new experiences since it was all new and I had no idea what to expect,” she said. “But this has inspired me to pursue more archival research, to teach my students about archival research through hands-on experience and to consider curating future exhibitions, whether artistic, archival or both, in new settings as well.” 

The exhibit collaboration also encouraged new experiences, perspectives and learning for the libraries staff, with Cunningham noting that Jen brought together materials from across KU Libraries’ collections — University Archives, Kansas Collection and Special Collections — to create the exhibition.  

“That is something we as curators don't often do as we tend to focus on the collections we oversee,” Cunningham said. “But there is significant overlap in these collections. It was remarkable to see Dr. Jen pull together these collections and then connect with them locally created artworks.” 

Cunningham said he was excited to see the featured artists’ reactions to the exhibit, which is open for browsing in Spencer Research Library’s exhibit space just beyond the reception desk during regular business hours.  

“It is a really unique exhibition for the Spencer Library. When you walk through the exhibition, it builds bridges between collections as well as historical materials and contemporary artworks,” he said. “You can hear the conversations taking place between the cases and walls.” 

The Bergeron and Sousa Exhibit Program is made possible through a gift to KU Libraries from David Bergeron and Geraldo Sousa, both KU professors emeritus of English. Bergeron, a prolific author and preeminent Shakespearean scholar, uses KU Libraries' collections intensively in his research. Sousa, a scholar and instructor in the Department of English for 20 years, has been an active member of the KU Libraries Board of Advocates from its inception.