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Archive for February, 2011

Irish Arts Center Book Day

Posted in Reading on February 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This project sounds really cool and perhaps a better way to celebrate Irish culture than drinking green beer. I’m going to go through my bookshelves to see if I have any books by Irish or Irish American authors that I am willing to part with.

Donate your books to the inaugural Irish Arts Center Book Day in New York City

On St. Patrick’s Day, Irish Arts Center will set up teams of volunteers at subway locations across all five boroughs to hand out books to New Yorkers for free. Help us promote literacy by dropping off your books by Irish and Irish American authors at any of the following locations from now until March 15:

American Irish Historical Society
991 Fifth Avenue between 80th and 81st Streets
Hours: M-F, 10am to 5pm
212-288-2263

Glucksman Ireland House New York University
1 Washington Mews on 5th Avenue
Hours: M-Thur, 9:30 am to 6 pm, plus public events in the evenings
212-998-3950

Irish Arts Center
553 West 51st Street between 10th and 11th Avenues
Hours: M-F, 10am to 6pm, plus public events in the evenings and weekends
212-757-3318 x 209

New York Irish Center
10-40 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
Hours: M-F, 10am to 5pm
718-482-0909

Books should be in good condition. Thank you for supporting Irish Arts Center Book Day! For further information on book deposit or to volunteer, contact volunteer@irishartscenter.org or 212-757-3318 ext 202.

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Help the NYPL

Posted in Book, NYC, Stuff I like on February 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I am the daughter of a librarian, and I love libraries.   As in, one of my favorite things in the world is to go to a new library.  When I worked at the Harriet Jacobs Family Papers and had to hire interns and staff members, I would always make sure to tell them they would need to do research at the 42nd Street research library.  (The one with the lions).  If their eyes lit up in excitement, they were hired.  I knew they were researchers at heart.

The New York Public Library, like so many institutions these days, is facing a budget crisis.  The budget for buying books has been cut by 26%.  For its Friends Spring Book Fund  Campaign, it has two angels, however; NYPL Trustee Tim Barakett, and his wife Michele, will match every dollar given with two of their own, up to $100,000.  So please consider contributing, even a small amount; your money will have triple the punch.

Speaking of the NYPL, I was thrilled to learn that the Jefferson Market Branch has added Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography to its collection.   My mother worked at this branch when I was a baby, and it is now my local library, so it means a lot for it to be there.  (I’m especially honored after learning of the budget cuts.)
If you haven’t visited, stop by the next time you are in Greenwich Village–it is a beautiful building, originally a courthouse, designed by Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux in the 1870s.  Don’t miss the spiral staircase.  And Sex and the City fans should make sure to also visit the garden next door–it is where Steve and Miranda got married.

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A New App of NYC Landmarks

Posted in American History, NYC on February 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Last week, the NY Times had an article about an app that lets you locate NYC landmarks.  And of course I was thrilled the piece highlighted the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, which is on the Bronx Community Campus, where I work.  It was actually the first Hall of Fame in the United States and was designed by Stanford White.  Someone at the NY Times seems to have quite an interest in the campus (which was originally built as the NYU uptown location).  There was had a less-than-flattering article about the Hall and its present condition in Dec. 2009, as well as a more positive one about the entire campus in 2006.

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Harriet Hosmer talk at Poets of Nassau

Posted in Book on February 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I will be speaking about Harriet Hosmer’s relationship with Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning at the Poets of Nassau gathering on February 22 at 7 PM. This event was arranged by Christina Rau, a writer I met this summer at the terrific NEH workshop Along the Shore, which explored the history and future of the Brooklyn waterfront. She recently published two poems inspired by her experience in Brooklyn: Down the Promenade (scroll down) and How to Begin a Brooklyn Romance.

The talk will talk place at Bellmore Memorial Library, at 2288 Bedford Avenue in Bellmore.   You can learn about the group on its blog.

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