Community Events
Janny Scott:
The Beneficiary: Fortune, Misfortune, and the Story of My Father
Wednesday, September 25 – 7:00 PM
Free, advance registration required
Author Janny Scott discusses her new book that tells the multi-generational story of the ways in which financial and genetic inheritance affected members of her family, including her grandmother, Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, a socialite and celebrated horsewoman said to have inspired Katherine Hepburn's character in the play and Academy Award-winning film The Philadelphia Story. Scott’s book will be available for sale and signing at the event.
Queer History Uncovered
Wednesday, October 30 – 7:00 PM
Free, advance registration required
Matthew Riemer, co-author of We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation, uses imagery and anecdotes culled from years of research to draw connections between the struggles and triumphs of the queer past and present with an eye toward a more liberated future.
Best-known as the creators and curators of Instagram's @lgbt_history, Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown blend striking imagery and meticulously researched narratives to uncover details too often overlooked. With a uniquely engaging ability to grapple with queer history so that individuals and organizations can understand the present and shape the future, Matthew and Leighton's approach to history teaches, challenges, and inspires.
With their book, We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation, Matthew and Leighton provide, according to historian and activist icon Joan Nestle, "a handbook for action, cherishing those who risked so much, and a living bridge between our communities of the past and present."
Matthew and Leighton live in Washington, D.C., where Leighton is an attorney and Matthew, a former attorney, is a writer and lecturer. They enjoy fighting fascists, spending time with their dog, and disrupting fundamentalists' worldviews. We Are Everywhere is the couple's first book.
Marking a Trail of Women's History Through Pennsylvania
Thursday, October 10 – 7:00 PM
Free, advance registration required
Historian and author Robyn Youngwill speak about important women in Pennsylvania's history who have national significance and her journey of installing historical markers across the state for these women. Since 2001, Young has received approval from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for 21 roadside markers for women's history. Beginning with a discussion of the first Women's Rights Convention held in Pennsylvania in 1852 in West Chester, Young will discuss the contributions and lives of the suffragists, doctors, scientists, abolitionists, and artists that she has researched including: Ida Ella Ruth Jones, "the Grandma Moses of Chester County"; the Rev Dr Anna Howard Shaw; Ethel Waters; Dr Ann Preston; Dr Alice Evans; Dr Charlotte Moore Sitterly; Graceanna Lewis; Dr Stephanie Kwolek; and many others. This program consists of a slideshow of women's history sites and the historical markers that have been installed by Young throughout Pennsylvania. Young's book, Women in Penn's Woods: A History of Women in Pennsylvania, will be available for sale at the end of the program.
Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life
Wednesday, November 13 – 7:00 PM
Free, advance registration required
To find the path to long life and health, Nick Buettner and the BlueZones team study the world’s “Blue Zones" areas, communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. In his talk, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits – Power 9® – that keep them spry past age 100. Blue Zones now works in partnership with municipal governments, large employers, and health insurance companies to implement Blue Zones Projects in communities, workplaces, and universities. Blue Zones Projects are well-being initiatives that apply lessons from the Blue Zones to entire communities by focusing on changes to the local environment, public policy, and social networks. The program has dramatically improved the health of more than 5 million Americans to date.