by Sarah Bender
Four years ago, the University Archives opened its first exhibition in the new gallery space on the first floor of Hunt Library. “Nuts, Bolts, & Wheels: 100+ Years of Buggy” introduced the CMU community to the power of using archival materials to tell stories about the university’s past — and imagine its future.
The gallery space was funded by a gift from CMU alumni Michael and Lonna Smith. At the same time, Michael Smith, a 1968 graduate of the College of Engineering, and Lonna Smith, a 1969 graduate of the College of Fine Arts, also established an endowment to fund exhibitions that spotlight materials held by the Archives.
Today, that same exhibition program has grown from a Libraries-centered celebration of CMU’s history and collections to a campus-wide effort to recognize the stories, people, and ideas that have shaped the university.
From Objects to Stories
The goal was always to bring CMU’s history to a broader audience — not just within the Libraries, but across campus and into the spaces where the CMU community learns, works and gathers.
“The University Archives is an incredible resource that provides a glimpse into the rich history and traditions of the university, but for some people who never step through the doors, that history can be inaccessible,” said Michael Smith. “Exploring moments from CMU’s past can offer our community pride, belonging, and connections. From the start, we envisioned the exhibition program as a significant way to take that experience to them.”
For Michael and Lonna Smith University Archivist and Associate Dean for Distinctive Collections Julia Corrin, who curates the exhibits and oversees the program, achieving this required more than simply arranging objects in cases. She knew she’d have to elevate and center stories about what makes CMU special in a way that both campus and the larger community could engage with.
“We think about exhibits within the Libraries as a more in-depth exploration of moments or themes from the university’s history, where we can provide context and encourage visitors to engage deeply,” Corrin said. “But when we bring history to the community around campus, we need to tailor the content to our audience. Working in other spaces is an opportunity to think about content and materials through a new lens, and gives us an opportunity to learn new lessons about storytelling and framing.”
Central to this framing is Associate Director of Creative Heidi Wiren Kébé. As the exhibit art director and designer, Kébé is often asked to transform small and awkward spaces into something completely fresh and engaging. She enhances concepts through their surroundings, welcoming new audiences into their first serendipitous encounter with archival materials with an artistic and deliberate touch.
While Kébé focuses on the design, Anniversary Exhibits and Publishing Managing Editor Brad King assembles the content. Thanks to his background in journalism and education, he’s able to shape CMU’s past into clear, engaging narratives that resonate with a broad audience in the present day.
“Having a professional designer and an editorial director is a luxury that few other archives of our size have,” Corrin said. “We use the strengths of our team, and all of our unique resources, to frame what we’re doing differently. Every single aspect is crafted to lower barriers and bring the past to life.”
Expansion Underway
As the Archives’ exhibition program has grown, it has begun to take shape in spaces across campus — each one offering a different way of understanding a piece of CMU’s story.
At the Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) at Hazelwood Green, that work unfolds on a large scale. Visitors entering the building are met with displays that trace the region’s transformation from steelmaking to robotics, placing CMU’s work within a longer story of innovation in Pittsburgh. The Archives team worked alongside partners across the university to help develop the exhibit, drawing on materials from across campus to shape the narrative.
Elsewhere, the approach looks very different.
At the recently refreshed Maggie Murph Café, the Archives team revisited a story that had long been present in the space, but easy to overlook. When the café was renovated, the team rethought how that history could be presented. They created a more visible and engaging installation designed to catch students’ attention as they move through the space.
Corrin sees the Maggie Murph installation as an example of how the Archives is rethinking the role of history on campus — not as something tucked away or easily ignored, but as something embedded in everyday experience.
“It’s about making sure people actually see it,” she said. “Not just walk past it on their way to get a coffee.”
Future projects will continue to build on that approach. Up next, an installation in Baker Hall will bring a World War I–focused exhibit into an academic space, introducing another way for the campus community to encounter CMU’s history as part of their daily routines.
Continuing the Story
When the Smiths contributed their gift in 2019, they could only dream of how quickly the program would grow into a presence across campus.
“We had confidence that with greater exposure, CMU’s history would be brought to life in new and exciting ways,” Lonna Smith said. “But the scope of what the Archives team managed to do in just a few short years is nothing short of amazing.”
With more than a million photographs and extensive collections still to draw from, the team sees this work as only the beginning. Each new installation presents a different set of constraints, but also a new opportunity: to experiment with how stories are told, how materials are presented, and how audiences engage.
“On a campus where innovation and what’s next is such a critical part of the culture, it’s especially important to remind people that what we’re doing is built on the work and ideas of others,” Corrin said. “There is a lot of inspiration to be drawn from the questions that generations before us were asking, and by connecting the community to the larger story, we can continue to see ourselves as part of this greater trajectory of growth, learning, and creativity.”