Registration for Programs
Alan Gallay, “Walter Raleigh and the Origins of the English Empire”
Tuesday, February 18, 3:00 PM
Gallay offers a new origin story for the English Empire. He reconstructs the strange brew of science, mysticism, poetry, utopianism, and militarism against Spain, to demonstrate how English saw colonies and empires as not only their future but the central fact of human history.
Free.
Eventbrite Registration
"From Vivaldi to Eleanor Rigby"
Friday, February 21, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Christine Lamprea, celloJordan Dodson, guitar
Athenaeum members and their guests only. $15 for each performance, $40 to attend all three
Engaging Art and Literature: Immersion Opportunities
Shakespeare in Love with Cole Porter with Steven B. King
Weekly, 8 session course starting February 24 at 5:30pm
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is offering a discussion class of The Taming of the Shrew and films based on or related to Porter’s life and work or describing the development of musical theater in the century between 1850 and 1950. The class will learn about the life and music of Cole Porter and will study Kiss Me Kate, one of Porter’s last and probably his most acclaimed Broadway hit. Based on The Taming of the Shrew, Kiss Me Kate is the modern‑day story of a divorced couple whose new show opening parallels the Shakespeare comedy.
Limited space. Athenaeum Members only: $150
Nancy Moses, Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds
Thursday, February 27, 3:00 PM
What’s real? What’s fake? Why do we care? In this time of false news and fake science, these questions are more important than ever. Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds takes readers beyond the headlines, tweets, and blogs to explore the true nature of authenticity and why it means so much today.
Book signing and reception to follow.
Athenaeum Members Free, General Admission: $20
Writing Your Memoir Workshop with Concha Alborg
Bi-weekly, 4 session course starting March 4 at 10:00am
In this four-session workshop we will develop techniques for writing your memoir. Whether your project deals with a family story, a personal narrative, a food, travel or literary memoir, our point of departure will focus on good writing practices. Among the elements to be considered will be: point of view, dialog, structure and themes, paying special attention to the context of your story.
Alison Bechdel, the author of Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, The New York Times best seller graphic memoir says that the writer outmost responsibility when writing a memoir is to “serve her story, not, you may note, to serve her family, or to serve the truth, but to serve the story.” Keeping this in mind, we will explore what each writer considers to be their true story. Be prepared to write in and out of class, share your work and critique each other’s work. Keeping a journal is encouraged.
About Concha Alborg: Concha earned a Masters from Emory University and a Ph.D. from Temple University. For over twenty years she was a Professor of Contemporary Spanish literature at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. In addition to numerous academic publications she has written works of fiction and creative non-fiction. She has published two memoirs: My Mother, That Stranger. Letters from the Spanish Civil War (2019) and Divorce after Death. A Widow’s Memoir (2014); a novel, American in Translation: A Novel in Three Novellas (2011) and two collections of short stories: Beyond Jet-Lag. Other Stories (2000) and Una noche en casa (1995). She also wrote cultural columns and reviews for The Broad Street Review and Al Día. Concha led a Writers’ Group at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia from 2015-2018 and serves on the board of Philadelphia Stories. More information on her career and publications at: www.conchaalborg.com
Limited space. Athenaeum Members: $110, General Admission: $130
"Across the Centuries: From Bach to Ravel"
Friday, March 6, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Zachary DePue, violinSophie Shao, cello
Jen Manion, "What is the Purpose of Punishment?"
Wednesday, March 11, 5:30 PM
This talk will draw the founding period of the penitentiary in early national Pennsylvania and New York to consider the aims and contradictions of carceral culture in the lives of the indentured servants, formerly enslaved, laboring poor, and countless immigrants who were most affected by its reach. Book signing to follow.
Athenaeum Members Free, General Admission: $15
Member’s Brown Bag Conversation, March 13, 12:00pm
Seeking Athena: Women’s Inspiration and Wisdom
Catherine Kerrison, Jefferson’s Daughters
Thursday, March 12, 3:00 PM
This talk will explore the different life paths that Thomas Jefferson’s three daughters, Martha, Maria and Sally, chose to see both the possibilities and the limitations for women and people of color as a result of the American Revolution.
Book signing to follow.
Eventbrite Registration Seeking Athena: Women’s Inspiration and Wisdom
Molly Lester, "Preserving Minerva: (Re)Discovering the Work of Architect Minerva Parker Nichols"
Tuesday, March 17, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Minerva Parker Nichols (1862-1949) built a career and clientele of architectural and social significance in the late nineteenth-century’s professionalizing field of architecture. Trained as an apprentice, Nichols designed over 60 commissions nationwide yet, she is rarely recognized today for her contributions to the field of architecture.
Kathy Peiss, “What Sarah Josepha Hale Wrought: Women’s Magazines and the Contradictions of American Womanhood”
Wednesday, March 18, 3:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Sarah Josepha Hale, the pioneering editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, had a profound impact on the publishing industry and on American women’s attitudes. This talk explores Hale’s influence long after Godey’s heyday. Addressing the needs and dreams of American middle-class women, her innovative work shaped the history of women’s magazines and their readers through the twentieth century, even down to the present day.
The Liberty of The Ballot: The History and Legacy of the 15th and 19th Amendments
Ann D. Gordon, “Citizenship & Suffrage: Lessons from the Movement for Woman Suffrage”
Thursday, March 26, 5:30 PM
While pursuing their rights, the women who wanted to vote explored many constitutional nooks and crannies looking for a way into the body politic. This talk will follow some trails they marked.
Reception to follow.
Leo Damrosch, The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped An Age
Thursday, April 2, 6:00 PM
Leo Damrosch will recreate a celebrated eighteenth-century London club whose members met at the Turks Head Tavern to eat, drink, and enthusiastically argue. Damrosch’s talk will also range beyond those weekly meetings to illuminate the larger careers of many of the members.
The Liberty of The Ballot
Brandywine River Art Museum Tour of Votes for Women Exhibition
Friday, April 17, 11:00 AM
Transportation and lunch provided
Athenaeum Members and their guests: $60
Eventbrite Registration coming soon
Opera Philadelphia- Madame Butterfly
Talk: April 21, 2:00 PM
Performance: April 29, 7:00 PM
Both of these events are for Athenaeum Members Only. At The Movies With Carrie Rickey: Political Parables
Shampoo
Monday, April 27, 2:00 PM
Eventbrite Registration At The Movies With Carrie Rickey: Political Parables
Being There
Monday, May 4, 2:00 PM
Eventbrite Registration Society Hill- Hot and Healthy
Dr. Bidi McSorley, Instructor, Penn Program for Mindfulness
"Mindfulness Meditation: An Antidote for Today’s Anxious World"
Tuesday, May 5, 2:30 PM
Bidi McSorley, M.D., is a behavioral pediatrician with a practice in center city Philadelphia. She is also on the clinical affiliate faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She received her mindfulness teacher training through the Penn Program for Mindfulness. Using the powerful and therapeutic techniques of Mindfulness, Dr. McSorley teaches children, teens and adults skills to transform their lives, living with less stress, less anxiety and increased vitality and health.
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org
Diana Schaub, “Booker T. Washington and the Lessons of Lincoln”
Thursday, May 7, 5:30 PM
Believing that civic friendship was a necessary foundation for constitutional liberty, Booker T. Washington worked diligently and deftly to reshape the American character in a way that would foster racial reconciliation. The lecture will examine how Washington employed the nation's memory of Abraham Lincoln to further his own redemptive moral vision and subtle statesmanship.
Election
Monday, May 11, 2:00 PM
Eventbrite Registration Building Philadelphia
Building Philadelphia
Thom Nickels, "Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Real Life Stories"
Wednesday, May 13, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
The Grandeur of Philadelphia's Past Revealed: Philadelphia's grand mansions and architectural treasures reflect its status in American history. Author Thom Nickels presents the city’s most iconic homes.
Book signing to follow. Athenaeum members free, General Admission: $15
Tour of Historic Strawberry Mansion
Friday, May 15, 11:00 AM
The Historic Strawberry Mansion is the largest of the seven historic Fairmount Park Houses. Formerly known as “Summerville,” Historic Strawberry Mansion was built in 1789 by Judge William Lewis, a well-known lawyer and abolitionist, as a summer home along the Schuylkill River.
Transportation Provided Athenaeum Members and their Guests only: $20
"Meeting of the Minds: Improv and Avant Garde"
Monday, May 18, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Eunice Kim, violinXavier Foley, double bass
Andrea Barnet, “Change-makers: Four Visionary Women who Made a Difference”
Wednesday, May 20, 3:00 PM
Rachel Carson warned us about poisoning the environment; Jane Jacobs fought for livable cities and strong communities; Jane Goodall demonstrated the indelible kinship between humans and animals; and Alice Waters urged us to reconsider what and how we eat.
Free. Book Signing to follow.
Richard Bell, Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home
Wednesday, May 27, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Philadelphia, 1825: five young, free black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the United States. Lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home.
Their ordeal—an odyssey that takes them from the Philadelphia waterfront to the marshes of Mississippi and then onward still—shines a glaring spotlight on the Reverse Underground Railroad, a black market network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of legally free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery’s rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War.
Impeccably researched and breathlessly paced, Stolen tells the incredible story of five boys whose courage forever changed the fight against slavery in America.
Bettye Collier-Thomas, “In Politics to Stay: African American Women and the Vote”
Thursday, June 4, 5:30 PM
