Rick Ring and Phoebe Simpson

Fri, 10/31, 5-7pm:

SALON - Series: The Once and Future Library, part 1: Reading Providence. Rick Ring, Special Collections Librarian of the Providence Public Library, and Phoebe Simpson, Printed Collection Librarian at the RI Historical Society Library, explore the changing landscape of the major private book collections and the city's libraries (including the Providence Athenaeum [1838]; its ancestor, the Providence Library Company [1753]; and the library of the RI Historical Society [1824]) from the mid-17th century to the 1878 formation of the Providence Public Library, our first free public library. Join us for a conversation about how the growth of the city was reflected in the growth of its library community and vice versa.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.
(Series Sponsor: Dan Siegel, M&S Rare Books, msrarebooks.com)

Children's Room

Senator Lincoln Chafee and Ted Widmer

Tues, 10/14/2008, 7pm:

Election Day Approaches: What's Next? In an increasingly global world fraught with conflicts past, present, and promised, what is the future for US foreign policy? As the 2008 presidential campaign (aka The Hundred Years' War) closes, what is America's place in the world? What should it be? Come converse with two contrarian witnesses to history, former Senator Lincoln Chafee (now distinguished visiting fellow at Brown's Watson Institute), a liberal conservative, and Ted Widmer, former foreign policy speechwriter for Bill Clinton, now Director of the John Carter Brown Library, a conservative liberal. Copies of Senator Chafee's Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President and Ted Widmer's Ark of the Liberties: America and the World will be available for sale and signing, thanks to Borders!

Free and open to the public.
(Sponsor: Yankee Travel, yankeetravel.com)

Jesse Holstein

Fri, 10/10/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Providence String Quartet violinist Jesse Holstein on Dmitry Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten, featured composers in PSQ’s spring series at the Athenaeum. Great admirers of one another’s music, Shostakovich and Britten stand as two giants of 20th century music. Britten’s 2nd quartet, written in 1945 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of composer Henry Purcell’s death, concludes with an immense baroque chaconne as a direct tribute. Shostakovich dedicated his powerful 8th quartet, “In memory of victims of fascism and war.” In the Dresden summer of 1960, writing the score for a film on WWII, Shostakovich, emotionally overcome by his subject matter and the city’s bombed-out condition, composed his pseudo-autobiographical quartet in a mere three days. Spring series dates: 2/19 (Shostakovich), 5/14 (Britten); buy your tickets at the Salon! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: The Curatorium, thecuratorium.com)

Busted

Janet Carlson

Fri, 10/3/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Janet Carlson on her new memoir, Quick, Before the Music Stops: How Ballroom Dancing Saved My Life.

A competitive ballroom dancer in her twenties, Carlson quit to raise a family and pursue a high-powered editing career. Twenty years later she "had it all" but was lost at heart. Then her husband gave her a gift of ballroom lessons, and in one spin around the floor she found her footing again. Her return to the ballroom let her end an unhappy marriage, put her heart back into work, find time for her children, and rediscover a sense of balance and grace. Join us for a conversation about the dance of life. Books available for sale and signing thanks to Borders!
For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Jillian Siqueland of Residential Properties, 401-274-6740)