Visitors to URI Library can 'Walk Through Time'
Permanent photo exhibit opens May 5

KINGSTON, R.I. -- May 3, 2000 -- Visitors to the University of Rhode Island Library can Walk Through Time, thanks to a permanent exhibit of more than 300 photographs and images that document the University's history as well as local, national, and international culture and events of the 20th Century.

The exhibit opens this Friday, May 5 at 2 p.m. in the Library's Galanti Lounge. The public is welcome. William Metz, professor emeritus of history at URI, will set the exhibit's historical context. A tour of Walk Through Time will immediately follow. A reception is planned at 3 p.m. The exhibit may be viewed anytime the URI Library is open.

The exhibit's 34 panels begin just outside the Galanti Lounge on the third floor. They are displayed in chronological order, on four sides of the library (including the original exterior wall.)

Originally produced in 1992 by URI's Advancement Division to celebrate URI's Centennial, Walk Through Time has been enlarged and updated for the Millenium.

In 1992, literally thousands of photographs, including every page of every yearbook, were pored over to select approximately 160 images that best represented more than 100 years of life at the University of Rhode Island. "

"The goal was not only to depict events in the university's history, but also to provide a sense of the culture and a feel for the times in which those events occurred. URI has always existed as an institution not separate from our state, country and world, but in fact very much connected to them," said Thomas Zorabedian, director of the project.

Walk Through Time has been updated by including many more images from those 100 years, particularly cultural and historical references, as well as adding the last decade. The result is a permanent home for more than 330 images (by last count) on the 34 panels.

Walk Through Time is made possible by a generous donation from the late Professor Emeritus of History Daniel Thomas, and his daughter Margaret; a grant from Rhode Island 2000, a joint project of First Night Providence, the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts; and the support and dedication of Dean Winifred Brownell and the College of Arts & Sciences.

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For Information: Thomas Zorabedian, 874-2853, Jan Sawyer, 874-2116