UofSLibrary News

Here at the Weinberg Memorial Library, we’re celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday all month long, even though the big day isn’t until Thursday (February 12th). Yesterday, we opened our display of the national traveling exhibit, “Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation,” in the 5th floor Heritage Room.

The exhibit, organized by the Huntington Library and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, will travel to 63 different libraries in 31 different states. The Weinberg will be hosting the exhibit through March 22nd – to see it, just head up to the 5th floor anytime during the Library’s regular hours.

Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation

Want even more Lincoln? There’s still time to register for this Saturday’s free Symposium and Exhibit Opening Reception. We’re excited to have three speakers share their knowledge of Lincoln and his time:

Dr. Leonard G. Gougeon, The University of Scranton – “In the Heat of War: Lincoln, Emerson, and the Fortune of the Republic.”
Karen James, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission – “Effects of the Abolitionist Movement on Slavery Laws in Pennsylvania.”
Thomas E. Wooden, Sr., Center for Anti-Slavery Studies – “The Underground Railroad in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”

Best of all, we’ll be visited by Lincoln actor and historian Jim Getty, who will bring the 16th president “alive” as we celebrate his memory. To join us on Saturday, just call the Special Collections librarian Michael Knies at 941-6341 to register. (And check out Michael’s interview in yesterday’s Scranton Times-Tribune!)

An Update from Michael Knies, Special Collections Librarian:

Letters to Sala: A Young Woman’s Life in Nazi Labor Camps is a striking exhibition reproducing the letters, postcards, photographs, and personal documents that Sala Garncarz managed to save during five brutal years in Nazi work camps during World War II. Curated by Jill Vexler and co-sponsored by the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Holocaust Education Resource Center, this unique exhibition will be on view in the Heritage Room at The University of Scranton from September 1 through October 28, 2008. Charles Kratz, Dean of the Library & Information Fluency noted, “This traveling exhibition continues our commitment to commemorating the Holocaust through special programming in conjunction with the Holocaust Education Resource Center.”

A reception, featuring a talk by Sala’s daughter, Ann Kirschner, will be held on Sunday, September 14 from 1-4 p.m. Kirschner is the author of Sala’s Gift: My Mother’s Holocaust Story, which tells the story of her mother’s World War II experience.

This traveling exhibition was inspired by Letters to Sala: A Young Woman’s Life in Nazi Labor Camps, presented at The New York Public Library from March 7 to June 17, 2006. Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Righteous Persons Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Berg Foundation, Trudy and Robert Gottesman, the French Children of the Holocaust Foundation and Nancy Schwartz Sternoff, Dobkin Family Foundation. Unless otherwise indicated, the letters, photographs, and documents in the exhibition are drawn from the Sala Garncarz Kirschner Collection, donated by the Kirschner family in April 2005, to the Dorot Jewish Division of The New York Public Library.

http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/sala/index.html
Traveling Exhibition Curator: Jill Vexler, Ph.D.
Traveling Exhibition Design: Monk Design, New York

Category: Exhibits

Countdown to the Lincoln Bicentennial

Letters to Sala Exhibit