Friday Luncheon Meetings, unless otherwise noted, are held on the second Friday of September through June of each year. They are held at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Blvd. Luncheon is served from the buffet in the Main Dining Room on the sixth floor at 11:30 am. Program is in a meeting room posted on the Union League schedule board at 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. Members may make reservations by calling 312-255-3710 or by email to caxtonclub@newberry.org.

Dinner meetings and lectures are generally held on the third Wednesday of September through June of each year and begin with spirits, 5 p.m., dinner 6 p.m., lecture, 7 p.m. Watch this space for details and exceptions. Meetings are open to Caxtonians and their guests. Members may make reservations by calling 312-255-3710 or by email to caxtonclub@newberry.org.

Video Recordings have been made of speaker presentations at many Caxton Club events. DVDs of these recordings are available for purchase.
A DVD Catalog describing each presentation along with details for placing
an order may be downloaded and viewed by clicking here.

September Luncheon Program

Friday, September 10, 2010, Union League Club

Don Chatham

“Algonquin Round Table: the Epitome of a Decadent, Significant Decade (1920-1930)”

Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woolcott, Harold Ross, George Kaufman, Robert Sherwood, Edna Ferber (and others) lunched at the Algonquin Hotel every day for 10 years, and along the way their irreverence, their stinging wit and their brilliant interactions influenced American literature. Caxtonian Don Chatham, Associate Executive Director of the American Library Association, has long been fascinated by this noisy, impertinent, impecunious, but, oh-so-clever gathering. Come and hear: how did such a group get together? How did the American public learn what was going on? How the members carried “togetherness” to an extreme: secluded island trips, poker nights etc. Many members produced major works of literature. What was the Round Table's influence? Why did some members (on hindsight) express embarrassment at their previous participation in the Round Table?

The September luncheon will take place at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Boulevard. Luncheon buffet (in the main dining room on six) opens at 11:30 am; program (in a different room, to be announced) 12:30-1:30. Luncheon is $30. For reservations call 312-255-3710 or email caxtonclub@newberry.org; reservations are needed by noon Tuesday for the Friday luncheon.

September Dinner Program

Wednesday, September 15, 2010, Cliff Dwellers

Robert Williams

“Teaching America to Write: Early American Penmanship Books and Pedagogical Theory”

The use of printed books to teach handwriting goes back to the sixteenth century. It may come as a surprise to some that printing has always been a friend of penmanship, spreading examples of different writing styles and teaching methods beyond local borders through printed exemplars and instruction manuals. Writing masters in the newly formed United States joined in this tradition and introduced some surprisingly novel and unique approaches to this basic skill. Caxtonian Robert Williams will share some of his discoveries about how Americans learned to write, illustrated with materials from his collection and that of the Newberry Library.

(If the description of this talk sounds familiar, it's because this was to be our January talk. Unfortunately, technical difficulties made it impossible for Bob to show his slides on that occasion. He has kindly agreed to come before us again, and the required offerings have been made to the gods of PowerPoint.)

Details of the September dinner: it will take place at the Cliff Dwellers Club, 200 S. Michigan, 22nd floor. Timing: spirits at 5:00, dinner at 6:00, program at 7:30. Dinner is $48, drinks are $5 to $9. Special Cliff Dwellers parking rate, after 4 pm: $10 at the System Parking Garage at the SE corner of Jackson & Wabash. For reservations call 312-255-3710 or email caxtonclub@newberry.org; reservations are needed by noon Friday for the Wednesday dinner.

October Luncheon Program

First Thursday, October 7, 2010, Union League Club

(usual place, 6th floor Main Dining Room)

On Thursday October 7, 2010, visual historians Richard Cahan and Michael Williams will present a PowerPoint program about their books and the processes they used to produce (for example) Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home: Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man, Real Chicago Sports, and Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City, and the future of such books.

November Luncheon Program

Friday, November 12, 2010

William Tyre, Executive Director and Curator of the John J. Glessner House, will present a program about John Glessner: the man, his writings, his house, and, most importantly, about the very recent research Tyre has done on Glessner's library.