A monthly program the St. Joseph Public Library recently started up again will feature local history this weekend about the upcoming solar eclipse.
“History Speaks” started in May.
Local History Librarian Jennifer Sanders-Tutt said the library used to put on a similar program called “Local History Stage” at the senior center. Now that they have a programming room at the Downtown Library, Sanders-Tutt said they decided to revamp the program.
“It’s the same great programming that we brought people with Local History Stage but I’m trying to delve further into St. Joseph’s history… and find things that maybe not many people have heard about,” Sanders-Tutt said. “I think there is a lot of interest in local history, especially right now, and maybe people don’t know how to get involved or may be kind of hesitant because they think it’s going to be kind of boring, but what the St. Joseph Public Library is trying to offer is an interesting, involving and fascinating view of local St. Joseph history.”
This weekend, the speaker will be Suzanne Lehr.
“She is a renowned local historian and she’s published many items and she’s very active with Mount Mora Cemetery,” Sanders-Tutt said. “She will be talking about the eclipse and some of the people that were involved in kind of, celestial history, that there were astronomers here in St. Joe that were world-renowned. She’s just going to be covering the eclipse and the history leading up to it.”
The next History Speaks program will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 1, at the Downtown Library location, coinciding with First Saturdays.
Sanders-Tutt said another local history project started recently has gotten great feedback from the community.
The library’s audio history project is ongoing with the purpose of gathering a variety of stories from residents.
There are several interviews gathered so far that are available to listen to on the library’s website.
According to Sanders-Tutt, the library has partnered with the Friends of St. Joseph to begin a series of interviews focused on the history of the Livestock Exchange Building and southside history.
For more information about “History Speaks” or the library’s audio history project, contact Jennifer Sanders-Tutt at (816) 232-8151 or [email protected].