Here are some photos taken at the program on Sunday, February 7 in the Winsor Room. Author Homa Sabet Tavangar talked about her new book, Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (2009).

In these pictures:  Susan Dewis and Lester Dewis with the author, Homa Sabet Tavangar.

Great picture, isn’t it? I found it on the Web.

Local author Homa Sabet Tavangar will be in the Winsor Room on Sunday, February 7 at 2pm to talk about her new book, “Growing Up Global: Raising Children To Be At Home In The World”.

It is now Sunday, and the Library will open for your business at 1pm and this author event will begin at 2pm! I have been looking forward to this program and hope you’ve dug yourself out and can come over. The Library lot has been plowed and you’ll get a parking space. Drive gently and walk extra carefully…

The author (who lives in Berwyn) has been on a whirlwind book tour and is making appearances all over the country. The book is published by Random House and has been named by Scholastic magazine as best new book for parents in 2009. Dr. Jane Goodall gave her endorsement of 2009 to Tavangar’s book, among accolades and high praise. Growing Up Global  helps parents to raise children with a global perspective.

We will also have books for purchase at the event. Haven’t planned a snow date and if we need to, you’ll hear about it here.

Ryan Richards interviewed Homa for the February 4th issue of the Suburban and you can read it here:

http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2010/02/03/main_line_suburban_life/life/doc4b68943d8ee5c295560175.txt

                                                                                             Hope to see you on Sunday!!!

February has now been designated Library Lovers’ Month…but last time I checked it was Black History Month. So what’s going on here?

If you look at Chase’s Calendar of Events 2010 (a big reference book in the Library) they tell you it is also American Heart Month, International Expect Success Month, and so on. Way too many others to list here!

Next time you stop in, you’ll see this spectacular Library Lovers’ Month display that was designed and installed by Library Director, Kathy Mulroy. Kathy said that other libraries have also put together a ”heart” table where you can write a valentine to your legislator(s) telling him or her how much you love your Library. Because of  budget cuts this year, we are asking all of our customers  to take time to send valentines so that our legislators will restore funding to libraries. All you do is fill out the valentine and the Library will take care of the sending.

Radnor Township’s Library wants to continue to serve this community…with heart!

                                                                                                             

Cardy

Business Oral History Panel, from left: Art Forster, John Braxton, Bob D’Amicantonio, Lou D’Amicantonio, Vince Cappelli, Cardy Crawford

 

Moderator Cardy Crawford with Business Oral History Panel members Vince Cappelli, Lou D’Amicantonio, Bob D’Amicantonio

 

Radnor business owners who were selected by Radnor Historical Society for the Business Oral History Panel at the Library on January 12, 2010

    

A packed house for the Business Oral History Panel on January 12, 2010

A big thank you to all Radnor Historical Society members and other guests for a grand time last night! I am guessing we had 75 people in the Winsor Room at the Library…maybe more.   

hmm…do you think this is where everyone in Wayne goes in the winter…SOUTH WAYNE ?   

I sent pictures to Ryan Richards of Main Line Media News but he said I missed the deadline for Thursday’s Suburban. He said send them anyway and he will try and get them in the paper next week.   

Many thanks to our business owners who participated in this event:  John Braxton, Vince Cappelli, Bob D’Amicantonio, Lou D’Amicantonio, Art Forster and moderator, Cardy Crawford. My appreciation for Tom Costello and Nancy Costello showing up early to help set the stage, Kathy Siple for the yummy homemade cookies, and Tom Ellis for recording the event. If you see yourself in a picture where I have a question mark, send me your name and I can update the blog. If you want me to remove your picture, I will do that too! I love photographs and tend to go overboard…

Tom just sent a link to the program if you’d like to watch it:

http://www.vimeo.com/8798067

 

p.s. Ryan did put a picture in the January 20 issue of the Suburban!

   

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy Costello, Radnor Historical Society

Nancy Fischer and John Dale

Karen Brown and Doug Brown

Evie Giegerich and Lynn Ellis

Peter Craig and ?

Ted Pollard and Andrea Pilling

Tom Costello, Liz McNerlin Collins, Nancy Costello,

Tom Ellis and Jim Collins

Admiring the businesses' memorabilia on display: Martha Dale, Greg Pritchard, Tom Ellis

Jim Giegerich and Bob D'Amicantonio

Sandy Crawford, Nancy Fischer, John Fischer

OK, now it's Art's turn...

Bob and Lou

John

Vince

A Man For All Seasons

The Library is proud to present the 1st film in a 5-film series titled History Through Film. Our host for the series is Richard Donagher, PhD, Professor Emeritus in History, Rosemont College. Since retiring, Professor Donagher has taught at Rosemont College, Neumann College and Main Line Night School. Donagher believes that much popular information about history is derived from movies and TV. In this series, you will see it in context and watch award winning films of American cinema.

Richard has a long association with the Book Club here at the Library and I am THRILLED he has agreed to lead the discussions for this new daytime program! Also an historian of the Main Line, Richard has appeared on the Radnor Studio 21 cable channel talking about local history.

 On Friday, January 8, the film A Man For All Seasons will be screened at 10:00am in the Winsor Room. Admission is free and no registration is necessary. This is a BYOBrownbag lunch event and the Library will be happy to provide beverages. After the film, participants will enjoy lunch and Richard will lead a lively discussion, I’m sure. I am looking forward to this event and hope you’ll take a minute to comment on this blog after you’ve seen the film!

Make a plan and join us here on Friday, January 8!

If it really does SNOW on Friday, please call the Library at 687-1124 after you dig yourself out but before your expedition…

A Man For All Seasons is a picture that inspires admiration, courage and thought. This 1966 film is based on Robert Bolt’s play of the same name and is about Sir Thomas More, advisor to King Henry VIII. Paul Scofield, who had played More on stage, also took the role in the film. It was directed by Fred Zimmerman who previously directed such films as High Noon and From Here To Eternity. The film won 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Also starring in the film are Orson Welles, Susannah York, and John Hurt. Future films and dates are as follows:

Feb. 5………The Black Robe

March 5…..All Quiet On The Western Front

April 9…….Inherit The Wind

May 7……..Sunrise At Campobello

Thank you Friends of the Library for your financial support.  Without it, these events couldn’t happen. And even worse, I wouldn’t have anything to write about!

Christmas donuts!

There we were, hard at work, wrapping up last minute Library business before we close for the Christmas holidays. The staff was working their way through a plate of Sara Corenzwit’s Chanukah cookies, when out in the lobby there arose such a clatter, we sprang from our chairs to see what was the matter. When, what to our wondering eyes should appear but Kathy Mulroy carrying donuts…and grinning ear to ear!

Molly Carroll...her cheeks were like roses, her nose like a cherry!

With a wink of her eye and a twist of her head, soon gave us to know we had nothing to dread; she spoke not a word, but went straight to her work…

We sprang to the counter, then turned with a jerk, and said– Here Molly, have a Christmas donut!…and we went right back to work!

The donuts were laid on the counter with care, in hopes that Levi Tucker soon would be there!

Such a busy time of year, we know…but it’s your Library and we thought you’d want to know what’s going on. Some very unusual things have been happening at the Library. Of course, it all started in the Winsor Room…

A man dressed in RED who visited the Winsor Room in DECEMBER (Secret Santa?)

Ta Da!

Helen and Heather

Kathy and Sara

 

Pam and Anne

 

Heather with Tootie (an elf!)

 

Heather Potter leading the workshop; Heather is owner of Cottage Flowers in Malvern

Maria, it looks gorgeous!

Lindsay (elf-in-chief) and Ruth

Jeffrey, Yu mei (center) and Ruth

Wreaths have always been symbolic and the display of wreaths can be traced to the earliest civilizations. Remains of rings of flowers and sprigs 4500 years old were discovered in a burial pyramid in Egypt. The use of evergreens and wreaths as symbols of eternal life was an ancient custom of the Chinese and the Hebrews, among other peoples.

Year after year, the Library offers  the wreath decorating workshop and as always, Heather Potter of Cottage Flowers in Malvern is here to conduct the evening fun! We are totally intoxicated with smells of balsam and pine, holly and eucalyptus…and those lingering memories of all the holidays past.

When we’re finished, we joke about going home and showing our spectacular displays on the front door, which of course announces to the world that we are ready for the holidays. Truth be told, we are very artistic super women and by morning we’ll have begun to deck the halls!

According to Todd Bottorff, publisher of Laura Beardsley’s book, Historic Photos of Pennsylvania (2009), our state has thousands of historic photographs that reside in archives, both locally and nationally.

Laura in the Winsor Room

 On a rainy Wednesday night in early December, Laura shared some of these images from her book with a group of history lovers in the Winsor Room. In the dimly lighted space, these images were more than just projections on a screen. Each image had been carefully selected from thousands of photos in numerous archives, representing countless hours of review and research.

Everyone around here knows that Philadelphia is the city of “firsts”…first zoo, first hospital and so on.  But here is some information that I am sure is not common knowledge, even among the “locals”. In Philadelphia, on September 25 in 1839, amateur photographer and inventor Joseph Saxton created a daguerreotype after reading a brief description of the new photographic process in a local newspaper. This daguerreotype is the oldest known photograph created in the United States. It is a unique view taken from a window and that’s all I am going to tell you. At the Library program, this was the “first” photograph that was projected onto the screen. If you are the curious sort, stop by the Library and if the book isn’t checked out, you can see for yourself. (I actually took a picture of that first photograph as it was projected on the screen and I posted it here…but then I took it down right away. Copyright violation? Perhaps. Either way, it didn’t feel right.)

We looked at some of the earliest known photographs of Pennsylvania. The first part was from 1839 through the end of the nineteenth century. My favorite photo in that group was taken in 1863 in York County. If you look carefully at the photograph and then squint, you will recognize a most famous person in American history. The next group of photos  spanned the beginning of the twentieth century through World War 1. Deeply disturbing was a photograph of young boys working late into the night at a bowling alley in Pittsburgh in 1908. Then we looked at photos from the 1920’s through the 1940’s. Most memorable from that group was the mysterious double-deck privy on a farm somewhere in Pennsylvania and two photos made by Walker Evans. The final few we were shown were made 1950-1970.

Laura certainly knows her material. She gave interesting background on the images and that helped us interpret the scene as we observed the photograph. But then, all too soon, the show was over and on came the bright lights. Without question, we were left with a better understanding of  Pennsylvania’s reputation as a great industrial giant and its place in the history of this country. But we saw evidence of its weaknesses, also.

The goal of the publisher is met by making these photographs more accessible to people. This book “seeks to preserve the past with adequate respect and reverence”.  (Todd Bottorff of Turner Publishing)

We are very grateful that Laura made the time to visit the Library (for the 2nd time!) and look forward to her visit again in the future. The author is currently working on another book about Philadelphia and we can look for it in 2010. I hope it has photos!  I’ll keep you posted…

If you are interested in watching this program, it will become available online at VIMEO in the near future. Thanks to Tom Ellis, who, like an apparition in the doorway, appeared with his high tech equipment for recording Laura’s presentation.  Our sincere thanks, Tom. 

Note: The book talk is now available for you !

http://vimeo.com/8153600

The birthplace of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, Pennsylvania is steeped in history as deep as that of the United States as a whole. A daguerreotype image of Philadelphia’s Central High School remains the oldest known photograph taken anywhere in the United States. That landmark image is among the many highlights of Historic Photos of Pennsylvania.

On Wednesday, December 2, at 7pm author Laura Beardsley will be in the Winsor Room  showing digital images from this beautiful book. Laura will talk about the images and we promise you that it will be an engaging and informative talk. Laura earned a master of arts degree in public history from Rutgers University and she is the former Director of Graphics and Research Services for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In recent years she has pursued a career as a freelance researcher and consultant. Laura is the author of Historic Photos Of Philadelphia and Historic Photos Of The Main Line.  Laura was here for a book talk and book signing (January 2009)  for  Historic Photos Of The Main Line.

At the program, Laura will give the background of these vintage photographs of farmlands and waterfalls, coal mines and steel mills, museums and universities in Pennsylvania. The images in this collection pay tribute to the people who have made up Pennsylvania’s storied past. Books will be available at a special event price which is less than retail. This book would be a great gift ! And as always, the Library will serve refreshements. Hope to see you there.