Bright Star, a movie by New Zealand film maker Jane Campion, tells the story of the secret love affair between English poet John Keats and the fashionable girl next door, Fanny Brawne.  The film makes use of several love letters between John and Fanny, including one from the Charles Roberts Autograph Letter Collection in Haverford College Special Collections.  The movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was shown at Haverford alumnus Harlan Jacobson’s Talk Cinema in Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr this past weekend.  It is scheduled to open commercially on September 18.  Subsequent posts on this blog will reveal more about the Haverford Keats letter.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y7IwhVQa8Uk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Special Collections organized an exhibit of the entire collection of Classical antiquities donated in 1989 by Ernest and George Allen, both class of 1940.  Altogether 24 artifacts, they range from a small Mycenaean side-spouted jar (mid-14th century B.C.), which was used as a baby feeder, to an Attic Black-figure olpe (520-500 B.C.) depicting Peleus (father of Achilles) in a tree escaping the intentions of a lion and a boar.

On April 23, 2009, the exhibit was part of an event entitled “The Journey: the Greek American Dream,” in celebration of the Jaharis family and Professor Alexander Kitroeff, creator of the film.  You can read an article about the event by student Kyle McCloskey in the Bi-Co News.

The entire collection of artifacts can be viewed online.

left-right: Mr. and Mrs. Jaharis, Classics Prof. Bret Mulligan, Pres. Stephen Emerson, Dr. Stephen Jaharis '82, Archbishop Demetrios of America, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, History Prof. Alex Kitroeff

There are two opportunities in Philadelphia this month to hear about Quaker botanists John Bartram and Peter Collinson whose collaboration enriched the horticultural knowledge of the 18th century.

Elizabeth McLean, co-author of Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth-Century Natural History Exchange will speak at The Library Company April 15, 2009 at 5:30 pm. Collinson found British clients for the Philadelphia naturalist John Bartram at a time when the English landscape was evolving to include exotic trees and shrub and American specimens were in high demand.

On April 29, 2009 The Brother Gardeners, Botany, Empire & the Birth of an Obsession will be presented by author Andrea Wulf at The Academy of Natural Sciences at 2:00pm. Wulf will illustrate how the initial efforts of Collinson and Bartram grew to include a circle of influential scientists who brought science and rational thought to horticulture and shaped the landscape of Georgian estates.

This serendipitous pair of events will make for fruitful growth of appreciation for the Philadelphia roots of botanical science.

"Blinking Sam, ‘Johnson’s Grimly Ghost’ and the Haverford Portrait of Samuel Johnson"

Talk by Robert Folkenflik, Distinguished Visitor in the English Department

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 — 4:30 pm; Tea at 4:15 pm

Magill Library, Quaker & Special Collections

Robert Folkenflik is Professor of English/Comparative Literature, UC-Irvine. His books include Samuel Johnson, Biographer; The Culture of Autobiography: Constructions of Self-Representation; and The English Hero: 1660-1800. Folkenflik’s research interests include: Eighteenth-Century; Renaissance; Novel; Autobiography; Biography; History of Literary Theory; Literature and Other Arts; Cultural Studies.

For more information please contact Laura McGrane (610-896-1155) lmcgrane@haverford.edu

Past Haverford Gest Fellow, Maurice Jackson, will speak at the Library Company on Thursday, February 5, 2009, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm.  Jackson’s new biography of Quaker abolitionist Anthony Benezet will be the subject of his talk entitled "Let This Voice Be Heard: Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism." Jackson is Assistant Professor of History at Georgetown University. RSVP acceptances only to 215-546-3181 or email lpropst@librarycompany.org.

The Young Academic Alumni Lecture Series presents

Brent S. Sirota ’98,
North Carolina State University

Monday, November 10, 2008
Tea at 4:15 P.M., Talk at 4:30 P.M.
Magill Library — Philips Wing 

In the early eighteenth century, voluntary associations were enshrined at the heart of British public life. The philanthropy and sociability of these organizations underpinned a self-proclaimed "age of benevolence" in which clubs, societies, and projects were designated the preeminent instruments of social improvement, religious renewal and moral reform. How may we account for this moral valorization of civil society in Britain? This paper will trace the origins of the "age of benevolence" to the defeat of absolutism in the Revolution of 1688-1689. By recovering the revolutionary origins of British civil society, it will be possible to view the eighteenth century "age of benevolence" as a key moment in both the rise of British liberalism and the development of the British state.

Presented by the Library, the John B. Hurford ’60 Humanities Center, and the Office of Alumni Relations.

Author Thomas Slaughter, Professor of History at the University of Rochester, presents The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition at the Library Company, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

John Woolman (1720-1772), a Quaker tailor from New Jersey, had an extraordinary commitment to attaining self-purification through the rejection of slavery, war taxes, and rampant consumerism. Though not a famous politician, his persuasive ideals influenced the likes of fellow Quakers, social reformers, labor organizers and peace advocates. Through Woolman’s essays and Journal, Slaughter illuminates his transformation from a humble idealist to a prophetic voice for the Anglo-American world.

A reception will begin at 5:30 with the program to follow from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested: dshapiro@librarycompany.org or 215/546-3181. 

There are many books in the Rare Book Collection at Haverford – each notable and valuable in its own way. However, sometimes those distinguishing characteristics are most noticeable in contrast.

During exam week this semester, May 5 – May 9, 2008, a daily presentation of rare books will be on exhibit in Special Collections. Each day a LARGE book will be displayed juxtaposed with a small book – both sharing a common theme. You will be able to enjoy each book individually but also admire the contrasts that become evident by the comparison.

(more…)

Please join Special Collections and members of the Hurford Humanities Center’s 2007-08 Faculty Seminar for a "Gallery Conversation" and Tea on Wednesday, April 23 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. in Sharpless Gallery and the Special Collections Reading Room.  Members of the seminar will discuss  their exhibition "Framing Photographs: Contexts & Transpositions."

Please join us for a lecture by Steven Rothman, noted Christopher Morley scholar and curator of the current exhibition in the Philips Wing, on Morley and his life-long relationship with Haverford College. Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 4:30 pm in the Philips Wing of Magill Library, Haverford College. Refreshments will be served.

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was a prolific and popular novelist, editor, playwright, poet, essayist, and book lover. But more than anything, Morley was a devoted Haverfordian, who grew up on the campus (his father was a beloved mathematics professor), graduated from the college in 1910, and returned as a successful writer to give lectures and visit brother Felix, who became Haverford’s fifth president. On the fiftieth anniversary of Christopher Morley’s death we honor this “local boy made good” and his lifelong commitment to Haverford College.

For more information on our exhibition and events:
www.haverford.edu/library/special/