April Midday Program

Quick. What are the two flattest U.S. states? Here’s a hint, neither correct response starts with “Kansas.” First place honors belong to Florida and second … to Illinois, where many folks like to say that, “On a clear day, you can see the back of your head.”

That’s one reason that people first encountering the American West as they ventured from the Midwest were awestruck. Some of those encounters were captured on film – in stunning black and white – and our speaker, Megan Friedel, will be sharing examples of that photographic history with us. She’ll be drawing on the Rare and Distinctive Collections (which includes books and maps) at the University of Colorado Library.

An Amherst graduate, Megan received an MLIS as well as a MA in history from Simmons College. She has served as president of the Society of Rocky Mountain Archivists and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Western Archives.

Western photographs from the eighteenth century often appear as small images clustered on a page in history books or as part of extraordinarily expensive set of collectible volumes. Here’s your chance to see them richly portrayed and in the company of an expert.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Please register if you’d like to see this program, even if you can’t attend. After the program, all registrants will receive an email offering an opportunity to request a link to a recording of the complete program.

April Evening Program

Join us in welcoming Caxtonian Bruce Kennett as he discusses W.A. Dwiggins and his Athalinthia project in person at the Newberry.

Produced entirely in New England, Athalinthia is filled with delights. It comes straight from the imagination and heart of W.A. Dwiggins (WAD), one of the great visual artists of the twentieth century. Wise and witty stories written by Dwiggins, are accompanied by more than a hundred of his fanciful illustrations – many of these never before seen in print.

From 1910 to 1926, Dwiggins created a series of stories about an imaginary place he named Athalinthia, and the people who lived there. A place perhaps akin to Persia a thousand years ago, or Uzbekistan in the nineteenth century … he never said. This is WAD at his most fanciful, his most personal.

In 1928, after nearly twenty years of writing and picture-making, Dwiggins tried valiantly to get his stories published in one volume. He designed the book, made a dummy, and shopped it around to publishing houses. He had no luck. Discouraged, WAD put his Athalinthia project aside. Thankfully, after a delay of nearly a hundred years, Dwiggins biographer Bruce Kennett picked it up and saw it through to the end. This is a remarkable achievement and a pure delight. In these troubling times, stories such as these are a comfort for all of us to have on our bookshelves.

Doors open 5:30 PM, Presentation 6:15 PM, Buffet dinner (vegetarian options available) with wine, beer, or non-alcoholic beverage to follow.

Cost $72.00 inclusive. No program-only option. You must purchase dinner to attend.

Prepayment and registration required via website by 5:30 PM 4/17/23.

Registering for the program will allow you the opportunity to purchase copies of Athalinthia for $62, including tax.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.