4 PM - 6 PM
Libraries are more than reading: lifelong learning is also making and doing! Join fellow yarn enthusiasts once a month on the first Wednesday of the month from 4-6 pm at the State Library temporary location in the Keystone Building for a maker time of stitching, knitting, crocheting, felting, and camaraderie! Show off your new project and share inspiration with one another.
State Library Book Club - The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes
Date: Thursday, March 9, 2023
Time: 12 Noon to 1 PM
Book: The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes
About the Book Club: The State Library of Pennsylvania hosts a quarterly lunchtime book club open to state employees as well as to the public. The book club meets in the format of a virtual meeting. Attendees take part in conversations about the book moderated by Kathy Hale, Public Services Librarian Supervisor at the State Library of Pennsylvania. Share thoughts about the characters, plot, setting and impact of the book with others who have read the book or any part of it.
Pre-Registration is required. You will receive an email with a link to attend the meeting.
About the book: Set in the 1940's of Kentucky, this is a fictionalized account of women known as the Packhorse Librarians. Alice Wright and two other women participate in Eleanor Roosevelt's federally funded program to get books into the hands of people in rural areas of Appalachia.
This book may be borrowed from many Pennsylvania public libraries.
Commonwealth employees may complete the complete the State Library's
interlibrary loan form to borrow this book. State employees may also use
EZborrow.
Participants do not need a State Library card to participate in the book discussion.
March 15, 2023
12 Noon – 1 PM
Join State Library staff and Cathryn Calhoun, Director of Education at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in a discussion about August Wilson and the mission of championing Black cultural experiences. The Center is a cultural arts center that celebrates Black culture through art, literature, theater, dance, and collective history that reflects the supremacy of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning Pittsburgh native and playwright, August Wilson. Visit their amazing interactive website at August Wilson African American Cultural Center (awaacc.org).
Cathryn Calhoun is the Director of Education and Community Engagement Manager at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.
Please pre-register for the event with this form and you will receive an email with the link to join.
April 12, 2023
12 Noon – 1 PM
"Every Blot of Slavery's Shame - Stories from the Civil War Museum." CEO Jeffrey Nichols will share some artifacts and stories of the African American experience in the Civil War era and discuss the central role of slavery as the cause of the war.
Jeffrey L. Nichols is the Chief Executive Officer of The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining The National Civil War Museum, he was the Executive Director of Georgetown Heritage, a philanthropic partner of the National Park Service in Washington, DC, and before that, he was the President & CEO of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's retreat house and plantation located near Lynchburg, Virginia. He also worked at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, in several roles, serving as Executive Director for the final four years of his tenure there. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Southern Connecticut State University, a Master of Science in Museum Education degree from the Bank Street College of Education, and an MBA from the University of New Haven. He serves as Treasurer for PA Museums and has served on the board of Greater Lynchburg (VA) Habitat for Humanity and was the Treasurer of the Virginia Association of Museums.
Please pre-register for the event and you will receive an email with the link to join.
May 10, 2023
12 Noon – 1 PM
Join Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt as she discusses her book, “The Mount Washington Transit Tunnel Disaster.”
On Christmas Eve 1917, an overcrowded, out-of-control streetcar exited the Mount Washington tunnel, crashing into pedestrians. Twenty-three were killed and more than eighty injured in the worst transit incident in Pittsburgh history. The crash scene on Carson Street was chaotic as physicians turned the railway offices into a makeshift hospital and bystanders frantically sought to remove the injured and strewn bodies from the wreckage. Most of the victims, many women and children, were from the close-knit neighborhoods of Knoxville, Beltzhoover and Mount Oliver. In the aftermath, public outrage over the tragedy led to criminal prosecution, civil suits and the bankruptcy of the Pittsburgh Railways Company, which operated the service. Author Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt explores the tragic history of the Mount Washington transit tunnel disaster.
May 24, 2023
12 Noon – 1 PM
This installment of State Library Rare Collections Programs will center on a brief history of paper marbling from the ancient art of suminagashi to the 18th and 19th century styles that are used as endpapers in many of our books.
Examples of the different styles and patterns from our collection will be featured, as well as a demonstration of how paper is marbled.
Please pre-register for the event and you will receive and email with the link to join.
Date: June 8, 2023
Time: 12 Noon to 1 PM
Book: Principal
Subject: The True Story of Dr. Jay Smith and the Main Line Murders
About the Book Club: The State Library of Pennsylvania hosts a quarterly lunchtime book club open to state employees as well as to the public. The book club meets in the format of a virtual meeting. Attendees take part in conversations about the book moderated by Kathy Hale, Public Services Librarian Supervisor at the State Library of Pennsylvania. Share thoughts about the characters, plot, setting, and impact of the book with others who have read the book or any part of it.
About the book: Joseph Wambaugh's "Echoes in the Darkness" and its subsequent TV dramatization have made household words of both Susan Reinert, the murder victim, and Dr. Jay Smith, a high school principal and her accused killer. The naked body of Susan Reinert, a suburban, Philadelphia school teacher was found jammed into the hatchback of a car. Her two young children were missing and never found. [Goodreads]
This book may be borrowed from many Pennsylvania public libraries.
Commonwealth employees may complete the State Library's
Interlibrary Loan form to borrow this book or use
EZborrow.
Please register with this form to participate.
June 28, 2023
12 Noon – 1 PM
Join historian Jim Young as he shares his wealth of knowledge about Labor History in Pennsylvania in this virtual program facilitated by the State Library of Pennsylvania staff.
Jim Young has divided his work life between historical teaching, research, and writing, on one hand, and labor union activism and staff work on the other. Dr. Young has composed both scholarly and popular histories, taught at universities and in union leadership settings, served as spokesperson, major-party congressional candidate, state-wide union political director (PSSU/SEIU 668), book reviewer for CHOICE and others, county political chair, area labor council president, PA Labor History Society (PLHS) officer, academic division chair, and president of a union's staff union. Young has led the negotiation of dozens of labor-management contracts, argued many arbitration cases, testified at a score of legislative hearings, led workers in strikes and demonstrations and lobbying efforts. He has composed articles and essays, news releases, position papers, legal briefs, and speeches for himself and others. Young has scripted and co-narrated a labor history video, written and directed a dramatic reading, contributed "In Labor's Corner" column to the community newspaper Common Ground, and conducted dozens of oral history interviews. He has published Union Power (Monthly Review Press, 2017) and a primer, Labor's Story in the History of the United States (2019). He is currently writing another labor union history.
In addition to his presidency of PLHS, the author belongs to the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the NAACP (life), the Assoc. of PA State College and University Retired Faculty, and the National Writers Union, as well as other groups. Now ninety-five percent retired from remunerative work, Young lives in Harrisburg with his wife, Susan Weader, and numerous cats.
Please pre-register for the event and you will receive an email with the link to join.