Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
Signature Event Video Video Signature Event Audio Audio Signature Event Interview Interviews
E.g., 2019/03/25
E.g., 2019/03/25

A Search for Authenticity: Telling the Truth About the Holocaust Through Tourism

There’s a certain uneasiness about former concentration camps, ghettos, and other sites associated with the Holocaust being draws for tourists. But Grinnell College scholar Daniel Reynolds points to a valuable upside: Public interest has spurred officials to ensure what’s said and exhibited about the Nazis’ atrocities and Jewish suffering is accurate.
 
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There’s a certain uneasiness about former concentration camps, ghettos, and other sites associated with the Holocaust being draws for tourists. But Grinnell College scholar Daniel Reynolds points to a valuable upside: Public interest has spurred officials to ensure what’s said and exhibited about the Nazis’ atrocities and Jewish suffering is accurate.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Audio

The Age of Eisenhower

University of Virginia historian William I. Hitchcock takes stock of Dwight Eisenhower’s far-reaching legacy as president in a discussion of his book The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s. It launches a series of events coinciding with the new Library exhibit Eisenhower’s Middle Road.
 
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University of Virginia historian William I. Hitchcock takes stock of Dwight Eisenhower’s far-reaching legacy as president in a discussion of his book The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s. It launches a series of events coinciding with the new Library exhibit Eisenhower’s Middle Road.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Women Behind the Lens: Lady Bird

Searching the Psyche Through Cinema
The annual Searching the Psyche Through Cinema series returns with psychological studies of films helmed by female directors. Leading off: a screening and discussion of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017; R), the acclaimed coming-of-age story of a California high school senior (Saoirse Ronan) and her turbulent relationship with her loving but strong-willed mother.
 
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The annual Searching the Psyche Through Cinema series returns with psychological studies of films helmed by female directors. Leading off: a screening and discussion of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017; R), the acclaimed coming-of-age story of a California high school senior (Saoirse Ronan) and her turbulent relationship with her loving but strong-willed mother.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Reception: 
Following
Program: 
1:30 pm
Plaza Branch

'The Greatest Battle Implement Ever Devised'

Thomas E. Ward of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College traces the history and impact of a weapon that occupies a special place in our country’s military history. Development of M1 Garand rifle was rocky. But once it reached World War II battlefields, it became a game-changer.
 
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Thomas E. Ward of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College traces the history and impact of a weapon that occupies a special place in our country’s military history. Development of M1 Garand rifle was rocky. But once it reached World War II battlefields, it became a game-changer.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library

Performing Music History: A Backstage Visit

The University of Kansas’ John Tibbetts draws from 35 years of conversations with some of the world’s finest musicians in discussing his new book Performing Music History: Musicians Speak First-Hand about Music History and Performance.
 
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The University of Kansas’ John Tibbetts draws from 35 years of conversations with some of the world’s finest musicians in discussing his new book Performing Music History: Musicians Speak First-Hand about Music History and Performance.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Audio

Becoming American: The Century of Immigration

Immigration is a central component of the American narrative. The Library launches a six-week series of film screenings and discussions exploring its history and impact, looking first at the period from 1820 to 1924—the Century of Immigration—when 40 million new arrivals swelled the U.S. population.

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The Library launches a six-week series of film screenings and discussions exploring the history and impact of immigration in the U.S., looking first at the period from 1820 to 1924 – the Century of Immigration – when 40 million new arrivals swelled the U.S. population.
Monday, January 14, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library

Happy Faces Entertainment: Super Me to the Rescue

Friday Night Family Fun
Kansas City’s Happy Faces Entertainment leads an improvisational theater exercise in which audience members create and perform stories that emphasize their super strengths – singing, sports, cooking, reading, building, or something else. Magic and balloon art are employed. For all ages.
 
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Kansas City’s Happy Faces Entertainment leads an improvisational theater exercise in which audience members create and perform stories that emphasize their super strengths – singing, sports, cooking, reading, building, or something else. Magic and balloon art are employed. For all ages.
Friday, January 11, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

Indie Lens Pop-Up

Efforts to marginalize Native Americans and their culture could not diminish their transformational impact on popular music, from the Delta blues and jazz to hip-hop. Native artists such as electric guitar pioneer Link Wray, whose instrumental hit “Rumble” was banned from radio, and Jimi Hendrix, who was part Cherokee, forever changed the trajectory of rock and roll.

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The Library and KCPT-Kansas City PBS open a new season of Indie Lens Pop-Up films with a screening and discussion of the prize-winning documentary Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017). It celebrates the transformational impact of Native Americans and their culture on popular music, ranging from the Delta blues and jazz to present-day hip-hop.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Wide-Open Town: Kansas City in the Pendergast Era

In a discussion of the new book Wide-Open Town, its editors – historians Diane Mutti Burke, John Herron, and Jason Roe – discuss the era of the 1920s and ’30s dominated by notorious Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast. The “openness” of the day allowed many in a community divided by race and class to challenge social boundaries.
 
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In a discussion of the new book Wide-Open Town, its editors – historians Diane Mutti Burke, John Herron, and Jason Roe – discuss the era of the 1920s and ’30s dominated by notorious Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast. The “openness” of the day allowed many in a community divided by race and class to challenge social boundaries.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Audio

Hare & Hare, Landscape Architects and City Planners

Missouri Valley Sundays
Authors Carol Grove and Cydney Millstein sit down with former Kansas City council member Jan Marcason to discuss their new book Hare & Hare, Landscape Architects and City Planners, spotlighting the pioneering Kansas City firm and its role in the growth of landscape architecture in the U.S.
 
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Authors Carol Grove and Cydney Millstein sit down with former Kansas City council member Jan Marcason to discuss their new book Hare & Hare, Landscape Architects and City Planners, spotlighting the pioneering Kansas City firm and its role in the growth of landscape architecture in the U.S.
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Program: 
2:00 pm
Central Library

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