Harry Ransom Center
300 W. 21st, 512/471-8944
Come for the rarest of rarities on permanent exhibit – the Gutenberg Bible (one of six complete copies in the U.S., printed ca. 1450-55) and the first (known) photo ever, shot by French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – stay for whatever exhibitions have been drawn from this University of Texas humanities research library’s stunning collection. Its unparalleled holdings include the archives of literary lions (Gabriel García Marquez, David Foster Wallace, Norman Mailer), film legends (David O. Selznick, Robert De Niro, Nicholas Ray), stage giants (Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, Tom Stoppard), and major figures from history and photography (Napoleon, Churchill, Woodward & Bernstein, the Magnum collective).
Minneapolis-born and -raised, Elizabeth Olds lived to a sturdy 94 but didn’t get the attention she deserved in her lifetime. The Harry Ransom Center’s new exhibit, which opened Feb. 3 and runs through July 14, aims to rectify that with a first-of-its-kind look back at more than 100 of her prints, paintings, drawings, and illustrations from the 1920s to the 1960s. Of particular note: her depictions of social and political change from her time as a Works Progress Administration printmaker. Want to go deeper? Drop in for one of the daily docent tours. – Kimberley Jones Feb. 3-July 14.
- 2017: Critics Most Ubiquitous Brow (Frida Kahlo)
- 2005: Critics Best Destination for Literary Groupies (The Harry Ransom Center)
- 2004: Readers Best Recently Restored Building (TIE: Penn Field, Harry Ransom Center, Driscoll Villa Laguna Gloria)
- 2003: Critics Best Lightening Up of a Building
- 2000: Critics Best Interactive Art Exhibition
- 2000: Critics Cheapest Highbrow Date