By Matt Dotson
Moody Memorial Library has “gone down the rabbit hole” as it and other university libraries celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
The library collaborated with the 2015 Baylor Libraries Symposium titled “Alice at 150,” and created the exhibit dedicated to Carroll’s tale.
The exhibit offers historical trivia behind what inspired various parts of the book, items that are mentioned in the novel and various books and stories based on the novel.
Exhibit patron Kathy Hillman said each year, an interdisciplinary committee selects a work to highlight for the libraries’ symposium.
Hillman, who is the director of Baptist Collections Library Advancement, said they chose this work because it is the 150th anniversary of the novel’s first edition.
Hillman said the symposium event brings together keynote speakers who have published and written extensively about the writer or book.
Papers and presentations are given by faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students.
“There are a number of different presentations,” Hillman said. “They will range from theater and art to history, literature and even math. There is a lot of math in ‘Alice in Wonderland.’”
This is the first time the library has created an exhibit to complement a symposium. Hillman said they did not create exhibits for the 2013 and 2014 symposiums because the books chosen for the events did not lend themselves toward exhibits.
Hillman said whether or not they do an exhibit depends on a number of factors, including how the committee can tie library materials, events on campus and other pertinent information to the book and the symposium.
Jimmie Sauer, a Clint Services staff member, said she likes the exhibit and that Moody will add to it in the near future.
“We would say that our Baylor students, our faculty, our staff and society in general has been influenced by any of the books we would choose for the Library Symposium.” Hillman said.
She also mentioned the influence Lewis had on various cultural elements as a writer.
Carroll was born in Cheshire, England, and was known for incorporating various aspects of his life into a literary genre known as literary nonsense.
“Alice in Wonderland” is Carroll’s best-known work, and was fashioned after an 11-year-old named Alice Liddell.
Students, faculty and the community are invited to the exhibit located in the Goodpasture Concourse of Moody as well as the Jones Library lobby.
There will also be a small exhibit that will include a first edition “Alice in Wonderland” book at the Armstrong Browning Library.
The first event of the symposium will be a public reading of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from 3:30 to 6:15 p.m. on October 6 in the Allbritton Foyer at Moody Library.
