Wendy Kaplan, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, lectures on women in the Arts and Crafts movement. The event, What can a woman do? Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement, takes place Wednesday, March 27, at 7 p.m. [Read more…] about What can a woman do? Women in the Arts and Crafts movement
Arctic Passage
On March 12, award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Louie Palu will install a series of photographs frozen in large ice blocks on the Ransom Center’s plaza. The photographs were made in the high Arctic over three years while Palu was on assignment for National Geographic. View the free installation, part of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Art Program, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. No SXSW badge is needed. [Read more…] about Arctic Passage
American publishing during the Cold War
In Amanda Laugesen’s new book, the novel is an object of war. In Taking Books to the World: American Publishers and the Cultural Cold War (University of Massachusetts Press, 2017), Laugesen tells the story of Franklin Publications, a publishing company created in 1952 as a joint project between American publishers and the USIA. Amid the scramble for influence during the Cold War, Franklin was tasked with disseminating books that promote American ideals throughout the developing world. [Read more…] about American publishing during the Cold War
A Twain treasure hunt
Alan Gribben has spent almost 50 years hunting down Mark Twain’s formidable personal library, which housed more than 3,000 titles. In the first volume of his findings, Mark Twain’s Literary Resources: A Reconstruction of His Library and Reading (NewSouth Books, 2019), Gribben presents the discoveries of his life’s work, uncovering Twain’s favorite books as well as his “Library of Literary Hogwash.” Gribben then takes a fresh look at Twain’s writing with an eye towards the influences of the author’s personal reading. [Read more…] about A Twain treasure hunt
A conversation on “Dying Well in Early Modern England” with curator Aaron Pratt
A current Stories to Tell display embraces the Halloween spirit with a collection of early printed books from throughout the Ransom Center’s collections that take on the topic of death. [Read more…] about A conversation on “Dying Well in Early Modern England” with curator Aaron Pratt
Love and jazz
Maxine Gordon has loved jazz music all her life. From going to hear Miles Davis and John Coltrane as a teenager, to working as a road manager and promoter when she was a young woman, to becoming the personal manager and ultimately the wife of one of the most influential jazz artists of the twentieth century, Maxine has seen it all. She makes full use of these experiences in her new book, Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon (University of California Press). [Read more…] about Love and jazz
