Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
Signature Event Video Video Signature Event Audio Audio Signature Event Interview Interviews
E.g., 2018-07-22
E.g., 2018-07-22

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

2018 Off the Wall Film Series: Summer Cinema Mixtape

Doors open: 8 pm • Program: 8:45 pm
Nick (Michael Cera) is brooding over a recent breakup with Tris (Alexis Dziena). All the mix CDs he made for her were ignored or trashed; yet unbeknownst to Nick, Tris’ acquaintance Norah (Kat Dennings), is very much a fan of his music tastes. Nick and Norah cross paths at a concert, and eventually head into the East Village for a night of music and mischief as they search for an underground performance by Where’s Fluffy?, an elusive band.

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This year the Library’s FREE Off-the Wall rooftop summer film series includes an eccentric playlist of comedies with song-centric storylines. Music-filled movies feature prep-school rockers, gangsta rappers, collegiate a cappella competitors, a young couple scouring the city for an elusive band, and a golden-throated carnivorous plant.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Program: 
8:00 pm
Central Library
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Kansas City YOUth Fringe Festival

Friday Night Family Fun

The YOUth Fringe Festival—part of the 14th annual Fringe Festival KC running through July 29—offers an evening of interactive fun for younger audiences.
 

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The YOUth Fringe Festival – part of the 14th annual Fringe Festival KC running through July 29 – offers an evening of interactive fun for younger audiences. For ages 12 and up.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
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A Look Back at Rockville: Great Moments in Kansas City Concerts

2018 Adult Summer Reading Program
From Patsy Cline (two days before she perished in a plane crash in 1963) to the Beatles to the Jacksons’ Victory Tour, former Kansas City Star music critic Tim Finn recalls the most indelible moments in the Kansas City area’s live-music history.
 
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From Patsy Cline (two days before she perished in a plane crash in 1963) to the Beatles to the Jacksons’ Victory Tour, former Kansas City Star music critic Tim Finn recalls the most indelible moments in the Kansas City area’s live-music history.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
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A Girl Stands at the Door

Rutgers University historian Rachel Devlin examines an underappreciated aspect of civil rights history – the crucial role of young African-American girls in the fight to desegregate America’s schools – in a discussion of her new book A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools.
 
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Rutgers University historian Rachel Devlin examines an underappreciated aspect of civil rights history – the crucial role of young African-American girls in the fight to desegregate America’s schools – in a discussion of her new book A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
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Rendezvous With Oblivion

Thomas Frank is a liberal by conviction but an equal-opportunity critic of America’s foundering political system. In a discussion of his new book Rendezvous With Oblivion: Reports From a Sinking Society, a selection of Frank’s essays from 2011 to 2018, he looks at a country divided and in disrepair, undone by folly and exploitation.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
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Event Audio

Java with a Journalist: The Future of Troost

The Library and The Kansas City Star focus the latest installment of their Java with Journalist series on the Troost Avenue corridor, inviting the people who live and do business in the area to sit with Star reporters Aaron Randle, Allison Kite and Bill Turque and editorial columnist Melinda Henneberger to discuss issues and concerns. How has Troost divided us in the past? What’s happening in the area today? And what does the future hold? Coffee and pastries provided. RSVP is required and space is limited.
 

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The Library and The Kansas City Star focus the latest installment of their Java with Journalists series on the Troost Avenue corridor, inviting the people who live and do business in the area to sit with Star reporters Aaron Randle, Allison Kite and Bill Turque and Star columnist Melinda Henneberger to discuss issues and concerns. How has Troost divided us in the past? What’s happening in the area today? And what does the future hold?
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Program: 
10:30 am
Lucile H. Bluford Branch
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Kansas City Zoomobile

The Kansas City Zoo’s Zoomobile brings the world of the wild to you, offering a variety of exciting, interactive programs featuring awesome artifacts, fun science, captivating stories – and of course, live animals.
 

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The Kansas City Zoo’s Zoomobile brings the world of the wild to you, offering a variety of exciting, interactive programs featuring awesome artifacts, fun science, captivating stories – and of course, live animals. For all ages.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
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American Eden

Historian Victoria Johnson discusses her new book American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, about the brilliant physician and botanist who carved multiple places in American history. Hosack treated a dying Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr. He later created the nation’s first botanical garden.
 
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Historian Victoria Johnson discusses her new book American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, about the brilliant physician and botanist who carved multiple places in American history. Hosack treated a dying Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr. He later created the nation’s first botanical garden.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
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Lucile Bluford: Her National Closeup

Sheila Brooks, a Kansas City native and former TV personality who now heads the Washington, D.C.-based SRB Communications, discusses her new book Lucile H. Bluford and the Kansas City Call: Activist Voice for Social Justice – written to acquaint a national audience with the iconic KC journalist and activist.
 
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Sheila Brooks, a Kansas City native and former TV personality who now heads the Washington, D.C.-based SRB Communications, discusses her new book Lucile H. Bluford and the Kansas City Call: Activist Voice for Social Justice – written to acquaint a national audience with the iconic KC journalist and activist.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

And Here's The Pitch...

Stephanie and Adam Carey, new owners of Kansas City’s alternative news publication The Pitch, sit down with editor David Hudnall to discuss the venture, their vision, and the future of the now-monthly magazine.
 
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Stephanie and Adam Carey, new owners of Kansas City’s alternative news publication The Pitch, sit down with editor David Hudnall to discuss the venture, their vision, and the future of the now-monthly magazine.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library

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