See Lafayette’s Bicentennial come to life! Celebrate the sights, sounds, and history of our first 200 years with special exhibitions throughout campus and the world. From the Williams Center Gallery and Skillman Library in Easton, Pa. to the National Archives in Paris, France, Leopards everywhere can immerse themselves in the ever-evolving history of Lafayette College (and the Marquis de Lafayette!) from 1826 to today. Curated by students, faculty, staff, and friends, these installations will run throughout the Bicentennial.
Location: Williams Center Gallery
Dates: September 3, 2025 – December 5, 2025
We invite you to an opening reception of the exhibit Facing Lafayette: Man, Image, Myth, curated by Peter Godziela ’25 and Lillian Sampson ’27. The exhibit will run Sept. 3 through Dec. 5 at the Williams Center Gallery. Additional details to follow.
Location: Lass Gallery, Skillman Library
Dates: August 12, 2025 – December 18, 2026
In the first volume of The Biography of a College, historian David Bishop Skillman characterizes College Hill as “…this incomparable site. No American college can boast a better one.” This exhibition features early engravings, maps, and photographs from the Lafayette College Archives and documents the evolution of the built environment on campus throughout the 19th century.
Location: Reference Area, Skillman Library
Dates: August 12, 2025 – December 18, 2026
Historic panoramic and group photographs illustrate the growth of the Lafayette College community from its early years to the present. See our student, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustee populations transform as they gather in Convocation, Commencement, Reunion, and athletic and club photographs over the last three centuries.
Location: Simon Room, Skillman Library
Dates: August 12, 2025 – December 18, 2026
Take a step back in time and learn about the founding of Lafayette College, the evolution of our curriculum, the birth of athletics and student organizations, our resilience in the face of wars and financial crises, the impacts of the civil rights movement and coeducation, and more. Key documents, images, and artifacts from the Lafayette College Archives trace historic events that contributed to the development of one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the nation.
Location: Paris, France (60, rue des Francs-Bourgeois – 75003 Paris)
Dates: April 1, 2026 – July 14, 2026
Free exhibition at the National Archives
On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America (1776) and the Bicentennial of Lafayette College (1826), the National Archives of France and Lafayette College present an exhibition dedicated to a major figure of the Age of Revolutions: Gilbert Du Motier de Lafayette. Lafayette between France and America: History and Legend evokes the political role that the “hero of two worlds” played for more than half a century, and the contrasting opinions his personality prompted among his contemporaries.