CHICAGO (August 11, 2006) - This fall, public events at the Newberry Library continue to explore diverse areas, from Aztec culture after the Spanish conquest to the ever-popular detective stories about Sherlock Holmes. Programs are free (unless otherwise indicated) and no reservations are typically required.
General information:
Location: 60 West Walton Street, Chicago IL 60610
Public Information: Call (312) 255-3700 or visit www.newberry.org
Exhibit Hours: Monday, Friday, and Saturday, 8:15 am - 5:30 pm
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 8:15 am - 7:30 pm
September 2006
Return of the Wednesday Club: Celebrate Brazil!
Wednesday, September 6, Reception starts at 5:30 pm with music by Paulinho Garcia.
Wednesday Club is back this fall with exciting presentations and speakers. The first fall speaker is Ricardo Carvalho who serves as Brazilian Consul General in Chicago. Carvalho will speak about Brazil and its involvement in issues such as international free trade. The Wednesday Club meets the first Wednesday of every month and offers stimulating conversation and learning opportunities for active professionals.
Admission to the Wednesday Club presentations is $9 ($6 for Associates of the Newberry Library at the Author Level or above) and includes wine, soft drinks and light refreshments. Programs begin at 6:15 pm. For information, please call (312) 255-3510.
Meet the Author: Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch
Wednesday, September 13, 6:00 pm
Barbara Ehrenreich, writer of the successful 2001 exposé Nickel and Dimed, will talk about her new book titled Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, which discusses the difficulties of finding a white-collar job in America's corporate environment. Ehrenreich's visit is part of the centennial celebration of the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
Chicago History: Louis Sullivan and Henry Ives Cobb, Architects of Culture and Commerce
Thursday, September 14, 6:00 pm
Newberry Library Ruggles Hall
Art historian and Newberry scholar-in-residence Diane Dillon will compare Louis Sullivan with Henry Ives Cobb, another leading Chicago architect of the late nineteenth century. While Sullivan is viewed as a forward-looking architect, Cobb looked to the past for inspiration. However, Dillon will show that the two architects had much in common. The lecture is part of Sullivan 150, a six-week, citywide commemoration of Sullivan's birth in 1856.
Dillon will also be teaching a 10-week Newberry seminar titled "The Architecture of Louis Sullivan" that starts Tuesday, September 19. To register call (312) 255-3700.
For more information about Sullivan 150 at the Chicago History Museum and other locations, please call (312) 642-4600. Full event details are available online at www.sullivan150.org.
The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico
September 28, 2006 - January 13, 2007
Hermon Dunlap Smith Gallery
The story of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec (Nahua) empire in 1521 is well known. Yet today in Mexico, there are 1.5 million native speakers of Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. A variety of objects from Newberry's Mexicana collections including maps, printed books and legal documents will show the dynamic vitality and resilience of the Aztec descendants throughout the colonial period and beyond.
The exhibition opening on Saturday, September 30 begins at 10:00 am and will include a performance by Newberry Consort guest artists. After the performance, exhibit curators will discuss the challenges they faced while making "The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico." Tours of the exhibition in English will follow at 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm. A tour in Spanish will take place at 1:00 pm.
The exhibition continues through January 13, 2007.
The Newberry Consort:
"Harmonies of the Hemispheres: Devotions and Dreams of Spain and Mexico"
September 28 - October 1
The 20th anniversary season begins with a set of performances of songs and hymns in Latin, Spanish and Nahuatl, and Mixtec. Ticket prices vary. Call (312) 255-3700 for more information.
· September 28, 7:30 pm performance with pre-concert lecture at 7:00 pm, Newberry Library
· September 29, 2:00 pm short performance, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum located at 1852 W. 19th Street Chicago
· September 30, 7:30 pm performance with pre-concert lecture at 7:00 pm, University of Chicago Fulton Hall
· October 1, 3:00 pm performance, Northwestern University Lutkin Hall
October 2006
Sherlock Holmes-Arthur Conan Doyle Colloquium
Saturday, October 7, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
At this first annual colloquium, anyone with an interest in detective stories, Victorian England, or Sherlock Holmes can enjoy three lectures from prominent Conan Doyle collectors. The event will also encourage the use of Newberry's materials for studying Conan Doyle. The colloquium is co-sponsored by the Hounds of the Baskerville, the oldest Midwestern Sherlockian group.
Aztec Moments, Chicano Cosmovision: Imagining a Place for Aztlan
Saturday, October 14, 11:00 am
David Carrasco, a historian of religion from Harvard University, will explore the theme of the continuity of Aztec culture in this talk. Carrasco will compare the Aztecs' response to colonization with the way contemporary Mexican and Mexican-American intellectuals use Aztec myths and symbols to explore their identity.
Mapping the New World for the Spanish Kings
Thursday, October 19, 6:00 pm
Reception starts at 5:30 pm
Barbara Mundy from Fordham University will talk about the uses of maps by Spaniards and Aztecs. For the Spaniards, maps were a symbol of their new global empire. Meanwhile the maps of the Aztecs show how the indigenous mapping traditions evolved in the sixteenth century.
Meet the Author: Erik Larson, Thunderstruck
Tuesday, October 24, 6:00 pm
Erik Larson, a creative non-fiction writer, will launch his new book Thunderstruck at the Newberry. Larson's last novel titled The Devil in the White City used Chicago World's Fair of 1893 as a backdrop for the main plot. In Thunderstruck, Larson weaves a story about how the invention of the wireless radio helps capture a fleeing murderer in the early 20th century.
November 2006
2006 Chicago Humanities Festival, Peace and War
Aftermath: Inside the Forbidden City, a photo exhibit by Joel Meyerowitz
October 16 - November 12
Photographer Joel Meyerowitz captures the aftermath of 9/11 at Ground Zero in large-scale, full-color photos from his World Trade Center Archive. The photographs show the destruction, overwhelming emotion and ultimately the eight-month recovery surrounding the site. Versions of this exhibit have traveled to more than 200 cities in 60 countries. The exhibit is part of a larger group of Chicago Humanities Festival programs hosted by the Newberry.
Atlzatzilistli/Praying for Water: Film Screening and Discussion
Saturday, November 18, 11:00 am
Documentary film director José Luis Matías Alonso presents his eighteen-minute film in which people of a Nahua community in Mexico perform a ritual to ask for rain at the annual harvest. The director will explain why it is important for indigenous people to tell their own stories.
The director will also screen the film at Erie Neighborhood House (La Casa Erie) on Monday, November 20 at 6:00 pm. The Erie Neighborhood House is located at 1347 W. Erie Street. Call (312) 255-3700 or check the Newberry Web site, www.newberry.org, for additional locations and dates.
December 2006
Playford's Further Delight: A Dance Redux for the Newberry Consort
Sunday, December 3, 2:30 pm
Tickets $50. Call (312) 255-3700 to order by phone.
Back by popular demand - music and dance, wine and beer! Get into the holiday spirit with a lively afternoon of English country dancing. Once again, your steps will be guided by one of the great American experts in the field, Gene Murrow. David Douglass will lead the Newberry Consort Dance Band, and light refreshments will be served at this bawdy benefit for the Consort.
Finding Your Hispanic Roots
Saturday, December 16, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
At 11:00 am, genealogist and historian George Ryskamp from Brigham Young University will explain research methods and offer resources for uncovering Hispanic family roots.
Following Ryskamp, historian Linda Matthew from Marquette University will talk at 12:30 pm about the importance of genealogy for the indigenous people after the Spanish conquest. Finally, at 2:00 pm, graduate student Gabriel Argulo will lead a workshop about using Newberry resources for researching Mexican and Mexican-American family history.
ABOUT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
The Newberry Library is an independent library open to the public for research and reference in the humanities. One of the largest independent research libraries in the United States, the Newberry holds an extraordinary collection of more than 1.5 million books, 5 million manuscript pages and 300 thousand historic maps. As one of the world's leading repositories of a broad range of books and manuscripts relating to the civilizations of western Europe and the Americas, the Library's mission is to acquire and preserve research collections of such materials, and to provide for and promote their effective use by a diverse community of users.