Exhibitions

This Poetry Collection exhibition celebrates the life and work of longtime Buffalo poet Robert Creeley (1926-2005), one of America’s leading writers in the second half of the twentieth century, for the 100th anniversary of his birth. Drawing on materials from the Poetry Collection and University Archives, it focuses on Creeley’s poetry and poetics, publishing with Divers Press, editing of the Black Mountain Review and teaching at Black Mountain College, friendship with fellow poet Robert Duncan, and noteworthy moments from his 37 years in Buffalo teaching at UB.

Onward! A Centennial Celebration of Robert Creeley is part of a coordinated Buffalo-wide programming effort that includes the UB Poetics Program, UB Art Galleries, Just Buffalo Literary Center, Black Rock Arts, and Buffalo AKG Art Museum.

Location: Special Collections, 420 Capen Hall, on display through the end of 2026

In 1901, Buffalo illuminated the world. The Pan-American Exposition showcased electric light, modern architecture, and the promise of progress. At the same time, medicine in Buffalo and across the United States was entering a new age, marked by advances in tools, hospitals, understanding of the human body, and public health. Yet the shooting and death of President McKinley during the Exposition revealed that the body remained vulnerable.

Marking the 125th anniversary of Buffalo’s Pan-American Exposition, this exhibition brings together the cultural and technological spectacle of the fair with the evolving practices of medicine. Through the collaboration of the University Archives and the History of Medicine Collection, the exhibition invites visitors to explore how the Pan-American Exposition showcased modernity, how turn-of-the-century medicine confronted an unexpected crisis, and how Buffalo became a place where progress and mortality converged.

Location: Silverman Library Gallery, 3rd floor of Capen Hall, on display till summer 2027