The Fall 2002 NYCH Humanities Lecture and Book Discussion Series

Our Fall 2002 Book Discussion Series entitled Washington's Contemporaries: Power - Politics - Personality promises to be extra special. Guest scholar, Dr. Robert M. S. McDonald, Professor of History, United States Military Academy at West Point, will open the series with his lecture entitled: Thunder, Lightning & Calm: Adams, Franklin, Jefferson and the Revolutionary Climate. This program is part of the 2002 State Humanities Month, a celebration sponsored each October by the New York Council for the Humanities. This is the fifth annual New York Humanities Month Celebration and the fifth time that Middletown Thrall Library has been so honored with a grant award. The Council is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the presence of the humanities in New York State's cultural and intellectual life. The Council's financial support has made Dr. McDonald's lecture possible.

SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS Tuesday, October 1, 2002, 7 - 9 PM. Dr. Robert M. S. McDonald, Professor of History, USMA, West Point presents the lecture Thunder, Lightning & Calm: Adams, Franklin, Jefferson and the Revolutionary Climate. Dr. McDonald, our New York Council for the Humanities scholar in 2000, returns to the library to present a fascinating lecture on three members of the Revolutionary generation. He will share key episodes in the lives of Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson and the impact each man had on the establishment of the United States of America. These distinguished patriots have their own unique stories to tell. Tuesday, October 8, 2002, 7 - 9 PM. Peggy Abt, Professor Emeritus, SUNY Orange presents John Adams by David McCullough. Don't let the size of this book overwhelm you. It is tremendously readable, a fair, balanced account of a Founding Father overshadowed in history by the first and third presidents. McCullough, a master storyteller, has created a benchmark for all other Adams biographers. Tuesday, October 22, 2002, 7 - 9 PM. Peggy Abt, Professor Emeritus, SUNY Orange presents American Sphinx: the Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis Presidential biographies can be fun and informative even when written by serious historians. Ellis, Professor of History at Mount Holyoke, takes a careful look at the many contradictions and inconsistencies in Jefferson's character. Ellis examines Jefferson at key junctures in his public life and suggests that Jefferson could be more a master of self-deception than the scheming hypocrite portrayed by his most critical contemporaries and later revisionist historians. *Wednesday*, November 6, 2002, 7 - 9 PM. Chris Godwin, Chair, Dept. of English & Foreign Languages, SUNY Orange presents Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin. Written at various times in Franklin's life, Franklin's personal history was, in some ways, the story of his country in microcosm. Franklin, the complete Renaissance man, successfully sought the 'American Dream'. Witty, anecdotal, and self-serving this work was the first 'best seller' written in this country by our first "man of letters." All programs are FREE and will be held in the second floor Community Room at Middletown Thrall Library. Books will be available at the library the first week of September. Please contact us at (845) 341-5479 or by e-mail at thrall16@warwick.net for additional information or special accommodations. The book discussion has been made possible, in part, by a grant from the Ramapo Catskill Library System.

On March 30, 2000, Middletown Thrall Library was notified by the American Library Association that its application was one of 40 nationwide selected to participate in the upcoming tour of The Great Experiment: George Washington and the American Republic. This exhibit is based on a major collection of original manuscripts, rare books, prints, engravings, and artifacts at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The Huntington Library and the ALA Public Programs Office organized the exhibit. Funding was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Munger. We are pleased to have as our guest scholar Dr. Robert M.S. McDonald from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is an expert on the Colonial and early Federalist periods in American history. Middletown Thrall Library will host this exhibit February 6, 2003 to March 20, 2003. To complement the exhibit we will also host a number of wonderful programs which will be free and open to the public. For a preview of the exhibit poster and some more information on the program, please click here. Click here for the complete list of programs we plan to offer in the coming year in support of The Great Experiment exhibit.