What are your humanities highlights from the week? Read our team’s favorite finds below!
Leah Nahmias, director of programs:
- Have you fallen down the true crime rabbit hole with Serial, The Jinx, Making a Murderer, etc.? (Confession: I HAVE!) Then your heart will be a flutter at this list of new true-crime books for fall, including IU history professor Wendy Gamber’s exploration of a grisly Indiana crime, The Notorious Mrs. Clem.
- I wasn’t the only one who thought of John Updike’s perfect 1960 essay, “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” when the Cubs’ David Ross knocked out a homerun deep in Game 7 of the World Series. I was delighted to see someone on my Twitter timeline share the link during the game—it’s perhaps my favorite piece of baseball writing ever.
- Okay, a little late for Halloween, but I loved this story from England, where the public is being asked to help find and document “witches marks” etched into windows and buildings, thought to ward off evil spirits and history’s original nasty women. The marks date from the 16th through the 19th century; listen to this podcast from the University of Texas, which helps explain why witches were an early modern, not medieval, phenomenon.
George Hanlin, director of grants:
- This past weekend my colleague Bronwen and I had the honor of attending the annual Indiana Authors Award dinner, hosted by the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. Each year the foundation presents national, regional, and emerging author awards to writers with Indiana ties, and this year’s recipients are outstanding representatives of our state’s literary talent. You can learn more about them at the Indiana Author’s Award website.
- On a related note, you should also know that Indiana Humanities sponsors a program that sends winners of the Indiana Authors Award across the state to give presentations at local libraries, schools and other nonprofit organizations. We recently selected 22 organizations to take part in our Novel Conversations Speakers Program, so look for opportunities to hear an award-winning Indiana author at a location near you!
Bronwen Fetters, executive assistant and program associate:
- Go, Cubs, Go! I was pretty pumped this week when my favorite baseball team finally broke their 108-year-long championship drought. Here’s an article from Literary Hub that outlines what was going on in the literary world the last time the Cubbies won the World Series.
- Along with putting Cubs hats on their famous lion statues, the Art Institute of Chicago got clever this week and shared a photoshopped Cubs-themed version of Édouard Manet’s Woman Reading on social media. Then they called out The Cleveland Museum of Art to “look alive.” See the hilarious back-and-forth that commenced afterward.
Jacqueline Cromleigh, communications and community relations manager:
- Watch out millennials, museums are looking to engage YOU! The New York Times takes a look at a few of the nation’s most social media savvy museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which is currently focusing on delivering unique content through SnapChat.
- George and I started this beautiful Friday morning at the President Benjamin Harrison Home’s Coffee with a Curator. The program asks a curator to highlight a few unique objects from the collection while the audience enjoys coffee and donuts. Today’s pieces detailed story of the 1888 and 1892 political campaigns. Here’s a look at the political swag of past elections via the Smithsonian Magazine.
Want to share a few of your favorite links? We would love to hear from you in the comment section below.
Photo via The New York Times
Photo via The Guardian
Photo via LitHub
Photo via Smithsonian Magazine
Posted In: Miscellaneous