![](https://umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/sharing-the-past-featured-150x150.jpg)
The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery Tells the UMBC Story in Artifacts and Images
— Richard Byrne ’86
In assembling its exhibit to celebrate the founding decades of UMBC, the team in UMBC’s Special Collections who put together “Sharing the Past, Building the Future: UMBC at 50” – chief curator Tom Beck, archivist Lindsey Loeper ’04, exhibition curator Emily Hauver ’05, and librarian Susan Graham ’98 – have given the university community a chance to glimpse essential objects and images that may have escaped easy notice.
As Beck and Loeper write at the conclusion of their introductory essay:
The ideal as seen by [founding chancellor] Albin O. Kuhn in 1966 has grown greater than anyone could have imagined then. The future as contemplated by [chancellor] Calvin B.T. Lee in 1972, has arrived, and perhaps because Lee was thinking about education in the future, UMBC is prepared for the changes that have continued to propel the university forward. Along the way, the individual identity of the campus has been forged, the seeds of excellence have been sown and reaped and sown again, and a feeling of community has taken root. Research at all levels is routine at “Our UMBC” (the affectionate title of the school alma mater). Those who have been a part of the saga of UMBC will most appreciate and understand our pursuit of dreams while looking toward bigger purposes.
What follows are some of the images and artifacts contained in the exhibit. See the full exhibit online here.
“Brainstorming” by Albin O. Kuhn, 1963
(Albin O. Kuhn papers)
![“BRAINSTORMING” BY ALBIN O. KUHN, 1963](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-brainstorming-letter.jpg)
Group portrait of founding faculty and staff by Tim Ford, 1991
(University Photographs)
![GROUP PORTRAIT OF FOUNDING FACULTY AND STAFF BY TIM FORD, 1991](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-founders.jpg)
Shown are: Front Row (seated): Lucy Wilson, Robert Shedd, Julia Enos;
Middle row: Mary Jane Randolph, Homer Schamp, Evelyn Barker, Alice Robinson, Albin O. Kuhn, Ceil Nedeloff, Walt Sherwin, May Roswell, Larry Lasher, Dick Watts;
Back row: Frank Burd, Simmona Simmons, Arthur Hyman, William Rothstein, Guy Chisholm, Richard Roberts, William Bettridge, and David Lewis.
Ticket to Otis Redding show, April 22, 1967
(Robert Dietrich Collection)
![Otis Redding Ticket](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-OTIS.jpg)
The Red Brick, No.3 (May 1970)
(University Publications)
![The Red Brick](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-redbrick.jpg)
Winter Session Class discussion of Malcolm X by William Morgenstern (Winter 1971)
(University Photographs)
“UMBC Rathskeller” by Photo Service UMCP, 1971
(University Photographs)
![The Ratt](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-RAT.jpg)
location in 1971 was the Rathskeller, which was located in the basement of Hillcrest Building. Also known as
“The Ratt,” the bar was a popular location that served alcohol on campus, since the minimum age for drinking
beer and wine in Maryland was then 18 years.
View of campus (Negative #18), 1976
(University Photographs)
![UMBC Campus, 1976](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-campus-1976.jpg)
Lance Hidy 20th anniversary commemorative poster, 1986
(Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery)
![Nationally-known illustrator Lance Hidy designed the poster commemorating the 20th anniversary of the university. His work is known for its minimal detail and flat, solid colors.](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-LANCE-HIDY.jpg)
Graduate with a pin on mortarboard that reads “I did it in 1986 (I graduated),” 1986
(University Photographs)
![Graduation, 1986](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-1986.jpg)
Sculptor Paulette Raye, ’87 with the True Grit statue, December 1987
(University Photographs)
![Paulette Raye and True Grit](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-sculptor-Paulette.jpg)
Shakespeare on Wheels, As You Like It, 1990
(Theatre Records)
![Shakespeare on Wheels was created by UMBC Theatre professor William Brown. While teaching at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, his mobile Elizabethan stage traveled more than 4,000 miles throughout the country, and in 1985, the UMBC Theatre Department adopted the idea to bring Shakespeare to Baltimore. The department funded A Midsummer Night’s Dream as an academic summer session class, with a stage set mounted on a rented flatbed travel trailer. The department continued the project every summer through 1994. The goal of Shakespeare on Wheels was to “provide free, high caliber and accessible theatre for the people regardless of their race, age, abilities, religion, or economic status.”](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-AS-YOU-LIKE-IT.jpg)
flatbed travel trailer. The department continued the project every summer through 1994. The goal of Shakespeare on Wheels was to “provide free, high caliber and accessible theatre for the people regardless of their race, age, abilities, religion, or economic status.”
Alumni bonfire with the newly constructed library tower in the background, 1995
(University Photographs)
![Library in the distance, Alumni bonfire](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-mindfest.jpg)
Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park by Marlayna Demond ’11, Visual Arts 2016
(UMBC Creative Services)
![Sculpture Park](/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sharing-trees.jpg)