By Whitney Hale
In celebration of University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences' year-long exploration into the culture and history of Russia, UK Libraries continues "Reimagining Russia's Realms" throughout the spring semester with an exhibit of Soviet Cold War-era military posters from the UK Libraries Scott Soviet Military Collection. The free public poster exhibit will open with a Russian Tea at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the Hub at William T. Young Library.
The Scotts’ collection of Soviet propaganda posters includes striking large-scale images featuring the work of some noted graphic artists, as well as rare Soviet military training packets which give great insight into the preparation (and often indoctrination) of new recruits, career officers and school children. Twelve posters have been selected from this rich collection for display in Core 1 in the Hub in the Young Library.
The exhibit will formally open at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, at the Hub, and will feature brief remarks by Gordon Hogg, director of the Special Collections Library, and Karen Petrone, professor and chair of the Department of History. The exhibit will run through the spring semester.
A reception in the form of a Russian Tea will follow the remarks and include authentic Russian food, organized by the UK Russian Club. Club members will be on hand to answer any questions about Russian culture.
This poster exhibit joins the exhibition of the flags from Russia and the former Soviet Republics hanging in the Young Library Atrium and the virtual display of Pre-Soviet Russian post cards currently displayed on the video walls in the Hub. All of the exhibits are available for viewing online at http://libraries.uky.edu/rrrexhibits.
The Scott Soviet Military Collection is located in the Toyota Reading Room of Young Library. The 13,000 volume collection contains books printed during the entire Soviet era, beginning with Revolution and Civil War periods (1917-1921), to journals and encyclopedia sets that appeared during the ascendancy of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev and his programs of glasnost and perestroika, as well as post-Soviet publications into the 1990s. The poster collection is housed in the UK Libraries Special Collections Library.
To hear a podcast by Hogg on the Scott Collection, visit the UK College of Arts and Sciences' Year of Russia page at http://russia.as.uky.edu/.
UK Special Collections is home to UK Libraries' collection of rare books, Kentuckian, the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press and the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center.
The College of Arts and Sciences' Passport to the World initiative is sponsored by the A&S Advisory Board.
