Recent Exhibit
On display October 7, 2023 – November 21, 2023
Violins of Hope is a cultural heritage organization and project that seeks to preserve instruments played by Jews before and during the Holocaust. Comprising some 90 instruments, the collection records stories of resistance, perseverance, and tragedy. Each violin is an artifact and emblem of hope and remembrance.
In partnership with Violins of Hope Greater Pittsburgh, CMU Libraries’ Distinctive Collections team curated and designed an exhibition in CMU’s Posner Center that featured 21 violins and accompanying imagery, video, and text. The exhibition was the largest installation in the Posner Center’s history and transformed the Center’s interior into an immersive and publicly accessible gallery.
Installations of Violins of Hope have appeared previously in cities around the world. Portions of CMU’s presentation were borrowed from the 2015 exhibition Violins of Hope, conceived and produced by James A. Grymes and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Cleveland, Ohio.