Commemorating Day of the Dead / Conmemorando el Día de los Muertos

12/14/2022

John Barnett

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The Latin American Student Organization (LASO), the South Carolina Centro Latino, and the USC Upstate Library are pleased to share their recent collaboration--an altar and an ofrenda (offering) commemorating el Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

The altar, decorated with images of calaveras (skeletons) and colorful designs reminiscent of papel picado (cut paper), pays tribute to famous Mexican personalities from the past. The ofrenda includes a sample of pan de muerto (bread of the dead), a pastry customarily served at Day of the Dead festivities, and marigolds, a flower traditionally associated with this important cultural celebration.

The altar also features print and digital books from the library's collection.

The exhibit will be on view on the library's 1st floor until Wednesday, November 23.

Day of the Dead altar and ofrenda

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What does religion sound like? Sounds of Religion exhibit

03/24/2025

John Barnett

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Now on view on the USC Upstate Library terrace is Sounds of Religion, a Smithsonian poster exhibit that explores the diversity of American religious life through image and sound.

Choirs singing. Monks chanting. The reading of religious texts. These are religious sounds. But so are the creaking of church pews and the clanking of pots during the preparation of a communal meal. Sounds of Religion explores how rituals and gatherings of religious communities create a complex and varied soundtrack of religion in the United States.

Many of the posters in the exhibit features QR codes, which, through the use of a smart phone, allow exhibit viewers to listen to contemporary recordings representative of America's varied and distinct religious life. Americans practice many different systems of belief--Christianity; Judaism; Islam; Hinduism; Buddhism; Sikhism; Wicca; and Native American, African, African American, and New Age traditions. Every tradition creates its own unique blend of music, prayer, voices, and silence, which together help define the beliefs and practices shared by the members of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other places of spiritual devotion.

Sounds of Religion is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) in cooperation with the American Religious Sounds Project of The Ohio State University and Michigan State University. The exhibit is made possible through the generous support of The Henry Luce Foundation.

The exhibit will remain on view at USC Upstate through Ramadan, Easter, and Passover 2025.

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Meet an Intern! Spotlight on Qwinlyn Osborne

03/17/2025

Virginia Cononie

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Questions for Qwinlyn Osborne, English major at USC Upstate and Intern at USC Upstate Library.

What are you reading right now? I am reading The Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum and How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang.
What are some topics you have discussed during your internship? We have learned how some people have library anxiety and how it prevents them from asking for help. We have discussed AI, learned how to write a resumé, and that there are a variety of library careers.
What job are you going to pursue after graduation? Hopefully something in the library system or a job in editing.

A Few Facts About Julius Caesar:

March 15th is the Ides of March. It is the assassination date of Julius Caesar.
His famous quote is “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered)
The month of July is named in his honor.
Caesar played a pivotal role in the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

Want to enjoy the spring weather and longer hours? Here are some ideas:

Have a picnic at your local park.
Take a hike at one of South Carolina’s State Parks.
Plant a packet of seeds such as herbs, flowers, or your favorite vegetable.
Visit your local farmer’s market.

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New exhibit -- Bittersweet Harvest, The Bracero Program, 1942-1964

08/20/2024

John Barnett

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Photo of Mexican Braceros arriving in Los Angeles by train in 1942 Now on view in the library's 1st floor gallery space (past the library café and adjacent to the study rooms) is the poster exhibit, Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964. This bilingual exhibit (Spanish-English) examines the experiences of Mexican guest workers and their families during World War II and in the post-war era. Then some 2 million Mexican men came to the U.S. on short-term labor contracts in what became the largest guest worker program in American history, the Emergency Farm Labor Program, also known as the Bracero Program. ("Bracero" is a Spanish word indicating "manual laborer" or "one who works using his arms.")

The posters feature images and interviews by documentary photographer Leonard Nadel (1916-1990), who chronicled the experiences of Braceros. Because of World War II labor shortages, the U.S. initiated a series of agreements with the government of Mexico to recruit guest workers for American farms and railroads. Although the work was grueling and the Braceros experienced exploitation, discrimination, segregation, family separation, and other ills, the laborers made a significant impact on the political, economic, and social climate of both the United States and Mexico.

The exhibit is bookended by two posters from the Mr. Johnson Paints portrait series, one of César Estrada Chávez (1927-1993) and the second of Dolores Fernández Huerta (1930- ). Chávez was an Arizona-born Mexican American farm laborer, who later became a labor leader and civil rights activist. Huerta is a New Mexico-born, California-based Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist. Huerta and Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which evolved into the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union. Through the activism of Chávez, Huerta, and others, the Bracero Program ended in 1964.

The exhibit was organized by the National Museum of American History in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and received support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. The photographs featured in the exhibit are by Leonard Nadel.

At USC Upstate, the exhibit is presented by the library in collaboration with the South Carolina Centro Latino.

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Image credit: "The first Braceros arriving in Los Angeles by train in 1942" by Dorothea Lange, working for the US Government, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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