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., 2018-09-24
E.g., 2018-09-24

Pitch Perfect (2012)

2018 Off the Wall Film Series: Summer Cinema Mixtape

Doors open: 8 pm • Program: 8:45 pm
Bust a cappella with the Barden University Bellas, a collegiate girls’ singing group. Recognizing they’re in a song slump, members of the team (Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow) recruit newcomer Beca (Anna Kendrick), who reluctantly joins the squad. Facing a showdown with their male rivals, the Treblemakers, Beca tries to mix up the Bellas’ routine with pop-infused energy.

Learn More >
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, September 21, 2018
Program: 
8:00 pm
Central Library
RSVP NOW

Babies Made Us Modern

In a discussion of her new book Babies Made Us Modern: How Infants Brought Americans into the Twentieth Century, Rutgers University historian Janet Golden examines how America’s modern era was propelled, in part, by a quest to keep its youngest and smallest citizens alive, disease-free, well fed, and happy.
 
Learn More >
In a discussion of her new book Babies Made Us Modern: How Infants Brought Americans into the Twentieth Century, Rutgers University historian Janet Golden examines how America’s modern era was propelled, in part, by a quest to keep its youngest and smallest citizens alive, disease-free, well fed, and happy.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
RSVP NOW

Operation Husky: 'Bitter Victory' in Sicily

Military historian Gregory Hospodor examines the Allies’ “bitter” World War II victory of 1943, a massive invasion of Sicily that took the first bite out of the Axis’ homeland – but not before the escape of some 114,000 German and Italian troops along with vehicles, supplies, and ammunition.
 
Learn More >
Military historian Gregory Hospodor examines the Allies’ “bitter” World War II victory of 1943, a massive invasion of Sicily that took the first bite out of the Axis’ homeland – but not before the escape of some 114,000 German and Italian troops along with vehicles, supplies, and ammunition.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
RSVP NOW

If It Looks Like a Man: Gender Identity, Female Soldiers, and 'Lady Bushwhackers' in the Civil War

Missouri Valley Sundays
Public historians Diane Eickhoff and Aaron Barnhart recall how hundreds of women defied cultural norms of the time to participate in the Civil War, cutting their hair, binding their breasts, donning men’s clothing, and reporting to army recruiters for duty. Others served as scouts or spies.
 
Learn More >
Public historians Diane Eickhoff and Aaron Barnhart recall how hundreds of women defied cultural norms of the time to participate in the Civil War, cutting their hair, binding their breasts, donning men’s clothing, and reporting to army recruiters for duty. Others served as scouts or spies.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Program: 
2:00 pm
Central Library
RSVP NOW

Invisible Wounds of War: Writing Through Injury

Veterans Writing Workshop
The Veterans Writing Workshop opens with a public presentation featuring Iraq War veteran, author, and poet Brian Turner; Rita Brock, senior vice president of moral injury programs for Volunteers of America; and George Dent, a trauma/PTSD psychologist. They discuss PTSD and other traumas and how creative arts, including writing, can further recovery.
 
Learn More >
The Veterans Writing Workshop opens with a public presentation featuring Iraq War veteran, author, and poet Brian Turner; Rita Brock, senior vice president of moral injury programs for Volunteers of America; and George Dent, a trauma/PTSD psychologist. They discuss PTSD and other traumas and how creative arts, including writing, can further recovery.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Program: 
10:15 am
Plaza Branch
RSVP NOW

Exotics R Us

Friday Night Family Fun
Take a walk on the wild side! Learn all about animals – where they’re from, what they eat, and their status in their natural habitat – during an educational program that brings wildlife to you. For all ages.
 
Learn More >
Take a walk on the wild side! Learn all about animals – where they’re from, what they eat, and their status in their natural habitat – during an educational program that brings wildlife to you. For all ages.
Friday, September 14, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
RSVP NOW

Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing up Bernstein

Jamie Bernstein, the eldest daughter of revered composer Leonard Bernstein, and David Charles Abell, who is conducting the Lyric Opera’s production of the Bernstein-scored West Side Story in September, discuss the younger Bernstein’s intimate new book about her father.
 
Learn More >
Jamie Bernstein, the eldest daughter of revered composer Leonard Bernstein, and David Charles Abell, who is conducting the Lyric Opera’s production of the Bernstein-scored West Side Story in September, discuss the younger Bernstein’s intimate new book about her father.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
RSVP NOW

Neighborhoods First

Making a Great City
Nationally renowned urban thinker Chuck Marohn, who kicked off the Library’s Making a Great City series in January, returns to assess the crucial takeaways from all three sessions, including the advisability of an incremental, neighborhoods-first approach to development in cities such as Kansas City.
 
Learn More >
Nationally renowned urban thinker Chuck Marohn, who kicked off the Library’s Making a Great City series in January, returns to assess the crucial takeaways from all three sessions, including the advisability of an incremental, neighborhoods-first approach to development in cities such as Kansas City.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Studs Terkel's Working

Script-In-Hand
In a script-in-hand performance commemorating Labor Day, members of Kansas City’s Equity Actors' Readers' Theatre (EARTh) read selections from Terkel’s best-selling and perhaps best-known book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.
 
Learn More >
In a script-in-hand performance commemorating Labor Day, members of Kansas City’s Equity Actors' Readers' Theatre (EARTh) read selections from Terkel’s best-selling and perhaps best-known book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.
Monday, September 10, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Justice on Fire: The Kansas City Firefighters Case

Crime Magazine publisher J. Patrick O’Connor discusses his book Justice on Fire: The Kansas City Firefighters Case and the Railroading of the Marlborough Five, arguing that innocents took the fall for the 1988 construction site explosion in which six firemen were killed.
 
Learn More >
Crime Magazine publisher J. Patrick O’Connor discusses his book Justice on Fire: The Kansas City Firefighters Case and the Railroading of the Marlborough Five, arguing that innocents took the fall for the 1988 construction site explosion in which six firemen were killed.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Pages