On Wednesday, March 11, the Rock Island Public Library hosts an America’s 250th lecture by the Army Sustainment Command history office stationed at the Rock Island Arsenal. The free lecture is from 2 pm to 3 pm in the community room of the Rock Island Downtown Library, 401 19th Street.
As part of the ongoing lecture series, ASC historians will explore events surrounding American Independence, from the colonial era to the writing of the Constitution. The March topic covers the importance of The French and Indian War, and its role in providing colonial militias with military experience. Each of the seven remaining lectures are free and open to the public. For a full list, see the library event calendar.
For Women’s History Month, the library offers an illustrated lecture “The Founding Mothers of America” with Laura Keyes of Historic Voices at 5 pm on Thursday, March 12 at the Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch, 2715 30th Street. While history books are full of tales about the founding “fathers,” the “mothers” of America are less well known. Library guests will hear stories of soldiers, writers, printers, farmers, scholars, artists, and spies that go far beyond such better-known personages such as Abigail Adams and Martha Washington.
Keyes focuses on some remarkable women with first-hand views in the founding of the nation, whose stories of history, bravery, and surprising legacies deserve to be told. She has portrayed historic women and topics since 2008. She works as a librarian in Illinois, and is active in community theater. The event is free and open to all.
Later in March, the Rock Island Library Watts-Midtown Branch auditorium also hosts a visit from Mrs. Lincoln herself, with a performance of “Mrs. Lincoln’s Salon” at 11 am on Saturday, March 28. Mary Todd Lincoln is portrayed by professional actress Debra Ann Miller. The first-person performance runs about 45 minutes with time for questions afterwards, and is composed from letters, journals, and published works.
We meet Mrs. Lincoln in her Blue Room on April 4th, 1865. Mr. Lincoln and their youngest son Tad are at City Point, Robert, their eldest, is with General Grant in pursuit of Robert E Lee and Mary is alone in the Executive Mansion. The sympathetic, but realistic, portrayal offers stories from Mrs. Lincoln about her childhood, her days in Springfield and her children as she celebrates Tad's 12th birthday, and the end of the Civil War.
Debra Ann Miller is a professional actress, vocalist and voice-over talent with over 30 years of experience as a performer for live audiences, television, and film. Debra has balanced her career between commercial and educational theater since graduating from Michigan State University’s Department of Theater in 1985. Debra toured the country with such prestigious children's theater companies as Artreach, now the Children's Theater of Cincinnati, and Child's Play Touring Theatre. Since 1997, she has traveled the country with Michael Krebs of With Lincoln Production as one of our nation’s more controversial First Ladies, Mary Todd Lincoln in Visiting the Lincolns; accompanying him to such places as the University of West Virginia, the Gerald R Ford and Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museums, and The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. She has toured with her own company, Historical Women of Letters, since 2010. Her one-woman plays portray important historical figures such as authors Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter, Mary Shelley, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and this one-woman performance as Mary Todd Lincoln. She also still works in Chicago theaters.
Additional Rock Island Public Library programs this month include ongoing book clubs, a knitting circle, conversation groups, movie events, and the mid-March opening of the Seed Library.
For more information, visit the library website, call 309-732-READ, or follow the Rock Island Library Facebook and Instagram social media sites.