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Wesleyan University Library--Art, Olin and Science--is the campus library for Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

02/17/2026

We invite you to attend screenings of “Searching for the Folk Philosopher” (2/23 at 1 pm) and “The Path” (2/27 at 2 pm), two films by music graduate students Ameen Mokdad and Aibek Baiymbetov as part of Wesleyan’s Power of Language Week. Hosted by the World Music Archives & Music Library in room Olin327B.

More information available at https://wescollections.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2026/02/05/screenings-of-searching-for-the-folk-philosopher-and-the-path/.

01/29/2026

Unique opportunity to meet and learn about scientists doing heroic work under the most extreme conditions.
When: Thursday, February 5, Noon-1pm
Where: Fries Center for Global Studies Lobby, 201 Fisk Hall

11/07/2025

For the next library lunchtime concert, the World Music Archives & Music Library is thrilled to welcome Wesleyan's own Noah Baerman, jazz pianist and Director of the Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble, playing the music of Stevie Wonder in celebration of Noah's latest album: Visions of Steveland (Right Now Volume Four), out later this week.

Visions of Steveland: Noah Baerman plays Stevie Wonder

Tuesday, November 11, noon-1pm

Olin Library, Smith Reading Room 114

More information at https://wescollections.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2025/11/03/visions-of-steveland-noah-baerman-plays-stevie-wonder/

The follow up to the first three volumes, Songs of Conflict and Comfort, Songs of Solidarity, and Our Search for Peace, this collection of Stevie Wonder interpretations is the final edition in the four-volume series created in the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election. Recorded alone at home, this represents a selection of Stevie’s “message music,” which is as pertinent to the present moment as it was decades ago.

10/29/2025

Music graduate student Ameen Mokdad MA’26 performs a solo version of his album-length work “The Curve: from Iraq, a story of triumph.” Join us Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 7 pm in an Olin Library stairwell. More information available at https://wescollections.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2025/10/22/the-curve/.

10/23/2025

Join us for a screening of a chapter of the film-in-progress Searching for the Folk Philosopher, followed by a discussion with Wesleyan graduate student Ameen Mokdad MA’26, the film’s composer and Impact Producer.

In the film, Iraqi director Mounir Salah searches for his grandfather’s friend Aziz Ali, the pioneer monologist of Iraq. Because of his critical political monologues, various Iraqi governments considered Ali inimical. He was sent to prison several times for his commentary, accused first of being a Communist, then a N**i, and finally a Freemason. What will Salah do once he discovers that his grandfather met the same end as his friend?

“When music becomes that put your life on the line, to end up in jail, exile then punished to be executed but you survive the rope and never stop.”

Sponsored by the World Music Archives & Music Library. Email [email protected] for more information.

Friday, October 24, 2025 — 3-4 p.m.
Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 100

10/08/2025

Ancient Mbira Music of Zimbabwe: Samaita Vitalis Botsa with Erica Azim

Tuesday, October 14, 2025 12 noon-1 pm in Smith Reading Room, 1st floor Olin Library

Charismatic Zimbabwean master musician Samaita Vitalis Botsa creates gorgeous waves of sound with his mbira, connecting the living with the ancestors. “I’m just the car, it’s the spirits doing the driving, making the music,” he says. Visiting from his village in Zimbabwe for a duo tour with Erica Azim, Botsa will be presenting mbira, which is both an ancient form of sacred music played by the Shona people for over 1,000 years and the name of the musical instrument.

Sponsored by the non-profit organization MBIRA (mbira.org), which supports over 300 traditional musicians and instrument makers in Zimbabwe, and by the World Music Archives & Music Library. Contact [email protected] for more information.

10/03/2025

Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad MA’23, known as “Oghlan Bakhshi,” a master of the dutar, a two-stringed lute, and an epic bard, will perform some Turkmen songs and instrumental pieces with special guest performers Zyyada Jumayeva and Abdolghaffar Geldinejad on Thursday, October 9, 2025 from 12 noon-1 pm in Smith Reading Room, first floor Olin Library. All are welcome to this free concert. More information about the musicians is available here: https://tinyurl.com/5d33xz3z

Sponsored by the World Music Archives & Music Library. Contact [email protected] for more information.

09/15/2025

Make your own softcover journal with the Book Arts Lab!
Join Preservation & Book Arts Librarian Krista Narciso for a hands-on bookbinding workshop. You’ll learn how to fold and sew a basic pamphlet binding, which can be used as a journal, notebook, or sketchbook.
Wednesday, 17 September at 2:00pm in Olin Library, Dietrich Room (blue room in hallway between Olin and PAC).
Sing up: https://wesleyan.campuslabs.com/engage/event/11441479

09/09/2025

Now on view at the Science Library! Visit Freedom in the Equation - an exhibition that highlights the work and stories of ten Ukrainian scientists whose research was tragically disrupted by Soviet-era repression or more recent Russian aggression.

05/21/2025

What can archival collections tell us about the complex relationship between Russian émigré musicians and their new American audience? This talk delves into the World Music Archives at Wesleyan, uncovering early hand-written balalaika and domra scores, émigré-era sheet music, and historical LP recordings that reveal how music from the Russian Empire was preserved, adapted, and marketed in the United States. Against the backdrop of early 20th-century American fascination with imperial Russia—its grandeur, mystique, and imagined romance—émigré musicians played a key role in shaping perceptions of Russian culture through performance and recording. By following the musical traces left behind, Anya Shatilova MA'20 PhD '25 will explore how this repertoire evolved in exile, how it was received by American audiences, and what it tells us about the broader Russian-American cultural relationship of the time.

Friday, May 23, 2025 at 1:00pm
Olin Library, Room 014 (Jakobson Room)

04/25/2025

Join us next Thursday for the opening reception of "Empire in the Palm of Your Hand," a numismatics exhibition curated by Cian Mesch '25
Date: 1 May at 4:30pm
Location: Gribbel Room, 2nd Floor, Olin Library (202A)

Address

Olin Library, 252 Church Street
Middletown, CT
06459

Telephone

(860) 685-2660

Website

http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/

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