In honor of Women’s History Month, Cook Library will be hosting a series of programs throughout the month of March. We hope that you will join us for these fantastic events!
**Exhibit: Literature of Prescription- Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
Monday, March 10, 2014 – Friday, April 18, 2014 – Albert S. Cook Library, main (3rd) floor
During a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, responded to her rejection in a terrifying short story titled “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” The exhibit explores the story behind Gilman’s indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women’s professional and creative opportunities. This exhibition is sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
**Dramatic Reading: “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
Monday, March 10, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Albert S. Cook Library, main (3rd) floor leisure reading area
English and Theatre Arts dual major Lauren Jackson will deliver a dramatic reading of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” Attendees are encouraged to visit the related exhibit in the library, Literature of Prescription- Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper” after the reading.
**Jazz Concert: Cook Library Noontime Jazz Featuring Women Composers
Tuesday, March 11, noon – 1 p.m. – Albert S. Cook Library, main (3rd) floor lobby
Towson student musicians will play selections from female composers to celebrate Women’s History Month.
**Guest Speaker: “Blood Will Out: Women, Kinship, and Popular Medicine, 1750-1860”
Wednesday, March 12, 12:30p – 1:30 p.m. – Cook 507
Professor Mary E. Fissell from Johns Hopkins University Department of the History of Medicine will discuss “Aristotle’s Masterpiece,” a best-selling popular medical book about sex and reproduction that remained largely unchanged from its first publication in 1684 all the way into the 1930s. Dr. Fissell’s talk will explore tensions between the book’s early-modern model of kinship and newer ideas offered by a plethora of popular books about sex and marriage in the 19th century. She argues that the older model, reproduced in edition after edition, continued to have considerable appeal–especially for working-class women–for a range of social and cultural factors.
**Book Discussion: “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
Wednesday, March 26, 12:30 – 1:30pm – Cook 507
The Cook Library Book Club will discuss “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Dr. Cindy Gissendanner, Professor of History, will provide background and Librarian Carissa Tomlinson will then lead attendees in a discussion about the book. Light refreshments will be provided.
