Making Connections
Archives and Imagination
October 2010
curated by
Jaime Margolotti
American Archives Month raises public awareness about the importance of historic documents and records in archives and special collections. The Archives Month theme for 2010 is “Making Connections: Archives and Imagination.” Archivists/Librarians assist people from all walks of life to find historical information by knowing collections of original records and by identifying data that may be unknown to the researcher. Thus, they lead the way in exploring the connections among data and documents in researching historical records. The creative encounter with the past involves knowing where archives and records are located, knowing how to search for information, and knowing how to interpret information from other times and other cultures.
This small exhibition on the Hazlitt family, particularly writer William Hazlitt (1778-1830), brings together several of the different kinds of materials that can be found in the University of Delaware Library Special Collections--diaries, correspondence, artwork, and books--in order to shed light on his influences and impact. William Hazlitt developed into a prominent literary, art, and social critic, with time also spent as a painter and journalist. He wrote essays on a wide variety of topics, influencing the development of the form.