Events for: Pollard Library
Thursday
9/23
2010
7:00 pm
Paula Koppel “Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years”
Thursday
10/7
2010
7:00 pm
Justin Locke “The Principles of Applied Stupidity”

Thursday
11/18
2010
7:00 pm
Mish Michaels “Storm Chasing”

Thursday
9/22
2011
7:00 pm
Chaim M. Rosenberg “The Life and Times of Francis Cabot Lowell”
Chaim M. Rosenberg is the author of “The Life and Times of Francis Cabot Lowell: 1775 – 1817.” He has combed the archives to tell the story of this great man who helped bring about the American Industrial Revolution. The city of Lowell Massachusetts is named in his honor.
Thursday
10/20
2011
7:00 pm
Steve Collins “Shake-Scene”
Who had more effect on the English language than William Shakespeare? He created over 1700 common words that before him were either used in a new manner or didn't exist at all. Stephen Collins makes Shakespeare's words come alive. Shakespeare's tragedies, comedies, histories, and Sonnets are all represented in this exciting show.
Thursday
11/17
2011
7:00 pm
R.P.HALE “The 2012 Fraud: Misreading the Maya and Their Calendars”
Explore the history of the Apocalypse, mankind’s second oldest story, along with what the Mayan calendars are and how they work. R.P. Hale is of Aztec heritage, an astronomer, musician, calligrapher, and chemist. In 1999, the Smithsonian Institution recognized R.P. Hale as one of the top musical instrument makers in the United States.
Thursday
9/20
2012
7:00 pm
Tom Toohey “Irish Genealogy 101”
Come along for an animated explanation of the classic six steps to find your ancestral Irish home. Tom Toohey’s parents were great storytellers. When they passed away he published their stories in a two-volume book entitled Images of Other Lives. In the 1990’s Tom began to study genealogy in a more serious way. He became interested in learning about the lives of his grandfathers who came from Ireland. Let Tom get you started down this fascinating road of discovery.
Thursday
9/27
2012
7:00 pm
Michael Charney “Chasing Glenn Beck”

Thursday
10/25
2012
7:00 pm
Christopher Daley “Haunted History of New England”

Thursday
11/29
2012
7:00 pm
Steve Edington “Bring Your Own God: The Spirituality of Woody Guthrie”

Thursday
3/14
2013
7:00 pm
Sally Matson “Margaret Bourke-White, Courageous Photographer”

Thursday
4/25
2013
7:00 pm
Deborah Greenslit “Lessons Learned the Hard Way”

Thursday
9/26
2013
7:00 pm
Stephen Ericson – “Boon Island: A True Story of Mutiny, shipwreck and cannibalism”
The wreck of the Nottingham Galley, December 11, 1710, is one of the most important episodes in our local maritime history for a number of reasons. No shipwreck castaways were ever less prepared for the subfreezing temperature they were forced to endure for twenty-four days. They had no food and were compelled to lie for weeks at a time huddled together on solid rock. Find out what happened to these grim survivors.
Thursday
10/17
2013
7:00 pm
Stephen Collins – “Unlaunched Voices, an Evening with Walt Whitman”
Since the 1990’s, Stephen’s performances have captured the attention of the press. It is not just the stunning resemblance to Walt Whitman himself, but the portrayal of the character and the essence that he brings within arm’s reach to the audience that makes the poet come to life. Through poetry and readings of actual letters, we experience Whitman's movement from selfishness and selflessness and his growth into a mature artist who is at peace about "himself, God and death."
Thursday
10/9
2014
7:00 pm
Greg Flemming “At the Point of a Cutlass”

Thursday
3/19
2015
7:00 pm
Ted Reinstein “New England Notebook: One Reporter, Six States, Uncommon Stories”

Thursday
9/24
2015
7:00 pm
Thatcher Freund – “Why Your Story Matters”

Thursday
10/15
2015
7:00 pm
Haley Sweetland Edwards – “Dancing on the Heads of Snakes”

Thursday
10/22
2015
7:00 pm
Russell Powell – “Discover the Apples of New England”
Author Russell Steven Powell will read from his book Apples of New England about our region’s rich tradition of apple growing, and the “fathers” of American apples, Massachusetts natives John Chapman (“Johnny Appleseed”) and Henry David Thoreau. Powell will also discuss the current apple crop, and he will bring a number of rare heirlooms and newly discovered apples for sampling.
Thursday
11/19
2015
7:00 pm
Carlo Rotella – “Music, Memory, and the City: A Journey Back to the Old Neighborhood”

Thursday
9/29
2016
7:00 pm
Mitchel Zuckoff – “Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II”

Thursday
10/27
2016
7:00 pm
Ted Reinstein – “Wicked Pissed: New England’s Most Famous Feuds”

Thursday
11/17
2016
7:00 pm
Eric Jay Dolin – “Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse”

Saturday
4/8
2017
1:00 pm
Tom Ricardi – “Birds of Prey”

Tuesday
9/12
2017
7:00 pm
Jeffrey R. Wilson – “Shakespeare and Trump” on Shakespeare and Contemporary Theory

Thursday
9/21
2017
7:00 pm
Nina Sankovitch – “The Lowells of Massachusetts: An American Family”

Thursday
10/19
2017
7:00 pm
John Gfroerer – “Television: The Art and Ethics of Manipulation”

Thursday
10/26
2017
7:00 pm
Stephen Collins – “Butterfly”
Butterfly is about James McNeil Whistler (1834-1903), the volatile American artist who battled (mostly in Victorian England) for personal expression in the arts; Butterfly presents Whistler at two phases in his life: as a bankrupt artist in his 40’s on commission in Venice and as an established, yet lonely, legend in his 60’s.
Stephen Collins currently performs nine one-man shows and has been met with rave reviews for over a decade. Mr. Collins’ performances deliver not just the poetry and plays, but he also brings the poets and playwrights to life on the stage. The shows convey an understanding of the impact and the reactions of the characters to their respective times, giving the audience not just a performance, but an experience.
Thursday
11/16
2017
7:00 pm
Alex Beam – “American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church”

Thursday
9/13
2018
7:00 pm
Cheryl Hamilton “Lessons from Lewiston, Maine: A Refugee Story”


Thursday
9/28
2023
6:00 pm
Catherine Marenghi: “Our Good Name”
Our Good Name is the story of Stefano and his young bride Celestina, both Italian immigrants who leave behind the back-breaking field labor in their beloved Northern Italy to find their place in a strange new country. Inspired by true events, this is a historical novel that surprises with a fresh and honest perspective about the hard realities of immigrant life in the United States and the courage required to make a home of one’s own in the “New World.” Catherine was born and raised in Milford, Massachusetts. She is an active member of the vibrant literary community of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She divides her time between Mexico and Cape Cod.

Thursday
10/5
2023
6:00 pm
Tom Burke: “Evil must not have the Last Word: The Life of Mary Wygodski”
The life of Mary Wygodski is a first person account of a woman who lost her entire immediate family in the Holocaust. She survived three concentration camps, made her way to Israel where she took part in the War of Independence, and eventually settled in America where she has been a passionate spokesperson about the Truth of the Holocaust. Tom will touch on the heroic but ultimately frustrated efforts of Edith Nourse Rogers to bring orphaned Jewish children to America.

Thursday
11/2
2023
6:00 pm
Tom Toohey: “Saving the Stories”
Tom Toohey is a modern day Irish storyteller who has traveled to Ireland 20 times and collected hundreds of stories. Every week more facts become available on the internet about our ancestors. These facts are like the skeletons of our predecessors. Family stories about these antecedents can add flesh to their bones and give life to their existence. In many families only one or two remember these stories. When they pass away the stories are lost.
This presentation offers a method for collecting and recording family stories for future generations. It has music, animation and humor and is entertaining as well as informative.

Thursday
4/4
2024
6:00 pm
John Kozik: “The History of the Ouija board”
John Kozik’s obsession with collecting and researching Ouija began when he inherited his grandmother’s board in the late 1990’s. He was surprised to discover that Ouija was simply one specific brand of Talking Board, and that they date much further back than the Ouija of Parker Brothers fame. Through years of dedication John is now one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject. In 2013 he became a founding member of the Talking Board Historical Society, a group that researches and preserves the history of Talking Boards. Fast forward to 2019 - John opened the doors of The Salem Witch Board Museum to the public. It is the only museum dedicated to the history and lore of the Talking Board, boasting the largest collection of boards, obscure memorabilia, and ephemera under one roof. Whether you believe it’s the tool of the Devil or just an innocent kid’s game, a visit to the museum will allow you to learn more about this fascinating and iconic piece of Americana.

Thursday
5/16
2024
6:00 pm
Andrew Krivak: “Like the Appearance of Horses”
Andrew Krivak is the author of four novels: “The Bear” a coming of age fable about the last person on Earth, which begins: “The last two were a girl and her father who lived along the old eastern range on the side of a mountain that stands alone.” His freestanding novels of the Dardan Trilogy, which include “The Sojourn”, “The Signal Flame” and his newest, “Like the Appearance of Horses.” Krivak revisits the Vinich family, whose travails he has portrayed in two earlier novels for a bleak and stirring work that revolves around a pair of soldiers fighting separate wars. Andrew lives with his wife and three children in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.