Classes

Calling all craft-loving, library-loving readers! Please join me and my co-host Maura Madden (author of the amazing guide to crafty gatherings, Crafternoon) for a new FREE monthly series called Handmade: Crafternoons! Each day we'll focus on a different handmaking theme, and I'll post details about them here on the blog in advance of the date.

What's in store for you at a Handmade: Crafternoon? Each event will include an inspiring spread of books and magazines (especially vintage books like the one pictured) from the Library's collections, a hands-on DIY project, and special crafty guests. It'll be a chance to get inspired at your Library, to hang with fellow crafty New Yorkers, and to make stuff together.

Interested? Then mark your calendars! Here are the dates:
Saturday, September 12, 2:00 to 4:00pm
Saturday, October 10, 2:00 to 4:00pm
Saturday, November 14, 2:00 to 4:00pm
Saturday, December 12, 2:00 to 4:00pm

These events will all take place at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at 42nd Street & Fifth Avenue. Yes, that's the big one with the lions out front. Maura and I hope to see you there!

Interested in learning how books were made during the hand-press era? If so, please join me at the Library this evening for an illustrated history of the craftsmanship of paper making, printing, and bookbinding. I’ll be gathering some how-to books on book arts from our collections to share with you too, to help you get started making books. There's no need to register, and it’s a free class—here are the details:

Wednesday June 10th, 6:00 to 7:00pm (classroom will open at 5:45pm)
New York Public Library
Celeste Bartos Education Center
First Floor, South Court Classrooms
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street

One last note: I'll teach this class two more times this summer (at 2:00pm on July 25th, and at 2:00pm on August 22nd), so please mark your calendars for one of these dates if you are interested but can't come this evening.

It's time for all you would-be crafters and makers to come to the library! This Friday afternoon I'll be offering a free one-hour introduction to the Library's resources--both vintage publications and online sources--that I hope will inform and inspire you in your own DIY endeavors. I'll also bring along a stack of books and magazines to share, to give you a taste of what's waiting for you in the stacks.

The classroom opens at 3:00, and class starts at 3:15. There’s no registration and the class is free; just come on in and grab a seat!

Here are the details:
When: Friday, February 6th, 3:15pm
Where: NYPL's Humanities & Social Sciences Library, South Court Classroom
Questions? southcourt@nypl.org / 212-930-9284

I look forward to meeting you!

This Friday, the Milstein Division will be offering a free class on the best online resources to use in researching New York City’s history. I invite all students, history buffs and library lovers to come to the Humanities and Social Sciences Library to find out more about all the databases and websites used to research the people and the events that contributed to our city’s history. For this month’s class, I’ll be focusing on the history of this library’s immediate neighborhood – from the Crystal Palace and the Croton Reservoir to the wealthy inhabitants of swanky Fifth Avenue. We’ll be looking at census records, old photographs and postcards, maps, and newspapers to search for the stories, records and documents the neighborhood and its residents have left behind.

Here are the details:
Class: Digital Gotham
When: Friday, December 19th; 3:15-4:15
Where: South Court classrooms (1st Floor)
Humanities & Social Sciences Library
42nd Street & Fifth Avenue

I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on dating photographs based on photographic process and contextual clues. If this topic interest you, you may want to visit the Humanities and Social Sciences Library for two classes on dating and preserving photographs.

This Friday, I will be teaching a class called Clues from Family Photographs and next week, Tuesday Erin Murphy, the Associate Conservator for Photographs and Paper, will be offering a class called Caring for Family Photographs. Both of these classes will be held at 3:15-4:30 in the South Court class rooms.

The Milstein Division will be offering Digital Gotham this afternoon at 3:15 in the South Court classrooms which are located in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Digital Gotham is a free class that explores online resources on New York City history. This hands-on class will introduce myriad resources—from digitized newspapers, magazines, and books to photographs, menus, and maps—many of which are available from your own desktop.

Digital Gotham is open to the public and requires no preregistration. However, seats are available on a first-come-first serve basis, so we encourage you to come five to ten minutes before the class begins. We look forward to seeing you there!