The Michael and Karen Stone Family Gallery — a gallery room tucked next to Perkins’ Mary Duke Biddle Room — is a small, intimate space that currently houses “Joseph Conrad’s Polish-Ukrainian ‘Graveyard’” and “Whatever Happened to Radicalism: Voices from the George Vickers Papers.” These two exhibits use items from Duke’s vast archives to tell stories about the past with strong connections to the present.
Joseph Conrad is best known for “Heart of Darkness” (1899), which followed the fictional sailor Charles Marlow as he worked for a Belgian company in the African interior. Considered one of the West’s best indictments of colonialism (and the inspiration for “Apocalypse Now”), "Heart of Darkness" has also been criticized for racism and stereotyping. Interestingly, Conrad did not just write about imperialism, he experienced it firsthand.
Joseph Conrad, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, was born in Ukraine to former Polish nobility born shortly after the dissolution of Poland-Lithuania. Once one of Europe’s largest states, Poland-Lithuania was conquered by three neighboring states — the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire and the Habsburgs — throughout the late 1700s and early to mid 1800s.
In 1861, Conrad’s parents were exiled for their involvement in a failed independent movement, bringing a then four-year-old Conrad with them. Both parents died early into their exile, with Conrad becoming an orphan at eleven. By the time he reached the United Kingdom, the only thing Conrad had left to remember them — and much of his extended family — by was a small photo album he called his “graveyard.”
The exhibit uses this “graveyard” to tell the story of Conrad’s exile and childhood. The photos shown depict friends and family, including a photo of Conrad’s father taken just before his death and an unlabeled photo that’s likely Conrad’s mother’s grave. Each photo is a snapshot into a long-dead world — Poland-Lithuania was never reunified — and a look at the life Conrad once lived. The exhibit also has a map visualizing Conrad’s journey and a digitized “graveyard” that visitors can flip through.
In highlighting Conrad’s own experiences with empire and colonialism, the exhibit provides new insights into his literary work. As a victim of empire who later served the British empire, Conrad both experienced and perpetuated the harms of imperialism. This complex experience no doubt inspired the critiques of empire in the “Heart of Darkness” and allowed him to accurately depict the experiences of Charles Marlow and those Marlow helped oppress.
The exhibit was co-produced by Ernest Zitser — librarian for Slavic, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies — and Kimmi Kresica, with help from dozens of other library staff. During an interview with The Chronicle, Zitser highlighted that 2024 was the 100th anniversary of Conrad’s death and the 10th anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Crimea. This, alongside Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and efforts to decolonize Russian studies, encouraged him to turn Conrad’s “graveyard” into an exhibit, something he had long wanted to do.
Zitser also noted Conrad’s experience was just like experiences of millions of others who lived within the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and emphasized that the exhibit was “not just mourning” but also “memory and resistance.” Conrad’s “graveyard” is an act of resistance, a reminder of his people’s struggle for sovereignty and their own unique history. Zither connected this to memory’s role as a tool of resistance while also underscoring the parallels between the struggles of Poland-Lithuania and modern Ukraine.
“Whatever Happened to Radicalism: Voices from the George Vickers Papers” examines materials collected by George Vickers, a student activist turned professor and human rights advocate. A member of the New Left — a 1960s and 1970s social movement — Vickers participated in many North, Central and South American social struggles, collecting countless mementos and items along the way. The exhibit mines this treasure trove to present concise snapshots of different movements, even borrowing its title from a 1977 article Vickers wrote to defend the New Left’s efforts.
The exhibit includes everything from newspaper clippings to pamphlets announcing a speech by MLK Jr. to photos of Latin American soldiers and protestors. Visitors see the New Left’s ideological evolution, shifting from averting nuclear and international war to tackling local issues to participating in international struggles for democracy. They also get a crash course in Latin American history, briefly learning about Latin America’s struggle for increased democracy in the 1980s and 1990s and the efforts of various individuals — including Vickers — to protect and support democracy. Along the way, viewers learn the goals and motivations of various left-wing movements operating in the latter half of the 20th century, movements which continue to inspire people to this day.
Both exhibits — despite their small size — are extremely interesting. And their small size allows them to be fully viewed and studied in under 30 minutes total, making them perfect for those who love history but have busy schedules.
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Zev van Zanten is a Trinity junior and recess editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.