Past Special Adult Programs
Check out some of the multi-part, scholarly programs that have been presented by the Library over the last ten years! Below are links to the audio of some of the lectures, as well as links to the event brochures to see the full range of programming.
Literature
James Baldwin: Bearing Witness, September to December 2020
The Library’s Fall Scholarly Series will celebrate the life and works of James Baldwin, acclaimed American novelist, essayist, playwright, and activist.
Revisiting the Founding Era, January, February, March 2019
Explore the ideas and themes of the Founding Era and how they continue to influence our lives today.
Revisiting the Founding Era brochure PDF
The Illustrative World of Maurice Sendak: Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!, September/October 2019
An All-Ages Celebration of Maurice Sendak’sArtistic and Literary Legacy
All About Jane Celebrating 200 Years of Jane Austen, August/November 2017
The Library commemorated the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death with a series of book discussions, scholarly lectures, film screenings, fashion, food art, music, and more from Jane Austen’s era.
Sensibility and Sense: How the 18th Century Meets the 19th in Jane Austen's Novels
Celebrating Shakespeare: 400 Years of William Shakespeare, Spring 2016
The Library commemorated the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death with a series of lectures, performances, film screenings, and more.
Shakespeare's Major Tragedies
Curiouser and Curiouser: 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland, Fall 2015
In fall of 2015 the Library celebrated the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Author Talks, workshops, a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, and a field trip to the Morgan Library.
The Wonder of Wonderland: Lewis Carroll's Alice in the 19th Century and in Our Own Time
The Big Read: The Great Gatsby, Fall 2014
IMG: Big Read Logo.jpg
The Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts and the Ridgefield Library organized a community-wide reading initiative of The Great Gatsby under the auspices of The Big Read.
Dipping into Proust, Fall 2012
The Library joined forces with The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum to present a multi-media series of programs based on Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, better known as Remembrance of Things Past or, in its original French, À la recherche du temps perdu. The novel, in seven volumes, is one of the longest in the world. Our series focused on just the first book, Swann’s Way, the volume that contains the famous “episode of the madeleine,” which sparked the involuntary memories of the book’s narrator.
Dipping into Proust Proust Brochure.
The Life and Works of Marcel Proust
What the Dickens! Winter 2012
This multipart, multimedia celebration of the life and work of Charles Dickens was presented on the occasion of his 200th birthday. There were book discussions, lectures, films, a Victorian tea, and a bus trip to the Morgan Library in Manhattan to see the Dickens at 200 exhibit.
The Big Read: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Fall 2010
The Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts and the Ridgefield Library organized a community-wide reading initiative under the auspices of The Big Read. The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.
The Big Read in the News:
An Introduction to John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath
Enjoying Joyce: James Joyce Discussion Series, January through June 2010
Over a six-month period from January through June 2010, we hosted lectures, movie screenings, book discussions, and live music, all culminating in a Bloomsday celebration on June 16.
View Enjoying Joyce brochure PDF
ulyssesnotes1.pdf | ulyssesnotes2.pdf | SchenkerNotes4-29.pdf | joycenotes4.pdf | ulyssesnotes5page1.pdf | ulyssesnotes5page2.pdf | joycenotes6.pdf | joycenotes6page2.pdf
Ridgefield Writes: Celebrating Ridgefield's 300th Anniversary, 2008
A celebration of Ridgefield writers past, present, and just passing through, in commemoration of Ridgefield’s 300th anniversary!
Seriously Shakespeare, 2006–2007
View Seriously Shakespeare Brochure PDF
Library’s Centennial and Ridgefield Reads The Wizard of Oz, 2003
History
Votes for Women: Ridgefield Celebrates the 19th Amendment, January through December 2020
A town-wide series of events and programs commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the end of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Ridgefield Remembers WWI, May through November 2018
A town-wide series of events and programs commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I.
Ridgefield Remembers the Civil War, 2013
A town-wide series of events and programs commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.
Science and Technology
Full STEAM Ahead: Learning and Making in the 21st Century, September 2016
This three-day symposium and family day celebrated science, technology, engineering, art (+ design), and mathematics. Presented in conjunction with the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation, April 2012
This two-day conference, presented by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield Library, and Ridgefield Arts Council with media sponsor Morris Media Group, was a huge success with 30 speakers and nearly 300 participants from the New York metro area. It offered 18 separate programs at 3 locations, including 2 receptions, lunch, live music, and a large-scale walking labyrinth! In addition to these great events, new networks were formed among participants, organizers, and sponsors.
The International Year of Astronomy, 2009
The Library coordinated a town-wide series of astronomy-related events in celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, highlighted by the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo.