Events and Publications

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FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Fall Used Book Sale: October 11-14, 2023

Prices fall daily – come early for the best selection; come later for the best prices!

The sale includes concentrations in Native Americans • Musical instruments • Opera singers • American Literature • Architecture • Gardening • Early 20th century children’s books w/dust jackets • Poetry • Political History of the American Revolution

Find hours and other details here

Dr. Tara A. Bynum
Assistant Professor of English & African American Studies, University of Iowa
Obour Tanner’s Archive; or, How to Remember Your (Famous) Friend, Phillis Wheatley

Thursday, October 19
Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium
4:30-5:30 P.M. Presentation
5:30-6:30 P.M. Reception and Book Signing

Dr. Bynum is an Assistant Professor of English & African American Studies at the University of Iowa. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of Phillis Wheatley’s published book of poetry, Dr. Bynum will explore the archival evidence of joy and friendship that flourished between Wheatley and Obour Tanner, her most frequent letter correspondent. Wheatley, an enslaved person, was the first person of color to publish written work and was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America.

This event will be recorded but not livestreamed
R.S.V.P. for event reminder and link to recording available after the event: https://go.wisc.edu/1iqbui

In shared sponsorship with the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture

A Wisconsin Book Festival partnership:
Russ Castronovo, author of American Insecurity and the Origins of Vulnerability

Friday, October 20
6 P.M. Central Library, Lower Level Program Room

An incisive critique that examines the origins of contemporary American ideas about surveillance, terrorism, and white supremacy

For more than three centuries, Americans have pursued strategies of security that routinely make them feel vulnerable, unsafe, and insecure. American Insecurity and the Origins of Vulnerability probes this paradox by examining American attachments to the terror of the sublime, the fear of uncertainty, and the anxieties produced by unending racial threat.

UW-Madison Libraries and the Friends are proud to partner with the Wisconsin Book Festival!

SAMUEL FREEDMAN: INTO THE BRIGHT SUNSHINE: HUBERT HUMPHREY AND THE FORGOTTEN CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE OF THE 1940s 

Joined by Kathryn McGarr, UW-Madison Associate Professor
Monday, November 13
Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium
5:00-6:00 P.M. Presentation
6:00-7:00 P.M. Reception and Book Signing

Journalist and author Samuel Freedman, a UW-Madison alumnus, tells the dramatic story of young Hubert Humphrey, his allies, and his adversaries in the battle for a better nation in his new book, Into the Bright Sunshine: Hubert Humphrey and the Forgotten Civil Rights Struggle of the 1940s. Professor Kathryn McGarr of the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication joins him to discuss the complex implications of this struggle that continue to plague us today.

The Civil Rights Movement did not begin with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in the mid-1950s. Those landmarks actually followed a decade of fervent, urgent activism against both racism and antisemitism in America during the 1940s. And no individual was more integral to those efforts than Hubert Humphrey – then the youthful mayor of Minneapolis and a rising star in the Democratic Party.

This event will be recorded but not livestreamed
R.S.V.P. for event reminder and link to recording available after the event: https://go.wisc.edu/820p51

In shared sponsorship with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Center for Campus History, the Center for Journalism Ethics, and the Department of History

We strive to ensure our events are inclusive and welcoming for all participants. If you need an accommodation, please contact Friends@library.wisc.edu.

Looking for an earlier event? Click here

For additional information about the Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries, contact:

Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries
330H Memorial Library
728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 265-2505
Friends Contact Form