This post was written by Ava Lehrman, graduate intern at the William H. Hannon Library and student curator of the library’s Fall 2026 exhibition, “Heart of Hearts.”
During the 2025-26 school year, I was lucky enough to participate in the William H. Hannon Library’s archives and special collections’ graduate internship and design an exhibition for the library’s gallery. In my interview for the position, my supervisors floated the idea of a heart-themed exhibit based on a couple of recent acquisitions that featured the bodily organ. I immediately jumped at the idea, and my first couple of months on the job were spent digging into the library’s wide-ranging special collections to hunt for hearts wherever I could find them. They were everywhere—in 17th century religious texts, on modern artwork by Latina artist Maya Gonzalez, and carved out of ivory in a miniature Japanese sculpture.
Even so, I knew that there were more ways to depict the heart, and I intended to find them. Hunting through rare book catalogs and auction websites, I found more fascinating hearts, such as in the Cotta transformation playing cards and on an early 19th century painting of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The library was able to purchase these wonderful objects for my exhibit, which means that I have left my mark on the library’s collection!
I began to realize that the heart symbolized many things to many people, from divinity to bodily function, from joy to fear. I chose the title “Heart of Hearts” to reflect my desire to get to the core of the heart’s meaning. My exhibit focuses on how the heart manifests in religion, medical history, art, and culture. It is certainly not a comprehensive study of the heart, but an invitation to start thinking about what the heart means to each of us.
Although almost all of the artifacts in the exhibit are from the library’s special collections, one of the most exciting objects I was able to add to the exhibit was generously lent from the Institute for Archaeological Studies collections by Caroline Sauvage, professor of archaeology in LMU’s Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts. When I explained to Professor Sauvage that I was hoping to incorporate a non-European religious perspective on the heart, she showed me a piece of linen that came from an Egyptian mummy’s wrappings. The linen would have rested on the chest of the mummy, and features a figure with outstretched wings that Professor Sauvage identified as Ma’at, the goddess of cosmic balance and justice. Since Ma’at is an instrumental part of the ancient Egyptian belief that the gods weighed the hearts of the dead to determine their acceptance into the afterlife, this linen was the perfect counterpoint to the Christian beliefs regarding the heart.
My favorite parts of crafting this exhibit were the connections I began to make between artifacts with the most disparate origins. Motifs of a burning heart, for example, can be seen in a modern Ecuadorian masapán sculpture depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in a 19th century Dutch love letter, and in an 18th century Japanese woodblock print depicting traditional Chinese medical teachings. There are also many examples of winged hearts throughout the exhibit, and it is up to the audience to determine if they all symbolize the same thing!
My exhibit will be on display in the Terrance L. Mahan, S.J. gallery (library level 3), from Oct. 5, 2026 to March 5, 2027. There will be an opening reception on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 5:30 p.m.. The gallery is open from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
I would like to thank LMU’s Department of English graduate program and the William H. Hannon Library’s archives and special collections team for this wonderful opportunity, as well as Karen Rapp, Caroline Sauvage, Eric Haruki Swanson, and Robin Choudhury for their expert advice.