Director’s College – Paleoanthropology 101: Primates, Fossils, and More
- Apr
- 27
Wednesday, May 24 6:30 PM Main Library Join CCSU’s Dr. Thomas Rein to get a primer in primates, the fossil record, and more! See primates in action, examine fossils, and get a peek into the fascinating world of paleoanthropology. Tom Rein is a biological anthropologist and assistant professor at Central Connecticut State University. He received […]
read moreDirector’s College: Connecticut Women & War
- Feb
- 18
Wednesday, March 8 7:00 PM Main Library Women have been involved in military conflicts from the beginning of time; some as warriors, some as spies and others who made the munitions or simply called for peace. Connecticut women are among the finest and bravest who have stood for their cause – sometimes defying gender norms, […]
read moreDirector’s College – Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camps in the Adirondacks: Their History & Lore
- Jan
- 21
Wednesday, February 22 7:00 PM Main Library The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public works program that operated from 1933 to 1942, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It targeted young men and veterans in relief families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression, providing unskilled manual labor related to […]
read moreDirector’s College: Dvorak, The Happy Soul
- Oct
- 17
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 7:00 PM Main Library Antonín Dvorak was the happiest and least neurotic of the Romantics. He was barely literate and hardly a deep thinker (locomotives were his chief passion outside of music). The cheery Czech was greatly influenced by his native folk culture which inspired him to write a plethora of […]
read moreDirector’s College: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones
- Sep
- 26
Thursday, October 27, 2016 7:00 PM Main Library Ask anybody to name two English rock bands from the 1960s and the response will likely be The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But despite often being portrayed as rivals in the media, the two groups were actually quite friendly towards each other, both socially and musically. […]
read moreDirector’s College: When God Looked Down and Wept
- Aug
- 11
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 7:00 PM Main Library This incredible story is one that was almost not told. Out of the millions that were imprisoned and perished in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, Benjamin survived the Mauthausen sub-camp at Melk and the hellish nightmare that was Gunskirchen. Benjamin immigrated to the United States […]
read moreDirector’s College: Mark Twain in the Margins
- Mar
- 27
Thursday, April 28, 2016 7:00 PM Main Library Mark Twain had a lifelong habit of writing in the margins of the books he read – and it didn’t always matter whether the book actually belonged to him. He commented acerbically on the authors and their work and made other, longer comments that tell us a […]
read moreConnecticut Women’s Hall of Fame Presents ‘Celebrating 300 Years of Connecticut’s Remarkable Women’
- Feb
- 05
Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7:00 PM Main Library Join us for an interactive multi-media program and learn about some of our state’s most remarkable women! Be inspired as you learn about well-known figures like Ella Grasso, Katharine Hepburn and Marian Anderson and lesser known heroines like Maria Sanchez, Barbara McClintock and Hannah Watson. This presentation […]
read moreDirector’s College – Theodate Pope Riddle’s Last Will and Testament
- Jan
- 10
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016 7:00 PM MAIN LIBRARY Theodate Pope Riddle (1867-1946), architect, philanthropist, and survivor of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, is an important figure in Farmington Valley History. She designed Hill-Stead, the family estate (now Hill-Stead Museum) in Farmington, and designed and founded Avon Old Farms School. Hon. Evelyn M. Daly, Esq, will give a presentation on […]
read moreDirector’s College – An Education in the Grotesque: The Gargoyles of Yale University
- Dec
- 20
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016 7:00 PM MAIN LIBRARY Photographer Mathew Duman will highlight a selection of gargoyles & grotesques found on the buildings of Yale University’s campus in New Haven. Using photographs from his book “An Education in the Grotesque: The Gargoyles of Yale University,” he will explore the artistic, historic, architectural & even humorous significance […]
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