Audio Files from Previous Special Events

David Israel Litan made his living in the oil business, but art was his passion and his gift. His lithographs portraying scenes of Kansas and aspects of Jewish life and faith sold widely throughout the Sunflower State during his lifetime, most of which was spent in Wichita.

The artist’s son, Robert Litan, noted economist and senior executive at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, discusses his father’s art and faith.

University of Pennsylvania historian Stephanie McCurry offers a new interpretation of the Confederacy that contends the South sowed the seeds of its demise in creating a regime that excluded white women and slaves, which together comprised a majority of the population.

Confederate Reckoning was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for History. McCurry’s talk is the keynote address for the Richard D. McKinzie Research Symposium.

Co-sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Department of History.

A newborn baby is kidnapped from a Kansas City hospital. A New Year’s Eve bank robber takes hostages in a stand-off. A pharmacist dilutes the medication of 4,000 patients. Over the past 20 years, some of the highest profile FBI cases were investigated in Kansas City.

Retired Special Agent Jeff Lanza, who served as the FBI’s Kansas City spokesman, tells the real stories behind the headlines and reveals how he learned to interact with local and national media. Lanza is author of the recently released Pistols to Press.

Library Director Crosby Kemper III conducts a public conversation with former Missouri Governor Bob Holden, exploring his career as a Missouri statesman and discussing his perspective on civic leadership and the public good.

Holden’s official portrait, which was officially unveiled at the Missouri State Capitol on December 9, 2011, will be on display during the program. Portrait artist Carla Malone Steck will also make remarks on her approach to painting the portraits of both the Governor and the former First Lady, Lori Hauser Holden.