The celebration of America’s 250 years of history, politics and independence is the focus of the 13th annual MSU-Billings Library lecture series that starts Tuesday.
Over a series of Tuesdays from October 6th through November 3rd authors, professors and historians will talk of the politics, independence, revolution and governance of the country.
The America Turns 250 series kicks off on Tuesday, October 6th with Rylee Sommers-Flanagan sharing information on theMontana Constitution and ways it is distinct and special.
On October 13 the series continues with an author that MSUB Library Director Eileen Wright said will do double duty.
“Author Amy Harmon who will be joining us. Not only for her to discuss basically…who was Deborah Sampson, based on her book A Girl Called Samson. We also have her coming for a noontime book discussion,” explained Wright.
The library director said some of the campus book clubs have been reading Harmon’s book which is a fictionalized account of Deborah Sampson who disguised herself as a man and fought for 17 months in the Continental Army during the Revolution. Members of the public can attended the noon-time discussion.
The series continues on October 20th with Revolutionary Legacies: The Politics of Independence in the Early American Republic with MSUB Professor Emily J. Arendt; October 27th- Testing the Limits of Revolutionary Fervor: The US Response to the Haitian Revolution with MSUB Associate Professor Joseph D. Bryan; and November 3rd Revolutionary Violence and the Origins of American Constitutions with Associate Professor Mark Boonshoft, Virginia Military Institute.
Related to the America 250 Celebration, the library is hosting two traveling exhibits.
The American Revolution Experience will be on display through October 23rd. It invites visitors to consider the choices faced by the country’s residents during the tensions of the 1770s.
Wright said another display that will be at the library through November 23 is traveling exhibit The Montana Tapestry: People and Places from 1776 to Today.
“It is a 5-panel pop up banner about the 8 Montanans who made significant contributions to the state since 1776,” Wright said.
The lectures are Tuesday nights at 6:30 in the MSUB library and open to the public. They are about an hour in length and are followed by Q and A.
The exhibits are browsable during the Library’s open hours.
