News & Blog

The exhibit “Wild at Heart: Conserving Nature through Art and Archives” explores the art, artists, and activists that challenge us to think deeply about the impacts of urbanization and climate change on the world around us. The exhibit features art and archival materials from the UCF Libraries Special Collections and University Archives, including the works of Joy Postle, Rachel Simmons, Leonard Nierman, and many more. For more information about the exhibit visit: https://guides.ucf.edu/wild-at-heart

The exhibit was curated by UCF Librarians Christina C. Wray and David Benjamin. This exhibit runs from February 14, 2022, through May 1, 2022. The exhibit is on the 4th-floor gallery of the John C. Hitt Library. 

The UCF Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives and Digital Initiatives departments are pleased to announce the completion of a project to digitize the University of Central Florida’s student newspaper. The publication ran from 1968 to 2016.   

The newspaper’s first issue appeared on October 7, 1968, to coincide with the first day of classes at the newly opened Florida Technological University (FTU), now the University of Central Florida (UCF). The first five issues of the publication did not have a name. Instead, the paper referred to itself as F.T.U.???. By the fifth issue, it became known as the FuTUre. Despite the university changing names from FTU to UCF in 1978, the newspaper’s name did not change to the Central Florida Future until 1985.  

In the early 1990s, the newspaper became unaffiliated with the university. Over the next two decades, it was bought and sold to multiple different companies. It eventually became an entity of Gannett, the owner of USA Today and Florida Today. Sadly, Gannett shut down the Central Florida Future in 2016. 

Since 2012, the UCF Libraries has been digitizing 48-years’ worth of this publication. Unfortunately, due to copyright, only the issues from 1968 to 2010 are available publicly online at https://stars.library.ucf.edu/centralfloridafuture/. 

The university’s history covered in the Central Florida Future is an amazing resource. We are so happy to have it available and preserved. 

The exhibit “Beyond the Barrier: The X-1 Project” details the design and development of the X-1 program and contains numerous pilot reports and photographs. Materials in the collection document the X-1 program from start to finish and were collected and used by Louis C. Rotundo when writing his book “Into the Unknown, The X-1 Story.” 

Louis Charles Rotundo was born on October 28, 1949. After graduating from Florida Technological University (now UCF) in 1975, Rotundo pursued his interest in politics, becoming an aid to the United States Senator Lawton Chiles. From 1980 to 1988, Rotundo worked for UCF, including serving as Special Assistant to the President from 1984 to 1987. After leaving UCF in 1988, Rotundo started Rotundo and Associates, a lobbying and consulting firm based in Central Florida. 

The exhibit was curated by UCF Student Alexander Jerome and runs from August 2021 through December 2021. The exhibit is on the 4th-floor gallery of the John C. Hitt Library. 

The 15^th Annual Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit is now open. The exhibit features all student entries for this year’s competition. The competition promotes the practice of book arts made by undergraduate and graduate students. The judges were David Benjamin, department head of Special Collections & University Archives, and guest judge Mike Taylor, Florida based book artist.

This year’s winning artist book is “The Bacteria That Kept Coming Back” by Claudia Prado of Rollins College. An honorable mention was awarded to “Transparent Tranquility” by Shannon Ganeshram of UCF. Congratulations to both students! Their artist books will be placed in the permanent Book Arts & Typography Collection at UCF Libraries.

The exhibit is on the 4^th floor gallery of the John C. Hitt Library which runs from May 2021 through July 2021. For more information, email speccoll@ucf.edu.

There’s still time to see 45 Years of Collecting: UCF Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives! This exhibit will be on display in the fourth floor gallery at John C Hitt Library. Please note the gallery IS open every weekday from 9am – 4pm. The lights are out until the door opens to preserve the collection but please do come in and visit!

This broad range of materials highlights the evolution of the library’s collection over the past 45 years.

It includes great UCF items like Daunte Culpepper’s football, Spirit Splash rubber duckie, Knightro squishy toy, Pegasus yearbook, and some Citronaut memorabilia.

Check out gorgeous handmade selections from our bookarts like Penumbra by Ke Francis.

See the oldest item in our collection, a Vulgate Bible from 1546 or local central Florida memorabilia from old tourist pamphlets to Pulse Memorial inspired artworks.

The exhibit runs from February 2021 through April 2021 in the new 4^th floor Special Collections & University Archives’ Gallery in the John C. Hitt Library.

For more information, email speccoll@ucf.edu.