Join the Special Collections Library for fascinating talks this semester led by librarians, archivists, and curators. Topics this fall will range from cookbook collections to the 1969 Moon Walk. The talks take place monthly in the Special Collections Reading Room on the second floor of the Central & Divinity Libraries building on the first Thursday of the month from 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm. All events are free and open to the public.
September 5, 2019
Chris Ryland / Food for Health and Wealth: Five Centuries of Cookbooks and Recipes
Join curator Christopher Ryland for a discussion of Vanderbilt Libraries’ new cookbook exhibit, “Food for Health and Wealth: Five Centuries of Cookbooks and Recipes,” drawn from Vanderbilt’s History of Medicine Collections. Using books and images from the exhibit, as well as other cookbooks from Vanderbilt’s collections, Chris will talk about the origin of these collections, their relationship to the history of medicine, and what cookbooks can tell us about ourselves.
October 3, 2019
Teresa Gray / All Hallows: Witches, Magic, and Things That Go Bump
Join curator Teresa Gray for a sneak peek at the Vanderbilt Libraries’ Halloween exhibit, “All Hallows: Witches, Magic, and Things That Go Bump.” Teresa will talk about the literary connection between Frankenstein and Dracula, why Victorian ghost stories are the best, and the 18th Century’s fascination with the unseen world. The talk will also feature books and images from the upcoming exhibit.
November 7, 2019
Jason Schultz / Black Studies As (A) Movement: Exhibiting Fifty Years of AADS @VU
Join Jason Schultz, Librarian for African American & Diaspora Studies, History, and Islamic Studies, for a discussion of the Vanderbilt Libraries’ exhibit “Black Studies As (A) Movement: Exhibiting Fifty Years of AADS @VU” which explores the origins of the Department of African American and Diaspora Studies as it celebrates fifty years on campus. Black Studies formally began at Vanderbilt University in 1969, arising from nation-wide student protests intersecting the Black Freedom Struggle. Visit Special Collections to learn about the program’s growth, struggles, and achievements over the past five decades.
December 5, 2019
Jim Duran / Moon Walk: A Viewing of the July 21, 1969 Evening News
Watch the evening news from 50 years ago, the day after humankind first walked on the moon. See what Americans saw when they tuned into CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. Watch commercials for Shell Oil and Benson and Hedges cigarettes and stories about Vietnam, Civil Rights, the Cold War and the Middle East.