Archives Informing Art: Special Collections and University Archives artifacts represented in Hive Mind

Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) installed a new exhibit in the reading room (Parks Library 403) related to one of the newest pieces of campus art: Hive Mind.  

In the spring of 2024, glass artist and sculptor Beth Lipman visited SCUA to do research for the new sculpture she was creating for the Iowa State University Museums. As part of the Museums’ 50th anniversary, celebrated in 2025, they commissioned Lipman to produce a site-specific work of art representing the research and innovations, impact, and social history of Iowa State. She traveled to Ames to meet with researchers, visit laboratories, and learn more about campus firsthand. During this visit she spent time exploring many artifacts in SCUA’s holdings.  

Lipman selected over a dozen items from SCUA’s artifacts collection to use as models or inspiration for the glass objects she created, which she ultimately embedded in the massive cast bronze sculpture. Many of these artifacts and related contextual materials from University Archives are featured here in this exhibit. The artifacts Lipman chose reflect many aspects of campus history, experiences, and contributions to the broader community. For example, the dance card and paddle represent student social life; the hay bale, wooden game, and Rice Krispies Treat signify faculty and alumni research and inventions; and the microphone and 4-H pin suggest ISU’s external impact through Extension and beyond.  

Additionally, each individual artifact is a launching pad to many more materials in our collections – photographs, correspondence, technical and architectural drawings, research files, reports, and other items that all are welcome to explore during SCUA’s regular hours. 

Installed in summer 2025, the sculpture, entitled Hive Mind, sits on central campus in the Anderson Sculpture Garden and can be seen from SCUA’s fourth floor reading room windows.