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- In this issue: Green Team Highlights - Adult Programs - The Concord Players Show - Virtual Films at Fowler - Teen Programs - Children's Programs - Special Collections Highlights & The 83rd Annual Gathering of the Thoreau Society
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Highlights from Our Green Team | |
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The Concord Free Public Library has been designated a “Certified Sustainable Library” through the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP). We are the first library in Massachusetts to obtain this certification and we look forward to continuing our sustainability work and mentoring other libraries in building a more sustainable future.
Highlights/updates from the Green Team -
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This month is Riverfest and we will join SuAsCo in celebrating our wonderful rivers during several of our programs. Plus enjoy free hikes, paddles, walks, and family fun during the month of July in this annual celebration of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Wild and Scenic Rivers.
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The Town of Concord’s Sustainability Department has launched the Sustainability Roundtable - The first meeting was on June 25. View the recording online.
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First Fridays with the Concord-Carlisle League of Women Voters offers topics such as Getting Off Gas.
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Art for All’s Signs of Life project is spreading the word about helping pollinators. The signs are now in the Fowler pollinator garden.
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The Concord Minuteman Bike Share is available for the season. This is a great way for residents and visitors to get around.
[Read the Green Team Newsletter Summer 2024]
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Film Screening of Mona Lisa is Missing and Q&A with the Filmmakers
Saturday, July 13, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Goodwin Forum, Main Library
Join us for a special in-person screening of the 2012 documentary "Mona Lisa Is Missing." This award-winning film describes the theft in 1911 of Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre Museum in Paris. The filmmakers will be available on Zoom after the screening to discuss how they researched the story and tracked down dozens of people who are descendants of those involved. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for the Film Screening]
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Gentle Flow Yoga Class at Fowler
Wednesday, July 17, 12:00 - 12:45 p.m.
Meeting Room, Fowler Branch
Join local yoga instructor Jen for drop-in yoga for adults. This gentle flow class is accessible for all levels and focuses on breath, alignment, and truly grounding movement. Yoga mats and blocks are available, but you can also bring your own. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for Gentle Flow Yoga]
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Book-A-Mystery
Wednesday, July 17, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Meeting Room, Fowler Branch
Join Madeline from Fowler to discuss a range of mysteries, from thrillers to whodunnits. This month we will discuss The Spy Coast, a thriller by Tess Gerritsen. Copies of the book are available at Fowler in both regular and large prints. No registration required.
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The Great Cartoon Rewind
Wednesday, July 17, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Goodwin Forum, Main Library
The 80’s were weird. Really weird. Nothing shows how weird as well as the cartoons on our TV’s every Saturday morning. Join the one and only GeekGal, Sarah Hodge-Wetherbe, for a walk down memory lane to a time when MTV was king, and Trapper Keepers were as far as the eye could see. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for the Great Cartoon Rewind Talk]
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The Concord Players Performing The Merry Wives of Windsor | |
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The Concord Players Present The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
Saturdays, July 20 & 27, 5:00 p.m.
Sundays, July 21 & 28, 5:00 p.m.
Front Lawn, Main Library
(Rain venue: 51 Walden Street, Concord, MA)
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a fun frolic, a comedy that lampoons the idea that the men are the cleverer of the sexes, and that reinforces the concept of true love. With themes of love and marriage, jealousy and revenge, social class and wealth, and plot points such as Falstaff sending identical love letters to two wealthy married women and three different men vying for the hand of the young Anne Page, it is a bit reminiscent of a soap opera. So while remaining true to Shakespeare's language in this condensed version, the Concord Players are presenting this play as a modern-day soap opera, complete with villains, heroes/heroines, clever characters and oafish egotistical suitors. This rollicking comedic romp focuses on the town of Windsor and is the only Shakespearean play located totally in England. This performance is directed by Jim Porter.
A limited number of chairs and open space will be available, but bring a lawn chair for guaranteed seating and comfort. Please feel free to bring a snack or beverage (alcoholic beverages are not permitted). No registration required.
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Teens Make-It!
Tuesday, July 16, 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
The Workshop, Main Library
No younger siblings to bug you, no random adults to take up all the spots. Come to the first of what we hope will be many Make-It Club programs developed exclusively by and for teens. Come have some snacks, check out our materials and help us choose exactly the crafts, skills and tools you want to learn in future programs. For makers 11 - 18 years only. No registration required.
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Children's Programs at the Main Library | |
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July Morning Kids' Programs at Main
Mondays: Musical Monday at 10:30 a.m.
Tuesdays: Crafty Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.
Wednesdays: Toddler Time at 10:30 a.m. and Baby Snugglebugs Storytime at 11:30 a.m.
Fridays: Alphabet Storytime at 10:30 a.m.
Saturdays: Yoga & Movement storytime at 10:30 a.m.
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Musical Monday: Magical Ms. Kimberly's Musical Yoga
Monday, July 15, 10:30 - 11:15 a.m.
Goodwin Forum, Main Library
In this 45 minute interactive performance and sound healing experience, Kimberly brings a guitar, singing bowl, Koshi chime and wireless microphone. Children learn tools for Self Regulation, Social Emotional Learning and Self Love, all while singing, moving and having fun. Generously sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. No registration required.
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Buildwave: A Hands-On Building Game (Ages 5+)
Monday, July 15, 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
The Workshop, Main Library
Spark STEAM interest with Buildwave--a building event inspired by video games that feels like a gameshow - You will build with waves of materials including LEGO, PlusPlus and even special materials designed by Buildwave. Build as a family or come on your own. Generously sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for Buildwave]
For more Children's programs at the Main Library, visit here.
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Fowler Branch Children's Programs | |
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Read to a Dog at Fowler
Thursday, July 18, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Meeting Room, Fowler Branch
Are you looking to improve your reading? Join Samantha, a young golden retriever, on the 3rd Thursday of the month for a 10-15 minute reading session. No advance registration required. When you arrive, sign up and choose a book to read, and we will do our best to accommodate all interested participants. This program is designed for developing readers of all ages.
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Talk Yoga at Fowler (Ages 3-7)
Friday, July 19, 11:00 - 11:45 a.m.
Meeting Room, Fowler Branch
Join local yoga instructor Jen for Talk Yoga. Talk Yoga classes incorporate movement, mindfulness, games and music to boost language, articulation and sensory awareness. Benefitting children of all abilities, these classes help students connect their minds and body and gain acceptance, confidence and self-awareness. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for Talk Yoga at Fowler]
For more Children's programs at Fowler, visit here.
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Highlights from Special Collections: Happy Birthday, Henry! | |
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Henry David Thoreau was born July 12, 1817, the son of Concord storekeeper and pencil maker John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau. He graduated from Harvard College and began keeping a journal, the source for much of his writing, in 1837. He also actively took up land and property surveying in the 1840s, working both for the Town of Concord and for private property owners, which took him as far away as Cape Cod, Maine, and Minnesota.
In 1845, he built a cabin on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s land at Walden Pond, where he lived from the summer of 1845 until Sept. 1847. He was jailed, overnight for non-payment of the local poll tax in protest against war and slavery in 1846. His piece, "Resistance to Civil Government," reflecting this experience, was published in Elizabeth Palmer Peabody's Aesthetic Papers in 1849. While living at Walden, he wrote the first draft of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and kept journals, which he later incorporated into Walden, or Life in the Woods. A Week was published in 1849, and Walden in 1854. He died of tuberculosis on May 6, 1862.
Special Collections holds the largest and most important collection of primary Thoreau material in New England, and extensive collections documenting Concord as Thoreau knew it. Materials include Thoreau's "Walking" in manuscript, a rare page from Henry David Thoreau's manuscript for his essential essay “Life Without Principle,” close to 200 land and property surveys by Thoreau, and his volume of surveying field notes. Also included is a series of more than 350 letters from early Thoreau scholar Samuel Arthur Jones to Alfred Winslow Hosmer of Concord, and more than forty books, once belonging to Thoreau and members of his family. Our collections also include important examples of Thoreau iconography, such as the 1854 crayon portrait by Samuel Worcester Rowse and photographic records of Thoreau's Concord, among which are thousands of images by Alfred Winslow Hosmer and Herbert Wendell Gleason.
THE 83RD ANNUAL GATHERING OF THE THOREAU SOCIETY: THOREAU & RESILIENCE, JULY 10-14, 2024, in Concord, MA
On Saturday, July 13, Annual Gathering events (held at Trinity Episcopal Church) are FREE and open to the public. The keynote address and two afternoon panels will also be livestreamed by Minuteman Media Network: youtube.com/@MinutemanMediaNetwork
Saturday, 10:30 a.m. - DANA S. BRIGHAM MEMORIAL KEYNOTE LECTURE “Thoreau’s Threshold: Temporal Imagination as Public Good” by Kristen Case.
Saturday, 1:00 p.m. - Panel: “The Durable Text: Editing Thoreau” featuring Bill Rossi, Paul Schacht, Beth Witherell, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, and Robert Sattelmeyer.
Saturday, 2:45 p.m. - Panel: “A Conversation: Personal Stories of Thoreauvian Resilience” featuring Laura Garza, Karla Hailer, Tim Madigan, Eric Malsbury, Ximo Palau Marzã, and Mary Anne Smrz.
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