Lunch & Learn for November

 

"People of Courage, People of Hope, Seekers of Justice:  The Underground Railroad Revisited"



The Underground Railroad by Charles T. Webber (1893)

 

The voices of those involved in this historic Underground Railroad movement in our state and nation’s history relate a story not of tunnels and quilts, but a story of a civil rights movement, of African American leadership, of civil disobedience, that is relevant for us today. Revisit this significant story with researchers Paul and Mary Liz Stewart, co-founders of Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc. 

 

Friday, November 8, 2013 ~ 12noon to 1pm ~ Fischbach Room

Free!

Everyone is welcome!

Bring your lunch or purchase one in the Library Café. 

Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library



 

Rensselaer Libraries Given Most Generous Gift

George Mahe '42
(circa 1942)

The Rensselaer Libraries was recently bequeathed an astounding gift of 19.5 million dollars by alumnus George Mahe, who passed away in 2010.  Mr. Mahe received a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Institute in 1942.  Before retiring in the mid-1970s, he was a project engineer with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in East Hanover, NJ.

His niece, Elizabeth Wilson, and her husband, Kenneth, visited the library recently to tour it, visit the Archives, and have lunch with Rensselaer Libraries Director Bob Mayo, Vice President for Information Services and Technology and CIO (Chief Information Officer) John Kolb, and Advancement Officer Nina Moser. The Wilsons also dined with President Shirley Jackson at her home, where a plaque in Mr. Mahe’s honor was unveiled. It will eventually be placed in the Folsom Library. 

 

Presently there is a bronze plaque on the third floor of Folsom honoring Mr. Mahe's parents. It was mounted in recognition of the first monetary gift Mr. Mahe gave in their name. It is inscribed:

 

                                     TO FOSTER INQUIRY, LEARNING 

                                 AND EXCELLENCE AT RENSSELAER

 

Mr. Mahe's ultimate gift is a godsend and is making it possible for us to preserve our core collection.

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

 

 

Lunch & Learn for October

               "Going the Self-Publishing Route: 
                         One Woman's Journey"

                       Friday, October 11, 2013  ~  12noon to 1pm
                              Folsom Library's Fischbach Room

 

Janice Naylor, who works in Undergraduate Admissions, will be October's speaker.  She acknowledges that "even if you enjoy writing, finding the right words to express exactly what you want to say takes time and commitment.  It takes a brave heart to put your story out there for others to judge. It takes courage to assume all responsibility for the finished product. It takes money."

Naylor self-published her first novel, Sea Story, last March and admits "it was hard work.  It was also worth every bit of the time and energy I spent.  Why did I choose to self-publish?  What were the unexpected speed bumps in the self-publishing process? Was it difficult to bless the manuscript and pass it on to the printer?  Did I use an editor or a copy editor?  What costs are involved?  How did I promote Sea Story?  Has Sea Story been successful?"

For the answers to these questions and more, please join us Friday, October 11th at noon in Folsom Library for a "unique opportunity to journey through the self-publishing process from the first chapter to the … well, now that Sea Story is out in the world, there doesn’t appear to be an ending in sight."

Naylor was born and raised in Troy, NY.  Since she began writing professionally four years ago, her stories have been published in newspapers, on several websites and in an anthology of regional anecdotes.  She maintains a website and blog entitled, “Red Geraniums on a Summer Day” -- www.redgeranium.org .  Sea Story is her first novel, and it was published in March 2013 by Red Geranium Books, the author's publishing company.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Friends of the Folsom Library

    is pleased to host

“Exploring Space at RPI”

Friday, October 4, 2013

    9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

      Russell Sage Dining Hall Banquet Room
 

Celebrating Grand Marshall Week



Interior of the Clubhouse

Assistant Institute Archivist Jenifer Monger will be presenting on key spaces which have been utilized, advocated for, appropriated, and experienced throughout campus and its environs.  At Rensselaer, the academic, athletic, social, and common spaces used, and often created, by students and administration have come and gone, ebbing and flowing from one decade to the next.  Inspired by photographs and documents, Jenifer will explore the Old Gymnasium, the ’86 Field, the Clubhouse/Union, the Houston Fieldhouse, and Grand Marshal events from myriad vantage points.  Come see how the meanings of spaces have played major roles in campus life.



A continental breakfast will be served.  The event is free and everyone is welcome, but an RSVP to Adrienne Birchler (518-276-8329 or bircha@rpi.edu)  is required to reserve a seat. 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library 

 

Lunch & Learn for September

 

Come join us!

                             Friday, September 13, 2013
                                  12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

                       Folsom Library Fischbach Room

 

                                   Everyone is invited!

Bring your lunch or purchase one in the Library Café.

                              Dessert will be provided.

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for May

"Visual Reasoning:

Visual Interfaces for Logical Reasoning” 

 

Presenter:  Bram van Heuveln

Lecturer, Department of Cognitive Science, RPI

Bram van Heuveln

Friday, May 10

12noon to 1pm

Fischbach Room

Systems of symbolic representations such as found in mathematics, science, and logic, allow us to solve problems we could not solve with our brain alone. Thus, language can be seen as a tool to make us smarter. However, some tools may be a better fit to our brain than others.

Bram van Heuveln will present two interfaces for learning logical reasoning that are more visual, and thus potentially more effective, than the standard linear algebraic expressions taught in a typical course on logic.

 

Bram is also the Assistant Director of Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning (RAIR) Lab and Director of Minds and Machines.

Adrienne Birchler Coordinator Friends of the Folsom Library

 

Award-Winning Author Marilynne Robinson to Give Reading and Present McKinney Writing Contest Awards

As Friends has done for many years now, we are once again helping fund the annual McKinney Writing Contest.  This year's awards will be presented to students at a ceremony held on Wednesday, April 17, at 8:00 pm in the Biotech Auditorium in the Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Building.
 
Author Marilynne Robinson will present the awards in the categories of fiction, drama, poetry, essay, and electronic media.  She will also read from one of her works and answer questions. The event is free and open to the public.

Marilynne Robinson at the 2012 Festival of Faith and Writing at  Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Marilynne Robinson at the
2012 Festival of Faith and Writing
at  Calvin College in
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Robinson has written three highly acclaimed novels: Housekeeping (1980),which was made into a movie starring Christine Lahti that I saw at the Spectrum Theatre years ago; Gilead (2004); and Home (2008).  Housekeeping was a finalist for the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for Best First Novel.  Gilead was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.  Home received the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction in the United Kingdom.

Since learning Robinson would be coming to campus, I've been trying to get my hands on Housekeeping, but it's always checked out of our library.  I'll bet copies of it will be for sale after the awards are presented.  I should purchase one and ask her to autograph it for me! 
 

Robinson, who received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington in 1977, teaches at the Iowa Writers Workshop and lives in Iowa City.

For 72 years, the McKinney Competition has recognized writing talent in various genres among undergraduate and graduate students. The Mary A. Earl McKinney endowment was established by in 1941 by Dr. Samuel P. McKinney, a Rensselaer graduate (1884), in memory of his late wife. The McKinney Competition is administered and judged by the faculty of the Department of Communication and Media, which includes Barbara Lewis, a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Folsom Library.


Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

Capturing Moments in Time

Staten Island native Patrick Surace received his first camera, a 35mm film camera, as an elementary school graduation present from an uncle. This gift opened a new world for him—one where he was able to develop his creative side.  After a short instructional lesson, Patrick was bitten by the shutter bug and found himself sending roll after roll of Kodak Kodachrome and TRI-X through the mail for processing.  It was a few years later that he became interested in darkroom procedures and began developing his own prints.

Patrick’s passion for photography runs in the family—four great-uncles were all successful studio photographers with studios in Manhattan and Pennsylvania.  Patrick’s father and uncle used to visit their studios and learned the craft  themselves, although they didn’t follow in their uncles’ footsteps professionally. They did, however, teach young Patrick all they knew about taking photos.

Throughout his life, Patrick had two parallel careers.  His mainstay was in law enforcement as one of “New York City’s Proudest” working in Manhattan until retiring a few years ago.  The other career was photography, finding time on his days off to take pictures of events such as proms, graduations, and weddings. 

     This is my favorite image on display.

     It's a shot taken in Vermont's Old
     Bennington Historic District.
      .

After retiring from the police force in 2003, Patrick decided to move from the big city to a space that was reminiscent of his formative years on Staten Island where he was  "surrounded by beautiful lush country terrain.”  He found this in Schaghticoke, NY, where he lived until his recent move to Troy where his studio is located.  He currently does portrait, landscape, event, architecture, product, still life, and publicity shots.

The “creative gene” seems to have been passed further down the line to Patrick’s three children.  One son is an aspiring photographer assistant in Manhattan. His other son lives in Los Angeles and is a graphic animator. His daughter recently returned from a job with CBS in Los Angeles and is now living in Manhattan.

This photo was taken in Savannah,
Georgia's marketplace.

Try to stop by the Folsom Library to check out the beautiful shots Patrick has taken in and around the Capital District and beyond.  They’ll be on display until sometime this summer. The photographs, framed and unframed, are also for purchase.  I have a list of prices.  If you can’t make it in, check out his galleries (still life and product; city, street, and abstract; nature and floral; interiors; landscape and architecture; portrait, and high dynamic range or HDR) online at http://www.patricksuracestudios.com/ Patrick truly has a natural talent for capturing beautiful photographic images.

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Please excuse my mistake.  Emma Willard founded Troy Female Seminary in 1814, ten years before Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was founded, not three years as I posted below.

Adrienne

Lunch & Learn for April

“Wrought With Steadfast Will

and
The Historic Connections Between Emma Willard and Rensselaer” 

 

Presenter:  Trudy J. Hanmer,

Associate Head Emerita at Emma Willard School

As associate head of Emma Willard School for 30 years, Trudy played a variety of roles, including director of college counseling, director of admissions, and member of the history department.  During 1986-1987 and 1989-1990, she served as acting head of school.  From her earliest days on the campus, she was fascinated by the school's history and was determined to capture that history in a book someday.  Wrought With Steadfast Will: A History of Emma Willard School  is the result.  Find out what connections Emma (1787--1870) had to RPI, which was founded three years after she founded Troy Female Seminary, the original name for her independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women. 
 

Image of Emma Willard
courtesy of Rensselaer's
Archives and Special Collections

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date:  Friday, April 12

Time:  12noon to 1pm

Place:  Folsom Library's Fischbach Room

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

 

 

 

 

Lunch & Learn for March

Friday, March 8

12 noon to 1 pm

Folsom Library Fischbach Room

Free!

Everyone is invited.

Bring your own lunch or purchase one in the Library Cafe.

Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

2nd Annual RPI Spirit Day

February 1, 2013

 
Folsom Library staff got into the spirit of things by wearing red or a piece of clothing with the Institute's logo to celebrate RPI Spirit Day today.

Here's a photo of some of the staff (and a couple of students I dragged away from their studies!) who displayed their pride in Rensselaer.  They joined students, staff, faculty, and alumni from around the country and beyond as they got into the spirit. 
 


Back row from left to right:  Fran Scott, Manager, Architecture Library/Reference & Instructional Services; Tanis Kreiger, Acquisitions & Electronic Resources Librarian and Manager - Public Services; Jeff Miner, Assistant Vice President for Information Services; Professor David Goldenberg, Lally School of Management and Technology;  Connie Fritz, Science Librarian; Ian deJoode, sophomore work/study student. 

 

Middle row: Kathy Stebbins, Business Coordinator, Technical Services; Anna Gardner, Library Associate, Public Services; Colette Holmes, Management Librarian; Adrienne Birchler, Coordinator.

 

Front row:  Two students who wished to remain anonymous and Ellen Dearborn, Library Associate, Public Services.



 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for February

Date:  Friday, February 8, 2013  
Speaker:  Stacy Pomeroy Draper,
                Curator, Rensselaer County Historical Society
Topic:  "The Great Fire of Troy"
Time:  12 noon to 1 pm
Place:  Folsom Library's Fischbach Room

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library