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SUMMARY:Frieze Lecture Series: Beloved by Toni Morrison, presented by Dr. 
 Ashley Burge
UID:12729
DTSTAMP:20260412T090000Z
DTSTART:20221110T200000Z
DTEND:20221110T210000Z
LOCATION:Downtown Library, 401 19th Street, Rock Island, IL 61201, United 
 States
ROOM: Downtown Community Room
DESCRIPTION:To kick off the 150th anniversary year of the Rock Island Publ
 ic Library, the 25th annual Frieze Lecture series focuses on ideas that h
 ad a profound impact in their own times – much like the opening of the R
 ock Island Public Library, the first tax-supported public library to do so
  in Illinois.\r\nThe 25th annual Frieze Lectures, a partnership between th
 e Rock Island Public Library and Augustana College, will offer four facult
 y presentations on works that fundamentally affected the cultural landscap
 e. The free lecture series takes place on four Thursdays at 2:00 pm, Octob
 er 20, 27, November 3, and 10, in the Community Room of the Downtown Libra
 ry, 401 19th Street. All lectures are open to the public, free of charge.
 \r\n“The Frieze Lecture series with Augustana College began with the cel
 ebration of the library’s 125th anniversary, so it was a particularly a
 ppropriate way to kick off our 150th,” said Angela Campbell, Rock Island
  Public Library director. “We are honored to continue our association wi
 th Augustana College, which brings college-level lectures into the public 
 learning setting of the library.”\r\nJust as having a truly public libra
 ry available to Rock Island citizens in 1872 was seen as a life-changing e
 vent, this year’s lecture themes focus on ideas that had a seismic impac
 t in their own times. Each lecture features an Augustana faculty member di
 scussing books that mark significant artistic, scientific, or political mo
 vements. The 2022 schedule is as follows:\r\n \r\n·October 20: William S
 tyron's Sophie's Choice, presented by Dr. Paul Olsen, Professor 
 of English. Responding to the reset surge in book banning, this talk with 
 focus on the "truths" of Iconic American author William Styron.\
 r\n·October 27: The 1619 Project, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, and pr
 esented by Dr. Lauren Hammond, associate professor of history. The long-fo
 rm journalism project reframed the country’s history around the perspect
 ives and contributions of Black Americans.\r\n·November 3: Cosmos and t
 he work of Alexander von Humboldt, presented by Dr. Stephen Hager, profess
 or of biology. Considered by some as the first environmentalist, von Humbo
 ldt’s work is a holistic observation of all of nature.\r\n·November 10:
  Beloved by Toni Morrison, presented by Dr. Ashley Burge, assistant prof
 essor of English. Morrison’s literary masterpiece has faced multiple ban
 ning attempts for its frank depiction of the horrors of slavery.\r\n \r\n
 All four Frieze Lectures in the Ideas That Changed Us series begin at 2:
 00 pm, and are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.\r
 \nAdditionally, the library will commemorate its 150th anniversary immedi
 ately following the final frieze lecture on November 10. From 3:00 to 6:00
  pm, the library will celebrate with cake, a giant card signing, and by co
 llecting public memories, items, and greetings for a library time capsule 
 for a future historic monument.\r\n \r\nRock Island Library History:\r\nT
 he Rock Island Public Library opened to the public on November 25, 1872, i
 nside a rented room in the Mitchell and Lynde bank building, off 2nd Aven
 ue in Rock Island. Though other public libraries in Illinois had started t
 he formation process earlier, Rock Island was the first to actually open t
 o the public, with opening day occurring just eight months after the Illin
 ois Local Library Act. The law made tax-supported public libraries possibl
 e in Illinois.\r\nRock Island’s accelerated opening date was made possib
 le by a generous donation from the private Young Men’s Literacy Associat
 ion, which offered their library collection, equipment, and lone staff mem
 ber to the City of Rock Island in August 1872. The Literary Association’
 s young librarian, Miss Ellen Gale, became the first director of the new p
 ublic library, a position she would hold until her retirement in 1937. The
  library will celebrate its 150th year with a year of events stretching f
 rom the 2022 Frieze Lectures to an event on November 25, 2023.\r\n \r\nTh
 e Frieze Lecture Series was created by the late Ruth Evelyn Katz, a lib
 rary board member, to celebrate the library's 125th anniversary. The 
 name comes from the architectural feature around the top of the downtown l
 ibrary building. The authors carved into the sandstone are Homer, Longfell
 ow, Emerson, Virgil, Hugo, Shakespeare, Goethe, Burns, Hawthorne, Tegner, 
 and Bancroft. Though not well known today, the names of Tegner, a Swedish 
 poet, and Bancroft, a naval historian, would have been familiar to 1903 re
 sidents.\r\n 
URL:https://www.rockislandlibrary.org/event/frieze-lecture-series-beloved-
 toni-morrison-presented-dr-ashley-burge
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