Harry Potter exhibit makes stop at Purdue
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 03/10/2010
sponsored by
It has taken 13 years, but Harry Potter will finally be arriving at Purdue.
The “Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic and Medicine” exhibit is traveling across the nation visiting universities and providing a unique view into historical Renaissance ideas and their connection to modern sciences.
Purdue was among 12 libraries in the nation selected to host the exhibit on its tour and will be available for students, faculty and staff to experience from March 10 through April 8 at Hick’s Undergraduate Library. The exhibits are open and free to the public.
Dawn Stahura, library assistant at Hick’s Undergraduate Library and on-site coordinator for the exhibit, said this is an exciting way for everyone to learn new things while being able to connect them to a universal book.
“We are hoping people see more than just Harry Potter,” Stahura said. “We want them to learn about real Renaissance thinkers – who they were and how they inspired modern medicine; the things people were thinking about way back then.”
The Purdue exhibit will consist of panels featuring works from several Renaissance thinkers of the 15th- and 16th-century such as naturalist Konrad Gesner, alchemist Nicholas Flamel, and occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettersheim.
For the exhibition Purdue libraries has partnered with the West Lafayette Public Library, the Tippecanoe County Arts Federation and the Columbian Park Zoo in Lafayette. Each will host a variety of activities for their respective audiences.
Nick Schenkel, director of West Lafayette Public Library, said there will be exciting activities including a presentation of experiments by the Purdue Science Student Council.
“This is a great opportunity for students to get involved with the community and also, for the larger community to interact with Purdue students,” Schenkel said. “Tying in Harry Potter is a great way for kids to learn more about science, history and medicine and to get them interested.”
Stahura agreed that the exhibit will offer the chance for community bonding.
“It is good to have partners outside of Purdue,” Stahura said. “Faculty, students and staff have a tendency to forget there is a world outside of Purdue. We want people to walk away with something, even if it was a little tidbit (of knowledge) they didn’t already know.”
The traveling exhibit was organized by the National Library of Medicine, and National Institutes of Health of Bethesda, Maryland. The exhibition tour was coordinated by the American Library Association Public Program Office, Chicago.
A list of events can be found on the Purdue libraries Web site at www.lib.purdue.edu/info/harrypotter.