The Harry Ransom Center Associate Director of Exhibition and Education Cathy Henderson leads a free curator’s tour of The Mystique of the Archive on Thursday, September 11, at 7 p.m.

This exhibition explores the promise of mystery, adventure, and discovery embodied in the aura of archives. Drawing from the Harry Ransom Center’s extensive modern literature collections—Julian Barnes, Don DeLillo, Anne Sexton, and many others—the exhibition describes what constitutes an archive, documents the evolution of creative works from first draft to first edition, and maps an archive’s journey from the writer’s home to the scholar’s desk, revealing acquisition intrigues, preservation challenges, and cataloging puzzles along the way. View a VIDEO PREVIEW of the exhibition.

Mark your calendar for a curator’s tour of the other current exhibition, A Cabinet of Drawings, on Wednesday, September 24, at 7 p.m.

If you can’t attend the curator’s tour, free docent-led tours of the exhibitions are offered Tuesdays at noon and Saturdays at 2 p.m.