“The Missing Organ: The Democrat’s Spine,” Michael Shapiro’s Political Cartoons

The Missing Organ from the Michael Shapiro Papers.

Exhibit Location: Lobby & Second Floor of the Main Library

Artist, poet, zine producer, playwright, cartoonist, Yiddish translator, and mathematician, Michael Shapiro began creating political cartoons in the early 2000s, during the presidency of George W. Bush. 

Shapiro was born in New York City and grew up in Woodside Queens. He earned a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1983, a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1988, and a M.E. in Computer Science from Cornell University in 2000.

Shapiro grew up in a leftist Jewish household and came of age during the 1960s, participating in the counterculture revolution. Shapiro self describes as a Marginal, part of the Marginal Scene.

He lived for many years in Cambridge until moving to London in 2019 to work at the Crick Institute.

Michael Shapiro’s papers now are part of the Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

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Pride, Cambridge-Style: An Exhibtion

 

Broadside, Dear Gaybashers by Jill McDonough, illustrated by Michael Shapiro, from the Michael Shapiro Papers.

Pride, Cambridge-Style

Exhibition Location: 2nd Floor of the Main Library

A selection of broadsides, poems, and posters celebrating LGBTQ+ life are currently on display. Curated by Daniel Wuenschel, this exhibitions draws from the Cambridge Room’s collections and feature poets and artists connected to Cambridge.

Two poems
Landscape without Touch and Still Life by Olga Broumas
from Soie Sauvage: Poems, published by Copper Canyon Press, 1979
Available in the Louisa Solano Papers.

Broadside
Dear Gaybashers by Jill McDonough, illustrated by Michael Shapiro
“Printed in honor of Jill McDonough’s reading at Cambridge Public Library on October 28, 2015”
Available in the Michael Shapiro Papers.

Broadside
Lines for Chelsea Manning by John Mulrooney, designed by Mark Lamoureux, printed on the occasion of the author’s reading at the 2016 Boston Poetry Marathon in Inman Square, Cambridge
Available in the Daniel Wuenschel Papers.

Poster
Reading and Book Signing celebrating the publication of the book The Letters of James Schuyler to Frank O’Hara, edited by William Corbett
Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge
Saturday, October 21 2006
Available in the William Corbet Papers.

Poem
In Memory of Joe Brainerd by Frank Bidart
From Desire, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997
Available in the Louisa Solano Papers.

Book
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores: The San Francisco Experience by Charley Shively, published by Good Gay Poets, 1975
Available in the Louisa Solano Papers.

Poster
Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage Equality, designed by Luke Kirkland, 2014, Cambridge Public Library.
Available in the Cambridge Public Library Records.

Seasonal Greetings: A Holiday Broadside Exhibition

Broadside by Robert Creeley, 1970.

Exhibition Location: L2 during Special Events and 2nd Floor of the Main Library

There is a tradition among publishers and writers to send holiday and year-end greetings with meditations from their work relevant to the season.

The exhibition features a small sampling of these types of greetings in broadside and chapbook format, from letter press workshops, poetry societies, poets, and artists. Two of these items were not intended as greetings, but nonetheless present content which is consistent with seasonal greetings of this tradition. They range in theme from the whimsical to nature, love, and more serious thoughts.

**Special thank you to Dan Wuenschel, who curated the exhibition from his personal collection.