Events

During the Civil War Missouri was a state divided, suffering from a fractured identity and caught up in a struggle of no quarter between its battling factions. That violent period of near-anarchy is examined in the traveling exhibit A State Divided: The Civil War in Missouri, a joint effort of the Missouri Humanities Council and the Missouri History Museum.

This colorful and informative exhibit follows the “bushwhackers” and “Jayhawkers” whose bitter enmity continues to color the relations between Missourians and Kansans.

Fred Geary (1894-1955) attended the Kansas City Art Institute and worked as a commercial artist for the Fred Harvey Company in Union Station. Geary became caught up in the wood engraving movement that became popular in the U.S. in the 1930s and in his spare time produced exquisite depictions of small-town life and Missouri landscapes and landmarks.

Easily and cheaply reproduced, woodcuts put art into the hands of working-class Americans.

A new exhibit based on the Kansas City Star Magazine series and book by Steve Paul. It features 22-by-28-inch reproductions of pages from the book, which celebrates Kansas City’s architectural scene one letter at a time.

This exhibit is on display in the Fifth Floor Exhibit Space.

The newest exhibition of the Orval Hixon Gallery, New Compositions: The Dance Portraiture of Orval Hixon, is on display from June 11, 2011 through 2013 at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. The exhibit features a rich selection of Hixon’s portraits, including images of some of the best-known dancers of his time.

To most local landscape architects, Hare & Hare is a household name. The firm has left an indelible mark on some of the most iconic and often-visited areas of Kansas City—the Country Club Plaza, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Loose Park, Ward Parkway, and Mission Hills among them.

Story times feature books written by Latinas from the Pura Belpré Award list.

The Girls’ Night Out Teen Book Club features Graffiti Girl by Kelly Parra on May 11, from 5 - 8 p.m.

MANA de Kansas City hosts a meet and greet with Linda Rodriguez to celebrate her novel Every Last Secret on Thursday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m.

Historian Donald R. Hickey, author of The Rockets’ Red Glare: An Illustrated History of The War of 1812, discusses that “forgotten war” which gave us some memorable military moments (Admiral Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, Andrew Jackson’s triumph at New Orleans) but also saw the British burn the White House. Moreover, the war ended not in overwhelming victory, but in a draw – which may explain why so many Americans know little about it.

R. Stephen Green, newly-named superintendent of the Kansas City Public Schools, continues his series of public conversations. He fields questions and provides straight answers regarding parent involvement, accreditation, leadership, and the future of classroom instruction.

Green previously led Kauffman Scholars, Inc., a comprehensive college preparatory and scholarship program designed to increase the number of college graduates from Kansas City’s urban schools.