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.

We provide stories and activities for children newborn to 18 months of age.

Need email? In this class we'll set up free Gmail email accounts and learn how to send and read messages. Basic Internet skills required. Space is limited, registration required; call 816-701-3484 to register.

If you have a preschooler who is ready to enjoy fun stories, songs, and crafts, bring the little one to the Library.

We provide stories and activities for children newborn to 18 months of age.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Come to discuss inspirational reading with us. Our selection for May is the Tehran Initiative by Joel C. Rosenberg.

Candice Millard, author of Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President, explores the life and protracted death of James A. Garfield, who didn’t want to be president and was fatally shot just months into his first term.