Interested in urban planning, sustainability, real and imagined spaces? Join us 2/21 as scholar Miles Orvell and photographer Sandy Sorlien talk Main Streets

What is an American Main Street? Is it a memory or image that has been perpetuated through American writing and art? A real space within new urbanist town planning? Or is it a place where some are welcome and others are shunned? Perhaps it is all of the above.

Distinguished Temple professor Miles Orvell and photographer Sandy Sorlien will take on these questions, and more, at an interdisciplinary conversation on American Main Streets at Paley Lecture Hall on 2/21, 2:30 PM.

When asked about the importance of main streets to planning and sustainability, Sorlien, who has been advocating for walkable downtowns for the past decade, stated “the importance of the traditional Main Street is that it is the essential center of a walkable
village or urban neighborhood. You can’t have walkability without  useful destinations  (shops, offices, civic functions), and without  walkability the place depends on cars, which further damage walkability, at least the way we’ve designed cities for many decades.” She also adds that “It’s important to understand Main Streets as essential to great  cities, not just quaint little rural towns.  Philadelphia’s mixed-use  corridors knit our many neighborhoods together, which then enables  transit. It’s all connected.”

Her photographic practice reflects her interest in these spaces, and she has been photographing landscapes and townscapes since 1980. She has published her work in Fifty Houses: Images from the American Road (Johns Hopkins 2002), and is finishing a book about Main Streets in America with the working title The Heart of Town.

Dr. Miles Orvell, professor of English and American Studies here at Temple, is equally interested in main streets, and his innovative, interdisciplinary research approaches questions of space and the built environment through a number of theoretical, visual, and historiographic methods.

In the last five years, Orvell has focused his research on the cultural meaning of
place, and he has co-edited a collection of essays,Public Space and the Ideology of Place in American Culture (Rodopi, 2009). He is an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Press series, Architecture, Technology, Culture, and is co-editing
a volume in the series, Thinking Architecture, Technology, Culture, based on a
conference he helped organize in Munich.

His most recent book is The Death and Life of Main Street: Small Towns in American
Memory, Space, and Community
 (University of North Carolina Press, 2012), which
recovers the complex and contradictory cultural meanings of the small town at the
same time that it problematizes the icon of Main Street. He is presently working
on a book on photography, ruins, and contemporary culture, called “The Course of
Empire: American Photography and the Destructive Sublime.”

Join us to examine these real and imagined notions of American main streets with Miles Orvell and Sandy Sorlien. We hope to see you at Paley Library Lecture Hall on Thursday, February 21 at 2:30 PM to join in the conversation!

Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer to Visit Temple, Discuss Envisioning Emancipation

Envisioning Emancipation, by Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer and published by Temple University Press, is quickly gaining attention as an important and innovative text on the power of photography in the journey to emancipation. In this pioneering book, the authors have amassed 150 photographs—some never before published—from the antebellum days of the 1850s through the New Deal era of the 1930s. They vividly display the seismic impact of emancipation on African Americans born before and after the Proclamation, providing a perspective on freedom and slavery and a way to understand the photos as documents of engagement, action, struggle, and aspiration.

Press coverage has included extensive write ups by the New York Times Lens blog to an interview and photogallery on CNN.com. Among those to laud the book’s efforts are Thelma Golden, the chief curator and director of the Studio Museum of Harlem and reviewers at Publisher’s Weekly.

Krauthamer and Willis will be on campus for a book talk, signing and reception on Friday, February 8. The program takes place at 3PM in the Great Court of Mitten Hall (1931 N. Broad Street).

Spring “Beyond the Page” Series further explores the American Idea

The Libraries are now finalizing our spring public programming “Beyond the Page” series. Once again this semester’s talks, panels, lectures, and programs explore the “American Idea.” The series kicks off on Friday, February 8 at the Great Court in Mitten Hall with a book talk by Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer on their recent publication, Envisioning Emancipation. Other programs include conversations on American main streets, American drinking traditions, and a special National Library Week program on Walt Whitman, American Icon. We will also have exhibitions on civil rights activist and Philadelphia hero, Father Paul Washington (at the Blockson Collection) and American Poetry (at Paley Library).

Here’s all of what we’ve got to offer this spring:

Spring 2013 Public Programs

  • Envisioning Emancipation: A Book Talk and Signing With Deb Willis and Barbara Krauthamer

February 8, 3:00 PM, Mitten Hall, Great Court, 1913 N. Broad Street

In their pioneering book, Envisioning Emancipation, renowned photographic historian Deborah Willis and historian of slavery Barbara Krauthamer have amassed 150 photographs—some never before published—from the antebellum days of the 1850s through the New Deal era of the 1930s. The authors vividly display the seismic impact of emancipation on African Americans born before and after the Proclamation, providing a perspective on freedom and slavery and a way to understand the photos as documents of engagement, action, struggle and aspiration. Envisioning Emancipation illustrates what freedom looked like for black Americans in the Civil War era. From photos of the enslaved on plantations and African American soldiers and camp workers in the Union Army to Juneteenth celebrations, slave reunions and portraits of black families and workers in the American South, the images in this book challenge perceptions of slavery. They show not only what the subjects emphasized about themselves but also the ways Americans of all colors and genders opposed slavery and marked its end. Filled with powerful images of lives too often ignored or erased from historical records, Envisioning Emancipationprovides a new perspective on American culture.

  •  On American Main Streets: A Conversation with Miles Orvell and Sandy Sorlien

February 21, 2:30 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall 1210 Polett Walk

What is an American Main Street? Is it a memory or image that has been perpetuated through American writing and art? A real space within new urbanist town planning? Or is it a place where some are welcome and others are shunned? Perhaps it is all of the above. Join us to examine these real and imagined notions of American main streets with Miles Orvell and Sandy Sorlien. Orvell is the author of The Death and Life of Main Street: Small Towns in American Memory, Space, and Community (University of North Carolina Press 2012) and professor of English and American studies at Temple. In 2009, he received the Bode-Pearson Prize for lifetime achievement, awarded by the American Studies Association. Sorlien is the author of Fifty Houses: Images from the American Road (Johns Hopkins 2002), and is finishing a book about Main Streets in America with the working title The Heart of Town.

Annual Women’s History Program at the Blockson Collection

  • Women Activists in Philadelphia: From Civil Rights to Black Power

March 7, 3:00 PM, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Sullivan Hall, 1330 Polett Walk

Celebrate Women’s History Month at the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection’s annual program honoring women who have changed history. This year’s presenters and honorees include veterans of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, all of whom reside in Philadelphia. Join us as these women share their moving and powerful stories about their roles as activists.

  • Drinking History: How Beverages have Changed America

March 26, 3:30 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall, 1210 Polett Walk What is American drink? Is it warmed-over traditional British beverages, such as tea and ale? Or is it versions of ethnic beverages brought by successive waves of immigrants—sangria, tequila, bubble tea? Or is it the fiercely marketed creations of America’s beverage industry—Kool-Aid, Snapple, Coors, Coca-Cola? Andrew F. Smith, author of the just released Drinking History: 15 Turning Points in the Making of American Beverages (Columbia University Press) will discuss how beverages have changed American history and how Americans have invented, adopted, modified, and commercialized tens of thousands of beverages. Involved in their creation and promotion were entrepreneurs and environmentalists, bartenders and bottlers, politicians and lobbyists, organized and unorganized criminals, German and Italian immigrants, advertisers and consumers, prohibitionists and medical professionals, and everyday Americans in love with their brew.

  • Walt Whitman: An American Icon

April 18, 3:30 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall, 1210 Polett Walk

Walt Whitman’s legacy—iconoclast, celebrity, and the father of American poetry—is unparalleled in its influence on American writing and culture. Join David Haven Blake and Michael Robertson, professors of English at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and co-editors of Walt Whitman, Where the Future Becomes Present to discuss the impact that Whitman has had on American culture—an impact that reaches far beyond his influence on poetry. Blake is also the chair of the English Department at TCNJ, and author of Walt Whitman and the Culture of American Celebrity. Robertson is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships and author of the award-winning book Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples (Princeton UP, 2008). This program will be moderated by Katherine Henry, associate professor of English at Temple.

This program takes place during National Library Week. Join us, and celebrate Temple’s Libraries!

  • Annual Library Prize for Undergraduate Research and Library Prize for Undergraduate Research on Sustainability and the Environment Awards Ceremony

May 2, 4:00 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall

Please join us as we celebrate the best in undergraduate research at the annual awards ceremony for Library Prizes. This year’s winners will present their research, and afterwards, we will celebrate their tremendous accomplishments. Join us to finish the semester with our signature program at Paley Library.

  • Annual Juneteenth Celebration: Honoring Father Paul Washington Day

June 19, 3:00 PM, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Sullivan Hall, 1330 Polett Walk

Join us to celebrate the life and legacy of Father Paul Washington on Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Father Washington, the rector of the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia from 1962 until he accepted emeritus status in 1987, is part of the legacy of resistance and perseverance symbolized in the history Juneteenth.  Washington was a consistent voice in defense of the disenfranchised. He served on the city’s Human Relations Commission for seven years beginning in 1964, opened his church to the first Black Power Convention in 1968, ordained 11 women to the Episcopalian priesthood against the standard rules of the church in 1974 and has been called “he high priest of the progressive movement in Philadelphia.”

 

Upcoming and Ongoing Programs

  • Chat in the Stacks

The Libraries and the Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Faculty of Color continue to host an engaging series of panels on timely topics with faculty from across the university. Join us at 2:30 PM on March 28 to learn about the history of African American women in the media. A second spring chat will be scheduled soon.

  • Temple Book Club

Join us the Temple Book Club returns this spring. On March 6 at noon we will discuss this year’s One Book, One Philadelphia selection, The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. This PEN/Faulkner Award Winner and National Book Award finalist tells the tragic story of the Japanese “picture brides” who travelled from Japan to San Francisco in the 1990s. Now in its 11th year, the One Book, One Philadelphia initiative promotes reading, literacy and libraries, encouraging the entire greater Philadelphia area to come together through a single book. On April 3rd,again at noon, the Book Club will discuss National Book Award Winner Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Could Cure the World

 

Co-Sponsored Programs

The Libraries support a number of additional lectures, forums, and symposia across campus every semester, helping to build dialogues across campus.

 Beginning Design: A National Conference

  • Keynote Lecture with Brian MacKay-Lyons

Saturday, April 13, Alter Hall, Room 31

Beginning Design conference keynote speaker Brian MacKay-Lyons was born and raised in the Arcadia village of Novia Scotia. After receiving his BA from the Technical University of Novia Scotia and his Master of Architecture and Urban Design from UCLA, MacKay-Lyons returned to Novia Scotia to make a contribution to place where his Arcadian ancestors had lived for over 400 years. Since then, he has built an international reputation for design excellence, confirmed by 67 awards, including six Canadian Architect Awards.  His work has been published in 164 books, journals, and monographs including The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture.

  •  “Dance the Orange”: A cross-disciplinary symposium on the intersections of Visual Art, Music, and Dance

Saturday, April 20, Conwell Dance Theater, Temple University 

This symposium will present cross-disciplinary conversations and performances coinciding with an exhibition of the works of Charles Searles (1937-2004), an influential yet understudied African American artist who practiced in Philadelphia and New York. A number of dancers, artists, musicians, and historians will participate. This program is organized by Prof. Susanna Gold, Department of Art History, Tyler School of Art.

 

ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS

—The Libraries and Temple Contemporary continue their partnership, presenting programs that creatively re-imagine the social function of art through questions of local relevance and international significance. This spring we will co-sponsor a February 7 program with poet Jen Bervin and other events throughout the season.

—The Libraries support The Center for the Humanities at Temple University’s Digital Humanities in Theory series. Upcoming speakers include John Palfrey of Harvard University (February 6), Kathleen Fitzpatrick of Pomona College (March 7), and William Noel of the University of Pennsylvania (April 25). All programs take place in the CHAT Lounge on the 10th Floor of Gladfelter Hall.

 

Spring 2013 Exhibitions

At Paley Library

  • Some American Poetry

This spring the Special Collections Research Center explores 20th century alternative and small press American poetry as told through the many archival and rare book collections in its holdings. This journey through American verse begins with Philadelphia-region forefathers Walt Whitman and Edgar Allen Poe.  Highlighting the works of Lyn Lishfin, the trailblazer known as the “Queen of the Small Presses;” Hawaiian Tony Quagliano, author of such sharp-tongued missives on language such as Semiotic Self-Deconstruction and Get Out of Poetry by Sundown; New York Poet’s Cooperative member John Burnette Payne; and Philadelphia-native-turned-West-Coast-vanguard Dottie Grossman, the exhibition will also feature regional poets and editors Louis McKee, Joe Farley, Jessie Sampler, and Robert Abrahams.

At the Blockson Collection

  • The Legacy Father Paul Washington

Father Paul Washington was a champion for the oppressed.  This exhibition features items from Father Paul Washington’s collection housed in the Blockson Collection that chronicle his legacy.

 

11/29 Program at Paley Library Focuses on Barnes Foundation, Wagner Free Institute of Science

Take a visit to Paley Library Lecture Hall at 4PM on Thursday, November 29, and join in the conversation on The American Idea of Museums.

This talk will examine the history of American museums and the way that two local institutions, the Barnes Foundation and the Wagner Free Institute of Science, both carry on and move forward the purpose and function of contemporary museums.

Panel speakers are The Ohio State University’s Steven Conn, Susan Glassman of the Wagner Free Institute of Science in Philadelphia and the Barnes Foundation’s Blake Bradford. This program will be moderated by Kenneth Finkel, distinguished lecturer in the Department of American Studies.

11/8 Program on Public Design to Feature Critics, Journalists and Designers including Inquirer’s Inga Saffron

The American Idea of Public Design: The Street as Place

November 8, 3:30 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall

Please join us as journalists, critics and designers examine The American Idea of Public Design.

Panelists include Inga Saffron, architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer; Hilary Jay, founder of DesignPhiladelphia and critic, curator and former design journalist for the Inquirer Sunday Magazine; Diana Lind, Editor in Chief of the Next American City; and designer and architect, Bryan Hanes.

The American Idea of Public Design: The Street as Place, co-presented by Temple University Libraries and DesignPhiladelphia in partnership with The University of the Arts, will explore design at street level. How do objects on the street – the props that surround us as we come, go, and linger – affect the quality of our experience and the livability of the city?

Join us as we rethink everything from the design and amenities of a new park to the functionality of public trashcans. We’ll consider street trees and sidewalk planters, bus shelters, public seating, newspaper stands, the facades of buildings and storefronts of businesses, crosswalks, streetlights, and more. The program will feature Bryan Hanes, Landscape Architect and Urban Designer; Diana Lind, Executive Director and Editor in Chief of Next American City; and Inga Saffron, Architecture Critic at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Hilary Jay, Founding Director of DesignPhiladelphia, will moderate.

The discussion is co-presented by Temple University Libraries and DesignPhiladelphia, part of Temple’s Beyond the Page series shaped around the theme, “American Idea.”

Get Your Politics On at TU

Fall of 2012 has brought us to another election season, and Temple University is buzzing with political energy. Voter registration and candidate information tables are seen throughout campus as politics take center stage.

A number of programs are taking place on Main Campus that will put politics in perspective. Join the Libraries on October 23 in Paley Library Lecture Hall at 2 PM for A Conversation on Elections and Electoral Politics, as we discuss the coming election with Keya Dannenbaum, the founder of electnext.com, a site that translates political data into tools that help build a more informed, engaged, and effective democracy; Hal Gullan, an expert on electoral politics and author of Toomey’s Triumph—Inside a Key Senate Campaign (Temple University Press, 2012); and Robin Kolodny,  Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple.Then, on November 1 at 2:30 PM, our Chat in the Stacks series examines the racial politics of our national politics during the panel, “Race in the Race.”

Temple’s Institute for Public Affairs will also offer a series of discussions with their Campaigns and Elections Speaker Series, even after the elections have taken place. On Monday, November 12 at 1PM Jan Leighley of American University speaks on “Who Votes Now,” and Monday, December 3, Joe Bafumi of Dartmouth College addresses “Polarization and Fiscal Policy in the United States.” The Center’s talks take place in 821 Anderson Hall.

Crowd of supporters at a election campaign rally for Harry S Truman with picket signs, (linked to larger version).

President Nixon in a motorcade during a tinker tape parade, (linked to larger version).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historical photos from Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center, George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin collection

November 1, 2:30 PM, Chat in the Stacks Explores “Race in the Race”

Chat in the Stacks: Race in the Race

November 1, 2:30 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall

Join the Libraries and the Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Faculty of Color for another Chat in the Stacks! This time, we’ll host a conversation about the racial politics in our national politics during this election year.

As always, our host will be Dr. Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, professor of theater. The distinguished panel will include: Dr. David Waldstreicher (History), Dr. Wilbur Jenkins, (History), Sophia Sanders, (Art History) and Philadelphia attorney Michael Coard along with Micah Kleit of the Temple University Press.

 

Front of flyer for the Chat in the Stacks program: Join us this Fall for Chat in the Stacks! Join us this fall as Temple Faculty discuss Race in the Race and teaching diversity in our Fall installments of this ongoing series.

 

 

 

 

Back of flyer for the Chat in the Stacks program: September 27: Teaching Diversity. November 1: Race in the Race.

October 17 @ 3PM, A Film Screening and Q&A with “Mothers of No Tomorrow” Director Sixx King

Film Screening and Director’s Talk :
Mothers of No Tomorrow
October 17, 3:00 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall

This film follows three mothers who lost their sons to violence. Prompted by the “loss of lots of friends” to violent crimes, Sixx King, a 35-year-old writer, producer, director, actor and activist, thought about what his mother would have to go through if something happened to him. Please join the Libraries and Blockson Collection for this moving documentary, followed by a discussion with King.

 

Sixx King

Temple University Libraries Explore Open Access, October 24, 3:30 PM in Paley Library Lecture Hall

The Connection between Open Access and Open Educational Resources: Exploring New Publishing Models

October 24, 3:30 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall

The week of October 22, 2012 marks Open Access Week, a global event now entering its sixth year. It is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.

Temple University Libraries will join in the festivities this year by bringing to campus two nationally recognized speakers who will share their expertise to create greater awareness about the current issues in open access and open educational resources. Both open access and open educational resources are movements designed to encourage the open sharing of academic content. Be it scholarly research or academic textbooks, scholars are increasingly becoming aware that there are multiple options for sharing their knowledge in ways that make it more openly accessible to the public.

To help our community better understand the issues we’ll be hearing from Nick Shockey,  SPARC’s (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) first director of student advocacy and Director of the Right to Research Coalition, and Nicole Allen, the Student Public Interest Research Groups Textbook Advocate and director of the Make Textbooks Affordable project. Since 2007, she has worked with students, faculty and decision-makers across the country to address the rapidly rising cost of college textbooks through grassroots organizing, public education and advocacy.  Nationally recognized as a leading issue expert, Ms. Allen’s research and opinions have been cited in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

Please join us on Wednesday, October 24 at 3:30 pm in the Paley Library Lecture Hall as we celebrate Open Access Week.

 

The American Idea on Politics, October 23, 2:00 PM in Paley Library Lecture Hall

A national election is approaching….please join us to consider The American Idea on Politics in a Conversation with Keya Dannenbaum and Hal Gullan, hosted by Robin Kolodny

October 23, 2:00 PM, Paley Library Lecture Hall

As another presidential election approaches, politics are on our minds. America’s founding values of freedom and democracy play out in intriguing ways in the 21st century media-saturated environment. In a world of sound bites, electoral fights, and bipartisan snipes, how can we best participate in a democracy and vote on the issues that are important to us? Panelists Keya Dannenbaum and Hal Gullan will discuss those questions and more on October 23 at Paley.

Dannenbaum is the founder of electnext.com, a site that translates political data into tools that help build a more informed, engaged, and effective democracy. Dannenbaum has studied and worked in politics from a variety of perspectives:  as a Stanford undergrad and Princeton Ph.D.; internationally as a Fulbright Scholar in Colombia and later in India; nationally in the 2008 Presidential election; and locally for the Mayor of New Haven, CT.

Hal Gullan is an expert on electoral politics, tracing back to his dissertation, “The Upset That Wasn’t-Harry Truman and the Critical Election of 1948,” completed here at Temple. Gullan’s most recent book, Toomey’s Triumph—Inside a Key Senate Campaign (Temple University Press, 2012) is a veteran political observer’s take on the Pat Toomey-Joe Sestak U.S. Senate race of 2010.

Robin Kolodny, Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple, will moderate the program. She is the author of Pursuing Majorities:  Congressional Campaign Committees in American Politics (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998) as well as numerous articles on political parties in Congress, in elections, and in comparative perspective.