Archival Exhibit Examines the Search for Truth

Higher education strives to answer one fundamental question: What is truth? At Knox College, truth—Veritas—is the College’s literal motto.

The Knox College Archives took the dedication to the pursuit of truth to heart this year with its year-long exhibit, Truth Be Told, which explores how truth is constructed, preserved, and challenged through archives, memory, and power. 

The exhibit is organized around the themes of Spiritual, Scientific, Historical, and Political Truths, highlighting how people have pursued meaning, knowledge, and understanding. 

“Every year we come up with an exhibit theme, and last year we decided Truth would be our theme,” said Archives and Special Collections Librarian Joseph Taylor. “It seemed timely, especially considering how truth is being debated and how we define truth within our archives. The idea was furthered because we had materials coming back that we had sent to be restored, so then, as archivists and librarians, we can have the debate on how documents, sources, and collections are organized and presented through different hierarchies.”

Among the objects that have been on display are some of the College’s most treasured manuscripts, including: Book of Hours (c. 1450), a sixteenth-century edition of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, and a copy of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. The works trace the search for spiritual and scientific truth across centuries. The exhibit also examines more recent expressions of truth in public life—from Richard Nixon campaign bumper stickers to pamphlets produced by the Black Panther Party—revealing how truth has been used to persuade, protest, and define power. The exhibit can be found on the second floor of the Seymour Library and is open to viewing throughout the remainder of the spring term.

“When Joseph and I talked about what he wanted to do with the exhibit, he said he wanted to not only feature truth in today’s climate but truth throughout time,” Director of Seymour Library Anne Thomason said. “He wanted to feature all kinds of truths, spiritual, political, scientific, and historical. I think the exhibit is great, especially given that the truth is challenged from all sides of the political spectrum." 

Along with the exhibit, Thomason and Taylor were joined by Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Kaleigh Karageorge and Professor of English and Chair of Film Studies Emily Anderson for a panel discussion on navigating through misinformation in pursuit of what is actually true.

“I believe in having a place where you can have a debate and conversations about the truth, absence of prejudice, and that’s what the panel was, and really what higher learning is for,” Taylor said. “When we did the interdisciplinary panel, everyone had the ability to engage. Hopefully, we can do more panels and talk about what truth means across those disciplines.”