Three Illinois libraries, including two academic ones, have been chosen to host the National Library of Medicine’s latest traveling exhibit, “Native Voices: Native Peoples: Concepts of Health and Illness”. Illinois Wesleyan University, Trinity College of Nursing, and the Warren Township Public Library are among 104 libraries nationally that will host the exhibit. Each library will host the exhibit for six weeks during the national tour, which lasts from 2016 to 2020. The NLM will also provide host libraries with staff training via a webinar, a publicity kit to help raise awareness of the exhibit in the community, and a $250 grant to cover any additional programming costs.
The “Native Voices” exhibit, which was on display at the NLM (in Bethesda, Maryland) from 2011 to 2015, is part of a series of traveling exhibits produced by the NLM and the National Institutes of Health, the Library’s parent organization. This particular exhibit focuses on issues related to the health of Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Alaska Natives, in both the past and the present. The history of displacement, epidemics, and the suppression of Native culture is used to illustrate the vital roles that land, spirit, and community play in Native health. Interviews educate the public about the firsthand impact of these historical forces and the future health challenges facing Native communities.
For more information on “Native Voices”, including the exhibit’s content, click here. The full list of host sites can be found here.