Rock Island, IL: Rock Islanders were busy founding a new City in 1841, but that wasn't the only notable event of that year. The 2016 Frieze Lecture Series discussion theme celebrates "1841: The Year That Rock Island Began."
The series kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 18 with a 2:00 pm lecture by Dr. Roald Tweet on '"Rock Island in 1841: A City and Its Times." Tweet, an emeritus of the Augustana College English Department and of the Conrad Bergendoff chair in the Humanities, will set the stage for four weeks of speeches all centering on the current events that Rock Islanders may have been talking about 175 years ago.
Tweet's remarks will focus on life in Stephenson, IL, and the controversy over the town's renaming to Rock Island.
Additional lecturers and topics in the annual lecture partnership with Augustana College include Dr. Meg Kunde, speaking Oct. 25 on "The Longest Inaugural Address in History," Dr. Kelly Daniels, speaking Nov. 1 on "A Punch of Literary Humor," and Dr. William Hammer, speaking Nov. 8 on "The Dawn of Antarctic Exploration."
All lectures begin at 2:00 pm in the Rock Island Main Library Community Room, 401 19th Street. The series is free and includes coffee, cookies and conversation afterwards.
The series was created by the late Ruth Evelyn Katz, a library board member, as part of the library's 125th anniversary. The name comes from the 1903 library's frieze, an architectural feature around the top of the building that is engraved with the names of writers.
For more information about the Frieze Lecture Series, visit the library's website at www.rockislandlibrary.org or call the library at 309-732-READ.
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