Join Fowler Branch Librarian Dorrie at the labyrinth garden at the West Concord Union Church (1317 Main St), across the street from Fowler, for an in person Baby Time! We will share stories, songs, and bouncing rhymes. Bring a blanket or something comfortable to sit on. If anyone in your group is experiencing Covid-like symptoms, please do not attend. In the case of poor weather, Baby Time may be canceled. Please check the Library website or social media for updates, or call Fowler at 978-318-3350. No registration required.

This week Special Collections was honored to host two distinguished researchers, Professor Joel Myerson and Professor Daniel Shealy, who are no strangers to our rich collections. The holdings of the Munroe Special Collections have contributed significantly to their scholarly research and numerous exceptional publications on some of Concord's most notable men and women.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Joel Myerson, University of South Carolina, has written extensively on Transcendentalism, especially Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Concord Authors. Myerson is currently editing the Account Books of Ralph Waldo Emerson and preparing updates to his descriptive primary bibliographies of Dickinson, Emerson, Fuller, and Whitman. Professor Daniel Shealy, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, has edited or co-edited twelve books on Louisa May Alcott, including co-editing her letters and journals. Shealy is continuing his research into Louisa May Alcott's short stories and exploring the history of Civil War-era Concord. Shealy is the editor of the forthcoming book Little Women at 150, a collection of eight original essays by scholars whose research and writings have helped elevate Alcott's reputation in the academic community over the past twenty years. The essays examine the novel's enduring popularity anew and explore the myriad complexities of Alcott's most famous work. The book includes contributions by Beverly Lyon Clark, Christine Doyle, Gregory Eiselein, John Matteson, Joel Myerson, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, Anne K. Phillips, Daniel Shealy, and Roberta Seelinger Trites.

Professors Myerson and Shealy presented a program at the Library in 2018, "Duty chains me to my galley":  Publishing Louisa May Alcott, which you can view here. Professor Myerson also worked with Special Collections on a collaborative exhibit, Collecting Transcendentalism, in 2011-2012, drawing on the holdings of the William Munroe Special Collections and the Joel Myerson Collection of Nineteenth-Century American Literature at the University of South Carolina. You can view the online version of the gallery exhibit here.