The exhibit, Unfinished: America’s Ongoing Revolutions, was created to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Drawing on materials from Loyola and Mundelein, as well as Chicago and U.S. history, the exhibit explores how questions of identity, memory, and power have been shaped, challenged, and redefined throughout the nation’s history, highlighting the ways America’s revolutions remain ongoing.
Students in Loyola’s Public History Graduate Program curated the exhibit as part of their coursework that prepares them to apply historical methods and skills to study, manage, preserve, and interpret historical resources in settings such as museums, archives, and digital media. Students first took Professor Elizabeth Fraterrigo’s Public History: Museums course in Spring 2025, which introduced students to many of the issues and methods involved in museum work. Building on their coursework, students in the Fall 2025 Public History Practicum gained hands-on experience by researching, developing, and curating an exhibit.
To help inform their project, graduate students gathered input from undergraduate students about the ideas and issues they felt should be represented. From that feedback, the class developed the exhibit’s themes, researched and selected archival materials, and wrote the exhibit text that accompanies each display.
The exhibit is now open to the Loyola community and offers an opportunity to explore stories drawn from the rich collections of the University Libraries. The project was made possible through a collaboration between Loyola’s Public History Graduate Program students, Professor Fraterrigo’s course, and archivists and staff from the University Archives and Special Collections and the Women and Leadership Archives.
Visit the exhibit
Lake Shore Campus, Cudahy Library, Donovan Reading Room, 1st floor
Entrance: Loyola Information Commons, 6501 N. Kenmore, Chicago | Campus Map
Now through December 2026
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the following individuals for their contributions to this exhibit:
Public History Practicum (Fall 2025) graduate students: Connor Barnes, Erin Carosella, Eleanor Carter (Exhibit Designer), Charlie Chmielewski, Rachel Shugarts, and Casey Welby.
Professor Elizabeth Fraterrigo
Department of History
Emily Reiher, Director
Women and Leadership Archives
Kathy Young, University Archivist and Curator of Rare Books
University Archives and Special Collections
