Lindsay McCrea and Tori Woodard
As part of their responsibilities while interning at the Archives at Stevenson University, two PHIST majors, Lindsay McCrea and Tori Woodard, helped design a regional exhibition of rare and beautiful sacred art. Entitled “Hallowed Beauty: A Regional Exhibition of Sacred Art and Text,” the exhibition involved the archives and special collections of Stevenson University, Towson University Cook Library, Loyola Notre Dame Library, and the archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
The first regional exhibition of its kind in nearly 75 years, the exhibition engaged the public with some of the rarest and most beautiful religious pieces in Central Maryland. Sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, the exhibition drew more than 1600 visitors.
Lindsay and Tori worked in designing and installing the Stevenson display of the Maryland Bible Society’s rare first edition, first imprint, King James “He” Bible from 1611, as well as a scrapbook dating from the early 19th century containing engravings from Visscher’s Theatrum Biblicum of 1674. As is the practice in Stevenson’s PHIST program, having completed the University’s “Intro to Archives” course the two undergraduate interns planned the exhibit and handled and installed all materials.
The focus of the exhibition was to engage the public in viewing the exhibits through the variety of lenses offered by the Humanities. Visitors were treated to interpretations of the materials as if seen through the eyes of professors of history, English, art, government, religion, business, or science, and, in so doing, to develop a new perspective on what can be learned from the archives in our communities.