Purdue Libraries to celebrate noted Indiana authors with exhibit, events
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University Libraries will celebrate The Golden Age: Indiana Literature (1880-1920) with display panels featuring works from noted Hoosier authors, a "James Whitcomb Riley Day," and a presentation from a folklore historian and author.
The panel display will be available through Oct. 15 in the John W. Hicks Undergraduate Library on campus. Collections come from the Indiana State Library and Indiana University's Lilly Library and examine many of the writers who contributed to the state's golden age of literature. The main focus is on the lives and careers of Riley, George Ade, Meredith Nicholson and Booth Tarkington, said Dawn Stahura, library assistant and the exhibit's curator.
Riley Day is scheduled for 9:15-11:15 a.m. Oct. 7 and will include programming centered on the famous poet, specifically targeting fourth-graders who have studied or will study his material. Local author Bob Kriebel, who wrote the biography "Meet Jim Riley," will give a presentation. Students from a Purdue English class will present poems in period costume. This event is in Room B848 of the Hicks Undergraduate Library, and refreshments will be served.
On Oct. 28 author Wanda Lou Willis will give a Halloween-themed presentation at 7 p.m. in Hicks, B848. Willis penned "Haunted Hoosier Trails" and "More Haunted Hoosier Trails" and will discuss her research into Indiana county folklore. Special guests will include members of the Indiana Ghost Trackers, and Willis' books and DVDs will be for sale.
Additionally, a Purdue Libraries exhibit showcasing Ade, Tarkington and John T. McCutcheon's ties to Purdue and the pivotal role those noted authors played at the university is on display in the Hicks Library.
A 1947 study found that Indiana authors ranked second to New York in the number of bestsellers produced in the previous 40 years, according to the Indiana Historical Society.
The exhibit and all events are free and open to the public. The John W. Hicks Undergraduate Library is open 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays.
Writer: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu
Source: Dawn Stahura, 765-494-2762, stahurad@purdue.edu