March 26, 2026
Story by Joe Vinduska
The Barton Community College Library will host a virtual reality experience exploring Holocaust history from April 10-24.
The Mobile VR Trunk, provided by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Chicago, allows participants to experience powerful stories from Holocaust survivors through immersive technology. The experience combines 360-degree cinematography, animation, photographic mapping, and sound to share survivors’ memories and highlight the humanity that helped them endure one of history’s darkest periods.
The virtual reality exhibit, titled “The Journey Back,” provides viewers with an intimate and educational encounter with history while emphasizing the dangers of prejudice and hatred in society.
Barton Director of Library and College Archives Darren Ivey said that the exhibit is powerful.
"It's my hope people leave with a greater appreciation for the resilience of ordinary human beings and how one can overcome even the worst tragedies,” he said. “These firsthand accounts are powerful primary sources, and their voices deserve to be shared as widely as possible, especially as the World War II generation is nearly gone."
The experience will be open to the general community during afternoon and early evening hours, while mornings and early afternoons will be reserved for faculty and class groups. Each showing is limited to 10 headsets, so larger groups may need to attend multiple sessions. The exhibit features five videos with run times of 12 to 22 minutes, and the entire session takes just under an hour and a half.
The program is made possible through a museum scholarship that allows the Mobile VR Trunk to travel to educational institutions and communities.
Community members interested in attending can reserve a seat by contacting the Barton Library at library@bartonccc.edu or by calling (620) 792-9365 during library hours. The Barton Library is open Sunday, 1-7 p.m.; Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The last reservation slot for each evening will be one hour before closing time.