By Zachary Buckingham

Students at the University of Maryland are exploring the history of press freedom in an exhibit at McKeldin Library called “Revolutionary Maryland: Freedom of the Press Then & Now.” UMD Libraries is hosting the exhibit, but Maryland Humanities put on the traveling display.

The exhibit will showcase the history of press freedom laws through Jan. 5. 

The exhibit is in the lobby on the first floor of McKeldin Library. Different panels highlight aspects of the importance of press freedom and journalism history. Topics include the role of local journalism, preserving freedom of the press, the importance of inclusive journalism and the shooting at the Capital Gazette.

On June 28, 2018, gunman Jarrod Ramos shot and killed five people at the office of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.

Information on the history of the press in Maryland and a panel honoring the victims of the 2018 shooting at the Capital Gazette provide a local connection.

UMD students said the exhibit was a reminder of how a free press is essential for delivering information to people.

Bryce Barrett, a freshman finance major, said the exhibit was a helpful call to recognize the need to verify information.

“To me, it’s important because there’s a lot of information in this world that you’re not sure is true or not,” Barrett said.

Images of different artifacts and prominent journalists help show the history, which students said they liked about the display.

Jose Galdamez, a freshman architecture major, said the layout of the exhibit was helpful. 

“I like how the information is laid out,” said Galdamez. “When you see just all words on a thing, sometimes your mind just kind of goes everywhere. I feel like when you have an image, you kind of go back to when you are looking at the text, it’s really nice.”

Lindsay Inge Carpenter, head of research education at UMD Libraries, said the local connection to the exhibit was a reason the department applied to host it.

“The fact that this was an exhibit that was created with Maryland and the local context in mind has made it very meaningful I think, to bring it to campus,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter said the exhibit will be a part of another event that UMD libraries is hosting.

On Nov. 12, UMD faculty from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and others will take part in a discussion on freedom of the press. This exhibit will be displayed outside the discussion on the fourth floor of McKeldin Library, along with some new additions for the event.

“As a library, that freedom of access to information is one of our core professional values,” Carpenter said. “Being able to host this exhibit is a nice way to promote that value in the library space, and it’s also a good complement to this other event that we’ve got planned.”

“Revolutionary Maryland: Freedom of the Press Then & Now” will be on display until Jan. 5, 2027.

Featured Image: The outside of McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland. Photo by Audrey Bengtson.