VCU Libraries has launched two fun in-person exhibits to catch the end-of-semester bustle. Both exhibits deal broadly with the past and provide fascinating and light-hearted perspectives on recent and ancient history.

Aerial Photography of VCU's Past runs May 3 to Aug. 31 at the Health Sciences Library. The exhibit features 20 annotated and enhanced aerial photographs of the MCV Campus, documenting changes in the footprint of VCU and Richmond's landscape and tell a fascinating story about urban development in the 20th century.

Founding Monsters runs from May 10 to Aug. 31 in James Branch Cabell Library. The main component of the exhibit consists of 20 poster-size panels from the VCU-produced comic book Founding Monsters, which explores the Founding Fathers' obsession with prehistoric megafauna, especially mastodons and giant ground sloths.

Panels from the comic also appear on the Cabell Screen on the front of the building.

In the coming weeks, additional components of the exhibit will be added, including a selection of 3D-printed fossils.

The full comic can be downloaded for free on VCU Scholars Compass.

Read more about the comic and the VCU student and faculty member who created it.

The exhibits are free and currently open to all VCU students, faculty and staff during library hours. Before coming to the building, please check the Study Safer page for up-to-date COVID-19 safety guidelines and practices.

Images:

• Top: Construction of the Leigh St. Viaduct, VCU Libraries Special Collections and Archives
• Bottom: Founding Monsters panel (dialogue: "This tooth is evidence of a much larger creature." / "I have one of those too!"), by Maggie Colangelo and Bernard K. Means, Ph.D.