Introduction
A specter is haunting the infinite corridor… or maybe that’s just an undergraduate who pulled an all-nighter to finish their problem sets.
Spirits, Goblins, and Gnurds is a celebration of the last 150 years of student life at MIT. This exhibit shows how students have shaped the Institute through their unique MIT attitude and sense of humor, and how women students have been an essential part of that evolution in every era. Look back at the Institute in 50 year increments and see how MIT has changed from the early post-civil war days as “Boston Tech” in the Back Bay, through the search for Tech Spirit in the roaring twenties, and on - finding its place in the world and the information age.
150 years is a lot of time to cover, especially at an institution as information-dense as MIT. This exhibit examines archival materials focusing primarily on three specific years: 1876, 1926, and 1976. Using archival materials gives us the opportunity to experience these years directly through the voices of the people that lived them. These documents are all publicly available, either on demand online, or by appointment in the Department of Distinctive Collections Reading Room. MIT’s history is rich and fascinating, and we hope the items in this exhibit spark your curiosity to learn more about the ‘stute.
