SEEDS OF TIME
Mass Aggie Seed Library
Science and Engineering Library
On display through May 2026
Photography by Dr. John Marston, paleoethnobotanist, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, Director of Archaeology Program at Boston University. Seeds of Time explores the microscopic world of seeds and what they can teach us about ecology, anatomy, agriculture, and evolution. The images, taken through macrophotography and scanning electron microscopy, highlight the complex evolutionary history of seeds and the role of seed anatomy in the propagation of plants.
CITIZEN SCIENCE FOR THE COMMON GOOD
Science and Engineering Library
On display through May 2026
The exhibit features the City Nature Challenge Western Mass biodiversity survey, Stall Catchers for Alzheimer’s research, Foldit protein discovery, Project Sidewalk for accessible infrastructure, and other citizen science projects for the common good. The exhibit also highlights resources available at the Science and Engineering Library, such as Citizen Science Kits and literature and services to support researchers and instructors interested in incorporating citizen science into their practice.
CONFLUENCES: MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS
AND EARLY PRINT AT UMASS AMHERST
Special Collections Reading Room
Floor 25, Du Bois Library
On display through May 2026
The exhibit of a selection of medieval manuscripts and early print books provides a closer look at UMass Amherst’s 12th-through 16th-century volumes, vital to the university as a teaching ollection. “Confluences” explores relationships between text and image, scroll and codex (bound book), and handwritten and printed volumes.
ALTERNATE WORLDS
AN EXHIBIT FROM THE ROBERT S. COX SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES RESEARCH CENTER (SCUA)
On display through May 2026
SCUA’s new exhibit showcases science fiction, with particular attention to the UMass Amherst Science Fiction Society, one of the oldest science fiction clubs in the nation. Also featuring early science fiction books and magazines and author Philip K. Dick, and incorporating W. E. B. Du Bois and 18th-century poet Phillis Wheatley into a look at Afrofuturism, the exhibit presents a varied and colorful look at how science fiction explores potential impacts, sometimes satirically, on society, humanity, and the future.