Events
Spring Grove Walking Tour - sold out
Saturday, May 19th 2012 (10:00 AM)
Spring grove Cemetery and Arboretum. 4521 Spring Grove Avenue. 45232
$10 for members; $15 for others. Advance payment is required.
Due to popular demand, we are offering Bob Vitz's tour of Spring Grove Cemetery on two Saturdays in May: May 12th and May 19th.
Historian Robert C. Vitz will lead a walking tour of Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum on Saturday, May 19 which will highlight the burial sites and memorials of early Mercantile members, pointing out their significance to both the library association and the city.
Spring Grove was founded by members of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. Inspired by contemporary rural cemeteries such as Père Lachaise in Paris and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA., the cemetery was formally chartered on January 21, 1845. In 1855 renowned landscape architect Adolph Strauch was hired to renovate the grounds, and his vision of a "garden cemetery" made of lakes, trees, and shrubs is what visitors find today.
The tour will last approximately 2 hours with the moderately challenging route traversing Spring Grove’s rolling landscape. Tour size will be limited to 30. Parking is available at the Main Gate Entrance (Spring Grove Ave.) Group will leave promptly from the Gate House at 10 a.m. Rain or shine.
Graphic Novel Discussion Group
Saturday, May 19th 2012 (1:00 PM)
Reading Room
No charge.
Books for discussion: The Death-Ray by Daniel Clowes and Set to Sea by Drew Weing .
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Discussion group leader: Jeff Suess
Discussion Group: The Cold War in Literature
Tuesday, May 22nd 2012 (6:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
Series: $30 for members; $40 for others. Reservations required.
Book for discussion: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre
See INTEREST GROUPS for complete series information.
2012 Mercantile Library discussion groups are supported by the Camden Foundation.
By the Book: Wes Cowan
Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 (12:00 PM)
Reading Room
$10 for members; $15 for others (price includes lunch)
Our popular By The Book series returns with another outstanding local leader, Wes Cowan of Cowan's Auctions, reflecting on books that have informed, inspired, and influenced his life and career.
Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan's Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An internationally recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes has starred in the PBS television series HISTORY DETECTIVES for nine years, and has been a featured appraiser on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW for fifteen. He writes a monthly antiques column for the Cincinnati Enquirer and is a frequently requested speaker at antiques events around the country. Wes is licensed as an auctioneer in Ohio, and holds a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Wes was a collector of 19th century photography before he started collecting early Midwestern decorative arts, in which he has become an expert. Torn between the antiques business and American archaeology, Wes first chose a course that set him on an academic road.
After receiving his doctorate degree, Wes taught in the Anthropology department of Ohio State University. In 1984 he moved to Cincinnati to assume the post of curator of archaeology at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History which he held for eleven years. He has published widely in the fields of American archaeology and paleoethnobotany, and is co-editor of The Origins of Agriculture in International Perspective, and Societies in Eclipse: Eastern North America at the Dawn of European Colonization. In 1995, Wes left academia and the museum world to return to his life-long love, antiques. Since then, Cowan's Auctions has grown from a one-man shop to an internationally recognized business.
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Hearth & Home Lecture with Jon Carloftis
Thursday, May 24th 2012 (7:00 PM)
Reading Room
$10 members; $15 others
In 2012 the Hearth & Home series turns its focus to the garden with award-winning garden. And now that the weather is finally cooperating, it's time to get started. Award-winning garden designer, garden writer, and television personality Jon Carloftis will show the way.
"Whether you have a rooftop or balcony in the city, a small backyard in the suburbs, or 100 acres in the country," Jon Carloftis explains, "it's that small space right outside the back door that everyone uses most."
For more than twenty years, Jon Carloftis has designed and installed more than 150 gardens for his New York clientele, where outdoor living space is rare, and the demand for year-round beauty and functionality is intense. He'll share before and after photos of a dozen of his designs and installations, as well the lessons learned that are applicable to other small spaces, the common backyard, courtyards, decks, driveways, walkways, outbuildings, and many more.
Jon Carloftis began and grew his career in New York City, but his roots are in the blue grass. He grew up on the banks of the Rockcastle River in South Central Kentucky, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It was there he began a love affair with nature. He attended the University of Kentucky, graduating in 1986 with a B.A. degree in communications. He returned to study horticulture, landscape architecture and art history. Carloftis has written a wide variety of garden books including First a Garden, Beyond the Windowsill, Beautiful Gardens of Kentucky, and The Container Look-Book. His homes and gardens have appeared in Country Gardens, Country Living, Garden Design, Martha Stewart Living, and Metropolitan Home.
Whether you garden in a suburban yard, an urban balcony, or a rural spread, you'll draw much inspiration from this incredibly talented designer.
SPONSORS: DEBORAH & LOUIS GINOCCHIO and RACHAEL ROWE & MICHAEL CIOFFI
By the Book: Peter S. Strange
Friday, June 1st 2012 (12:00 PM)
Reading Room
Reservations requested. $10 per members: $15 for others. Price includes lunch
Our popular By The Book series returns with another outstanding local leader, Peter S. Strange, Chairman of Messer, Inc. reflecting on books that have informed, inspired, and influenced his life and career. You are invited to learn from the city’s great success stories about the books that have brought insight and balance to their careers.
Pete is Chairman of Messer, Inc., the parent company for Messer Financial Services and Messer Construction Co., a regional general contractor that performed approximately $558,000,000 worth of construction in 2011. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati in Civil Engineering, he began his career with Messer as a co-op student. He joined Messer full-time upon graduation in 1972 and progressed through increasing levels of responsibility. In 1989, he led negotiations resulting in the purchase of all outstanding Messer stock by management and employees. In January 1990, at the completion of the buyout transaction, he was named President of the company. He became Chairman and CEO of Messer Construction Co. in 2005 and transitioned to his current role of Chairman of Messer, Inc. in 2010. He serves the community on the Board of Trustees or Steering Committees for the Federal Reserve Board of Cleveland, Cincinnati Branch (Chairman); the Greater Cincinnati Foundation (Vice-Chairman); Leadership Council, Minority Business Accelerator of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber; Arts Wave (Chairman); the University of Cincinnati Foundation; the Northern Kentucky Education Council; Vision 2015; and Partner for a Competitive Workforce. Pete serves on the Board of Directors of Construction SoftwareTechnology, Inc. He also is a member of The Commercial Club. Pete and his wife Ginger reside in Erlanger, Kentucky. Their greatest accomplishment is their children – Andrew, Carrie, and Matthew and their grandchildren – Sam, Josh, Lily, Charley and Harrison.
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First Wednesday Book Discussion
Wednesday, June 6th 2012 (12:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
No charge Members; $5 others. Box lunches available by advance reservation for $8.
Book for discussion: Song For Night by Chris Abani
Discussion leader: tba
Meet the Conductor: John Morris Russell
Thursday, June 7th 2012 (12:00 PM)
Reading Room
No charge. Reservations requested
Cincinnati Pops: Behind the Music with John Morris Russell
Meet Cincinnati Pops Conductor, John Morris Russell. John, who succeeds the late Erich Kunzel, is an acclaimed conductor and innovative programmer. Hear his vision for the future as he assumes theleadership position for one of the world’s most active and celebrated symphonic pops ensembles, the Cincinnati Pops.
Cincinnati Pops Conductor John Morris Russell has consistently won international praise for his extraordinary music-making and visionary leadership. He began his exciting tenure in Cincinnati in September of 2011, bringing both creative artistry and boundless energy to the world-famous Pops.
Mr. Russell fostered unprecedented artistic growth and invigorated the musical life of the Windsor-Essex region during his 10 seasons as Music Director of the Windsor (Ontario) Symphony Orchestra (WSO). A two-time recipient of Ontario's Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Arts, as well as the Ontario Arts Council's Vida Peene Award for Artistic Excellence, Mr. Russell and the WSO have also won coveted nominations for the Gemini (2004) and Juno (2008) awards.
As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has led many of North America's most distinguished ensembles. Highlights of the 2010-2011 season included his debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and return engagements with the Victoria Symphony, Orchestra London (Ontario), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mr. Russell served as associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for 11 years, where he regularly led concerts at Music Hall and at Riverbend. Mr. Russell has also served as associate conductor of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, director of the orchestral program at Vanderbilt University and music director with the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Born and raised in Cleveland, Mr. Russell is the product of arts programs in the public schools. He attended Ludlow Elementary School in Shaker Heights, outside of Cleveland. Active in theater and music in high school, he performed in the band, orchestra, jazz ensemble as well as theatrical productions before continuing his formal music studies after high school.He earned degrees from the University of Southern California and Williams College and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.
Discussion Group: Rushing the Bridge of State
Tuesday, June 12th 2012 (12:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
Series: $30 for members; $40 others. Reservations required. Individual session: $15 members;$20 others
The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore White
Moderated by Brendon Cull.
Groundbreaking in its style and mimicked by scores of other books, White’s study of 1960 is still relevant for those interested in the workings of a modern presidential campaign.
See INTEREST GROUPS for complete series information
2012 Mercantile Library discussion groups are supported by the Camden Foundation.
Harriet Beecher Stowe Lecture with Chris Abani
Thursday, June 14th 2012 (7:00 PM)
Reading Room
$20 for members;$25 for others
Writing to Change the World
Chris Abani is a Nigerian-born novelist and poet who was imprisoned in his homeland for his writing. His books include Masters of the Board, Song of A Broken Flute, Song For Night, a New York Times Editor’s Choice; GraceLand, and Santificum, a Pushcart nominee. Chris is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside, the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and a Guggenheim.
SPONSOR: DANIEL CLAY HOUGHTON with additional support from EDWARD JAY WOHLGEMUTH
Discussion Group: Rushing the Bridge of State
Tuesday, July 10th 2012 (12:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
Series: $30 for members; $40 others. Reservations required. Individual session: $15 members;$20 others
A Magnificent Catastrophe, by Edward J. Larson
Moderated by Brendon Cull
We long for a time when campaigns weren’t as partisan, don’t we? But in 1800, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson battled for the Presidency in one of the nastiest campaigns in history.
See INTEREST GROUPS for complete series information.
2012 Mercantile Library discussion groups are supported by the Camden Foundation.
Discussion Group: Rushing the Bridge of State
Tuesday, August 14th 2012 (12:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
Series: $30 for members; $40 others. Reservations required. Individual session: $15 members;$20 others
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, by Hunter S. Thompson
Moderated by Brendon Cull
Thompson pioneered gonzo-journalism on the campaign trail and his hallucinogenic look at the 1972 campaign tells the story through a much different lens than typical journalists.
See INTEREST GROUPS for complete series information
2012 Mercantile Library discussion groups are supported by the Camden Foundation.
The Modern Novel Lecture with Cathleen Schine
Thursday, September 6th 2012 (7:00 PM)
Reading Room
$15 for members;$20 for nonmembers
Cathleen Schine is a wonderfully funny and witty novelist who writes about love, families, and relationships of all sorts. Her literary influences include Dickens, Trollope, Austen, Pym, and Munro. She is the author of the internationally best-selling novels The Love Letter, Rameau’s Niece, Alice in Bed, She is Me, The New Yorkers and, most recently, The Three Weissmanns of Westport. In addition, she has written for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
The Modern Novel Lecture is sponsored by The Chic.Lits
Grandparents Day: A Program For Children
Saturday, September 8th 2012 (10:30 AM)
Reading Room
Reservations Required. $10 per Member adult/ $5 per accompanying child; $12 per Nonmember adult/ $8 for accompanying child. (Price i ncludes lunch)
Discussion group: Rushing the Bridge of State
Tuesday, September 11th 2012 (12:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
Series: $30 for members; $40 others. Reservations required. Individual session: $15 members;$20 others
Game Change by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann
Moderated by Brendon Cull
We will end where we began, with a book that has been described as the modern The Making of the President. Yet Game Change is markedly different as a campaign book and we will discuss how this book parallels how our nation’s politics have also changed since 1960.
SeeINTEREST GROUPS for complete series information.
2012 Mercantile Library discussion groups are supported by the Camden Foundation.
Niehoff Lecture XXV with Seamus Heaney
Saturday, October 20th 2012 (7:00 PM)
Presidential Ballroom, The Westin Hotel
$175 members; $200 nonmembers
The Niehoff Lectures were inspired by Nobel Laureate Saul Bellow’s visit to the Library in 1985. For the twenty-fifth installment of the series we’ve invited another Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, to speak. Heaney is an Irish poet, writer, and lecturer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, as well as the Golden Wreath of Poetry, the T. S. Eliot Prize, and two Whitbread prizes. He was both the Harvard and the Oxford Professor of Poetry. This is a rare opportunity to hear a writer at the top of his form reading and discussing his work.
Discussion Group: Rushing the Bridge of State
Tuesday, October 30th 2012 (12:00 PM)
12th Floor Lecture Room
Series: $30 for members; $40 others. Reservations required. Individual session: $15 members;$20 others
BONUS SESSION:
What it Takes by Richard Ben Cramer
This is for serious readers. Cramer’s 1100 page account of the 1988 presidential primaries is widely considered the best campaign book ever written. Cramer does not disappoint, offering readers an intense and intriguing look at the personalities and players in the 1988 campaign.
See INTEREST GROUPS for complete series information.
2012 Mercantile Library discussion groups are supported bt the Camden Foundation.
Past Events
Spring Grove Walking Tour - sold out
Saturday, May 12th 2012
Due to popular demand, we are offering Bob Vitz's tour of Spring Grove Cemetery on two Saturdays in May: May 12th and May 19th.
Historian Robert C. Vitz will lead walking tour of Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum on Saturday, May 12 which will highlight the burial sites and memorials of early Mercantile members, pointing out their significance to both the library association and the city.
Spring Grove was founded by members of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. Inspired by contemporary rural cemeteries such as Père Lachaise in Paris and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA., the cemetery was formally chartered on January 21, 1845. In 1855 renowned landscape architect Adolph Strauch was hired to renovate the grounds, and his vision of a "garden cemetery" made of lakes, trees, and shrubs is what visitors find today.
The tour will last approximately 2 hours with the moderately challenging route traversing Spring Grove’s rolling landscape. Tour size will be limited to 30. Parking is available at the Main Gate Entrance (Spring Grove Ave.) Group will leave promptly from the Gate House at 10 a.m. Rain or shine.
By the Book: Deborah Emont Scott
Friday, May 11th 2012
The best leaders never stop learning. There is always a book by the bedside or in the briefcase, and those books are often surprising. Our popular By The Book series returns with another outstanding local leader, Deborah Emont Scott, Director and CEO of the Taft Museum of Art, reflecting on books that have informed, inspired, and influenced her life and career.
Deborah Emont Scott is the director/CEO of the Taft Museum of Art. She is just the sixth director in the Museum’s 77-year history. Prior to the Taft, Scott worked at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO for more than 20 years. She began her tenure at the Nelson-Atkins as the Sanders Sosland Curator of Twentieth Century Art and served as chief curator from 1998 through 2009. She led the curatorial division during the expansion, renovation, and reinstallation of the Nelson-Atkins and was the project director for the development of the 22-acre Kansas City Sculpture Park. At the Taft, Scott leads about 30 talented staff members and works with a board composed of some of the most interesting people in the community. A graduate of Livingston College, Rutgers University, Scott worked at the Allen Memorial Art Museum while in graduate school at Oberlin College (Ohio), where she earned a master’s degree in history of art. Scott is also a graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute. A native of Passaic, NJ, Scott lives in Cincinnati with her husband, Andy, and three cats. They have two grown daughters who live in Chicago
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