Images from Lavery Library’s Collection Part of MoMA Douglass Exhibit

Images from Lavery Library’s collection of Frederick Douglass newspapers are currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, as part of the exhibit, Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour.

The exhibit, now on view through September 28 in the Museum’s Second-Floor South Galleries, focuses on the life and work of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

An artist and filmmaker, Julien created a nearly 30-minute video that was featured at the MoMA for the first time alongside a select group of historical objects, including pamphlets of Douglass’s speeches, first editions of his memoirs, a facsimile of a rare manuscript laying out his ideas about photography, and photographic portraits of Douglass and his wife, Anna Murray Douglass.

Frederick Douglass was an abolitionist who broke free from chattel slavery in 1838. He became one of the most important orators, writers, and international statespersons of the 19th century. The exhibit opens with historical materials that provide further insight into Douglass’s life and career, including a whole-plate daguerreotype of Douglass by the studio Southworth & Hawes and several cartes de visite, alongside a specially designed wallpaper that features additional archival sources, such as newspaper clippings and magazine illustrations. The images from Fisher’s collection of The North Star, The Frederick Douglass’ Papers, The Douglass Monthly, and The New National Era help create the wallpaper background, which wraps around several walls leading into the installation. Together, all of these materials reveal how Douglass’s image and his ideas circulated in 19th-century America. Lessons of the Hour is named after an address that Douglass gave at the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., in 1894, a year before his death. In it, Douglass warned of lynchings and other disenfranchisements that enforced anti-Black racism. Julien alludes to this speech throughout the work.

“Today, to be a good steward of a collection means to make it accessible to audiences in all possible ways,” said Lavery’s Special Collections Librarian Michelle Price, who was instrumental in connecting MoMa with the Library’s holdings.  “Inclusion at the MoMA is evidence that Lavery’s collections are truly world class.”

Library staff toured the exhibit with Curatorial Assistant Erica DiBenedetto in early July. DiBenedetto guided library staff, including Michelle Price, Melissa Jadlos, Jenny Bigenwald, Kourtney Blackburn, Mia Breitkopf, Christina Hillman, Ben Hockenberry, Shannon Feeley, Nancy Greco, Stacia Maiorani, Kate Ross, and Britta Stackwick through the exhibit, explaining the curatorial team’s vision and the design process. DiBenedetto highlighted the significance of discovering Lavery Library’s digitized Frederick Douglass Collection and credited the library in the exhibit placard.

“The graphic designers at MoMA were thrilled at the quality and accessibility of our digital images,” said Price. “It was amazing to able to immerse ourselves in the exhibit, surrounded by images from our own collection.”

Lavery’s collection of Frederick Douglass newspapers are available online through New York Heritage.