Programs for the Public | Newberry

Programs for the Public

The Newberry organizes and hosts programs illuminating topics in the humanities through a variety of formats, including lectures, staged readings, music and dance performances, panel discussions, workshops, and more.

Some events are part of ongoing series, such as Conversations at the Newberry, Meet the Author talks, Programs for Genealogists, the weekly Newberry Colloquium, and exhibition-related programming; others are signature annual events, such as the Newberry Book Fair and the Bughouse Square Debates. Additional public programming may be sponsored by the Newberry’s Research Centers.

Most Newberry public programs are free. Seating is limited and obtaining free tickets in advance is required for many events; see the individual listings for details.

Many of our programs are recorded, and you can listen to them on our website.

Upcoming Public Programs

Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Journalism and Police Accountability: Perspectives from the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Torture Justice Center
Virtual event - register now
Reader publisher Karen Hawkins, former Reader reporter John Conroy, Aislinn Pulley, co-executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center, and Mark Clements, an activist and police torture survivor will discuss the role of journalism in uncovering police violence.
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Conversations at the Newberry
A Simple Cotton Sack: A Conversation about African American Women, Trauma, and Resistance
Virtual event - register now
In this installment of “Conversations at the Newberry,” Tiya Miles will be joined by Megan Sweeney, whose lyric essays and writings on African American literature and incarceration also engage with material culture. Their conversation will focus on the ways that women exercise agency under significant constraints and find meaning and beauty amid pain.
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Wars of Independence and Revolution in the Americas, 1775-1825
Colonial History Lecture: Eric Hinderaker
Virtual event - register now
In this installment of the Colonial History Lecture Series, historian Eric Hinderaker will delve into the resistance movements, international warfare, imperial crises, and struggles for independence that transformed the Western Hemisphere from 1775-1825.
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Meet the Author
Only the Clothes on Her Back: Meet the Author Laura F. Edwards
Virtual event - register now
Join Laura Edwards in conversation with historian Margaret Storey, as they discuss what dresses, bedlinens, waistcoats, pantaloons, shoes, and kerchiefs can tell us about the legal status of the least powerful members of 19th-century American society.
Thursday, March 3, 2022
History of the Book Program
Shakespeare in Type
Wing Foundation Lecture on the History of the Book
In-person event - registration opens February 1, 2022
In this free public lecture, Claire Bourne illuminates how typographic decision-making—from typefaces to page design—has shaped how we read and engage with Shakespeare.
Thursday, March 10, 2022
From Sea to Shining Sea: Travelers, Tourists, and Tribal Sovereignty
Katrina Phillips (Red Cliff Ojibwe) in conversation with Joseph Whitson
In-person event - registration opens February 1, 2022
Join historians Katrina Phillips and Joseph Whitson in conversation as they draw on the interconnected themes of tourism, American expansion, and Native histories.
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Programs for Genealogists
Irish Genealogy Research Program: Ulster Historical Foundation
In-person event - registration opens February 1, 2022
Veteran genealogists Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt will introduce researchers of all levels to several topics in Irish genealogical research and share how to get started with researching emigrant ancestors from the north of Ireland.
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Conversations at the Newberry
Who Belongs? A Conversation about the Long History of American Identity: Kathleen Belew and Erika Lee
In-person event - registration opens Spring 2022
In this installment of “Conversations at the Newberry,” two historians, Kathleen Belew and Erika Lee, share their research on the long histories of American identity, offering fresh perspectives on the forces that seek to expand or narrow understandings of what it means to be American.