All Library locations will be closed Sunday, April 20, for Easter.
History & Genealogy
Signature Event
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
6:30pm
In Person
2014 marks the 75th anniversary of the year when Europe faced what Winston Churchill memorably called “the gathering storm” — a period of esc...
Signature Event
Sunday, January 19, 2014
2:00pm
In Person
Trumpeter Miles Davis once said: "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker."
Saxophone virtuoso Charli...
Signature Event
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
6:30pm
In Person
On January 8, 1815 — 199 years ago — the vaunted British Army suffered an epic defeat by makeshift American forces under the command of...
Signature Event
Sunday, December 8, 2013
2:00pm
In Person
By 1940, Kansas City authorities had finally deposed “Boss Tom” Pendergast. In the spring of that year, teams of laborers from the Works Progress A...
Signature Event
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
6:30pm
In Person
Even in death, Britain’s “Iron Lady,” Margaret Thatcher, divides and polarizes.
Victor Bailey, Distinguished Professor of M...
Signature Event
Friday, November 22, 2013
6:30pm
In Person
On the 50th anniversary of one of America’s most traumatic events, historians from the University of Kansas – Theodore A. Wilson,...
Signature Event
Thursday, November 21, 2013
6:30pm
In Person
If George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are the saints in America’s civil religion, then the 29th president, Warren G. Harding, is o...
Signature Event
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
6:30pm
In Person
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the 20th century – and an impenetrably enigmatic personality who...
Signature Event
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
6:30pm
In Person
Even for those of us unfamiliar with history, the very name “Gettysburg” suggests a monumental clash of armies. But beyond the chaos of the battle...
Signature Event
Sunday, November 17, 2013
2:00pm
In Person
In the late 1940s and 1950s, Kansas City native Tommy Campbell won 50 professional fights and became the world’s No. 2 lightweight. B...