Skip to main content
Apply Give
Menu

"Keep Maryland Weird" Exhibit at Hornbake Library Reception

Keep Maryland Weird Infographic

"Keep Maryland Weird" Exhibit at Hornbake Library Reception

College of Arts and Humanities | Communication Wednesday, September 30, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Hornbake Library, Lobby

Last semester, students in Dr. Carly Woods' Rhetoric, Memory, and Culture (COMM 458M) course partnered with Jenny Schollaert of the UMD's Special Collections and University Archives to curate a free exhibit for the lobby of Hornbake Library. It is available to view and will remain up through the end of the semester. The theme of the exhibit is "Keep Maryland Weird,"  and it features items from the University Archives dating from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Here's the exhibit description:

What does it mean to remember Maryland through the lens of the “weird”? To be weird is not bad. In fact, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “weird” originated in the 1400s as the “power to control fate.”

With items from University Archives dating between the 1970s and the 1990s, this exhibit invites you to consider the many ways that Maryland faculty, staff, and students of the past expressed weirdness in its various senses: as having to do with destiny but also in pursuit of the bizarre, the strange, the quirky, and non-conformity. Here, we see examples of Maryland’s weirdness in places like the student-initiated Maryland Food Co-op, student newspapers and publications, the folklore and superstitions students shared with each other, and a campaign designed to convince students they should be studying to counter UMD’s reputation as a party school.

We hope that viewers of this exhibit have a better sense of the “weird” at Maryland and an understanding of what “weird” could mean to them. And while it may not have the cachet of the Austin and the Portland campaigns, what would it mean to “keep Maryland weird” into the future?

*This exhibit contains images and language that viewers may find offensive or harmful. Content warning: nudity, profanity, white supremacy, religious satire

All are invited to attend an opening reception for the exhibit on Wednesday, September 30th from 4-5pm. The reception will feature a brief program with reflections from some of the student curators. 

 

Add to Calendar 09/30/26 16:00:00 09/30/26 17:00:00 America/New_York "Keep Maryland Weird" Exhibit at Hornbake Library Reception

Last semester, students in Dr. Carly Woods' Rhetoric, Memory, and Culture (COMM 458M) course partnered with Jenny Schollaert of the UMD's Special Collections and University Archives to curate a free exhibit for the lobby of Hornbake Library. It is available to view and will remain up through the end of the semester. The theme of the exhibit is "Keep Maryland Weird,"  and it features items from the University Archives dating from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Here's the exhibit description:

What does it mean to remember Maryland through the lens of the “weird”? To be weird is not bad. In fact, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “weird” originated in the 1400s as the “power to control fate.”

With items from University Archives dating between the 1970s and the 1990s, this exhibit invites you to consider the many ways that Maryland faculty, staff, and students of the past expressed weirdness in its various senses: as having to do with destiny but also in pursuit of the bizarre, the strange, the quirky, and non-conformity. Here, we see examples of Maryland’s weirdness in places like the student-initiated Maryland Food Co-op, student newspapers and publications, the folklore and superstitions students shared with each other, and a campaign designed to convince students they should be studying to counter UMD’s reputation as a party school.

We hope that viewers of this exhibit have a better sense of the “weird” at Maryland and an understanding of what “weird” could mean to them. And while it may not have the cachet of the Austin and the Portland campaigns, what would it mean to “keep Maryland weird” into the future?

*This exhibit contains images and language that viewers may find offensive or harmful. Content warning: nudity, profanity, white supremacy, religious satire

All are invited to attend an opening reception for the exhibit on Wednesday, September 30th from 4-5pm. The reception will feature a brief program with reflections from some of the student curators. 

 

 Hornbake Library false

RSVP

For questions, contact Dr. Carly Woods (cswoods@umd.edu).