Bureaucracy is arguably one of the most loathed inventions of Western modernity. Yet, even as we complain about red tape, paperwork and Wikipedia, we also love to hate it—because we (clandestinely) rely on it to structure our world.

This exhibit draws from UNT’s Archival and Rare Book collections to explore our relationship with the myriad genres of bureaucratic writing. The objects collected here reveal how, over the past 350 years, people have strategically employed—and creatively misused—the written and printed forms of bureaucracy to structure and navigate their everyday lives.

The exhibit was conceived and curated by a group of faculty in the English department: Dr. Gabriel Cervantes, Dr. Dahlia Porter, Dr. Ryan Skinnell, and Dr. Kelly Wisecup. Research and written text for the labels was contributed by students in Dr. Porter’s graduate seminar, English 5750: Methods of Historical Research, and Dr. Skinnell’s undergraduate seminar, English 4230: Institutional Rhetorics in Spring 2015.