"Be afraid... Be very afraid." is the newest addition to the ever-expanding collection of interactive online exhibitions featured on the Free Library's website.

The exhibition, researched and written by Cameron Dahl, a Librarian 2 in the Literature Department, and Aurora Deshauteurs, Curator of the Print and Picture Collection, spans centuries of historic and harrowing horror tales that can be found in the Free Library's circulating collections, ghastly images from our Print and Picture Collection, terrifying trailers for some of the most frightening films ever made and links to esoteric essays from fellow horror hounds on the web.

Some highlights include the nightmarish world of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, often cited as the first horror film), the definitive literary horror classic, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), the birth of the modern zombie movie with Night of The Living Dead (1968), the low-budget shock of Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), the quintessential "slasher" film Halloween (1978), the body horror and media macabre of David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983), the self-referential satire Scream (1996), and the "found footage" genre of scare tactics in Paranormal Activity (2007).

Immerse yourself in this interactive exhibition, borrow horror books and movies from our chilling collection, and share the scares on social media.

View this exhibition... if you dare!


 

Tags: Exhibitions, digital collections, tech, website

Today marks what would have been the 84th birthday of Nobel Prize winning activist and Civil Rights Leader Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.

The DREAM@50 is a tribute series that was held throughout 2012 and continues into 2013, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The series included a student art contest (K-12), a world music/dance festival, and  video PSAs, all in celebration of creative collaboration in both the Civil Rights Movement and the arts as the foundation for a new paradigm in how we can live together. Philadelphia was one of 10 U.S. cities chosen to participate in the contest.

Students involved in the Free Library's Literacy Enrichment After-school Program (LEAP) who submitted art  to the contest currently have their art on display in Parkway Central Library.

The Free Library LEAP DREAM@50 contest winners can be seen on the right.

Those winners have been submitted to the Philadelphia-wide DREAM@50 art contest which will be judged with the results being announced at an awards ceremony on February 20th at Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Good luck to the artists and their entries!

Tags: African American, Awards, Exhibitions, Parkway Central, art, children's programs

The Free Library of Philadelphia is honored to host a special exhibition from the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation that highlights the power of the human spirit even in the face of egregious atrocities.

In 1941, Hitler and the Nazis opened an internment camp in Terezin (also known as Theresienstadt), Czechoslovakia.  According to the Jewish Virtual Library, 97,297 of the Jews imprisoned in Terezin died.  Of those that died, almost 15,000 were children.

The exhibition “Transcending Their Boundaries:  The Children of Terezin” is more than an acknowledgement of the viciousness of the Nazis.  It is a celebration of the lives of the Jewish men, women and children who were confined at Terezin.  Through the pictures, games, and toys that the children and their teachers made during their time there, the spirit of the people shines through.

Please join the Free Library community at the opening event featuring the film “Liga Terezin” on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the Montgomery Auditorium at the Parkway Central Library.  The exhibition is installed on the ground floor in front of the auditorium and runs through November 20, 2012.

As the exhibition features the artwork of the children of Terezin, our librarians have prepared a special booklist to help you should you wish to share information with your children regarding Terezin and the Holocaust.  These books, and many others, are all available in the Parkway Central Children’s Department.

Littlesugar, Amy.  Willy & Max:  a Holocaust Story.  (call # j)

Kushner, Tony. (Illustrated by Maurice Sendak.)  Brundibar.  (call # j782.13 K968b)

Abells, Chana Byers.  The Children We Remember:  Photographs from the Archives of Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem, Israel.  (call # j940.5316 Ab35c)

Rubin, Susan Goldman. Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin. (call # j940.5318 D558r)

Smith, Frank Dabba.  (Photographs by Mendel Grossman.)  My Secret Camera:  Life in the Lodz Ghetto.  (call # j940.5318 G914m)

Perl, Lila and Marion Blumenthal Lazan.  Four Perfect Pebbles:  A Holocaust Story.  (call # j940.5318 L455p)

Leitner, Isabella.  The Big Lie.  (call # j940.5318 L536b)

Whiteman, Dorit Bader.  Lonek’s Journey:  The True Story of a Boy’s Escape to Freedom.  (call # j940.5318 L847w)

Rosenberg, Maxine B.  Hiding to Survive:  Stories of Jewish Children Rescued from the Holocaust.  (call # j940.5318 R723h)

Thomson, Ruth.  Terezín:  Voices from the Holocaust.  (call # j940.5318 T386t)

Tags: Children's books, Events at the Library, Exhibitions

Today marks the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, and the Free Library joins the global celebration honoring the life and legacy of the world's first literary superstar.

Philadelphia is home to what for a long time was the world's only statue of Charles Dickens. Find out more about the statue in our digital collection. Each year a ceremony, hosted by the Friends of Clark Park, is held at the much beloved statue. The celebration is detailed in an article from yesterday's Inquirer.

The party continues this weekend. Join us Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Parkway Central Children's Department for readings, crafts, and some surprises - possibly an appearance by the man himself. Additionally, the Rare Book Department will be open from 1-5 p.m. for viewing our exhibition "From the Desk of Charles Dickens." While you're here, be sure to check out our lively and colorful exhibition on the first floor "Character Sketches from the World of Charles Dickens." And - you spoke and we listened - beginning on Saturday, February 18th the Rare Book Department will be open Saturdays from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m.

Events are scheduled all year long to explore the lasting impact of the Immortal Boz. Check our calendar frequently for events happening all over the area. On the third Thursday of each month we'll be holding a literary salon in the Elkins Room to discuss one of Dickens's novels. Next Thursday covers Oliver Twist. You can register for these free events on Eventbrite.

The salons are led by Edward Pettit, best known as the "Philly Poe Guy" who argued for Philadelphia as the true home of Edgar Allan Poe's literary legacy. As our Dickens Ambassador he has been helping to plan events for our Year of Dickens and he will give you a Dickens novel if you ask! Pettit has also undertaken the reading of all of Dickens's works this year, including the novels, plays, and journalism. You can follow his adventures on his Reading Charles Dickens website.

Celebrations are taking place all over the world, especially in Great Britain. A Dickens 2012 website chronicles the year-long worldwide schedule of events, exhibitions, and performances. This morning a ceremony was held at  Westminster Abbey, attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. Ralph Fiennes read a touching passage from Bleak House as Prince Charles laid a wreath on the author's grave in Poet's Corner.

Finally, even Google is on board with a 200th birthday doodle!

For more information on  the Free Library's Year of Dickens visit http://libwww.freelibrary.org/dickens/.

Tags: Exhibitions, Rare Book Department, Year of Dickens

A vibrant and colorful exhibition at the Parkway Central Library highlights one of the most enduring legacies of Charles Dickens's genius: the unforgettable characters he brought to life. By some estimates there are 989 named characters in his works, with names like Toodle, Tappertit, and Tattycoram; Buzfuz, Bumble, and Bucket.

Each of Dickens’s novels is populated with a profusion of unique personalities who are animated by the extraordinary power the author had of seeing his characters and making us see them. Driven by a fascination with human behavior and fueled by his gift for precise recall, Dickens often remarked that his characters and stories “took possession” of him.

The writer G. K. Chesterton said that “The whole of Dickens’s genius consisted of taking hints and turning them into human beings.” In putting pen to paper Dickens interwove satire and sentimentalism to create some of the most bizarre and eccentric characters in fiction. Of Sairey Gamp, the befuddled, sadistic midwife of The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens writes, “The face of Mrs. Gamp – the nose in particular – was somewhat red and swollen, and it was difficult to enjoy her society without becoming conscious of a smell of spirits.”  Of the immortal Samuel Pickwick he remarks: "To those who knew that the gigantic brain of Pickwick was working beneath that forehead, and that the beaming eyes of Pickwick were twinkling behind those glasses, the sight was indeed an interesting one.”

To aid his creativity Dickens made lists of odd names, gleaned from church registers, tombstones, and a resource called Bowditch's Surnames. According to biographer Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's characters did not exist until he had named them and "it is that, which like a spell, brings forth their appearance and behaviour in the world." Facsimiles of original and published illustrations, set against a backdrop of London Street scenes from the collections of the Rare Book Department, Theatre, and Print and Picture Collections bring these characters to life in a vivid and imaginative way.  

The exhibition will be on view in the West Gallery on the first floor until March 23rd, 2012 and can be seen during Parkway Central's normal hours of operation: 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Friday; 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Saturday; 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. Sunday. For more information on the Free Library's Year of Dickens, including a full calendar of events, visit freelibrary.org/dickens.

Tags: Exhibitions, Rare Book Department, Year of Dickens