May 2021 Youth and Family Programming
May 2021 Teen Programming
May 2021 Adult Programming
EXHIBITS
To submit a public program or exhibition proposal, click here.
April Showers Bring May Flowers
Join the Campfield Library in an art workshop inspired by the popular springtime phrase, April Showers Bring May Flowers. Explore the concept of radial symmetry in flowers to create a piece of artwork. Supplies will be provided. Registration is required. For more information, please contact pknapp@hplct.org.
Date: Friday, May 7th
Time: 2:00 pm
Virtual, Zoom
Registration is full
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Mother's Day Jewelry Box
Join the Dwight Library to paint and decorate jewelry boxes for our precious mothers or for a special lady in our lives.
Date: Wednesday May 12th
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Virtual, Zoom
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HPL Website Information Session - bilingual program -
Sesion de informacion de la pagina web de la biblioteca publica de Hartford
Join the Park Library for a session where HPL library cardholders will get an overview on the digital resources available to to them on our website and more.
Una session informative donde aprenderas a usar los recursos digitales disponibles atravez de la pagina web de HPL
Dates: Wednesday May 12th: 3:30pm and
Friday May 21st: 10:00am
Virtual, Zoom
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Hartford Springs into Summer
Join the staff of the Hartford History Center for a virtual exhibit opening! “Hartford Springs into Summer” is a photographic history of the City’s parks, primarily in the first half of the 20th century. Topics on view will include preparing for summer crowds, Hartford residents at play, and changes to the landscape. A special section will highlight Batterson Park. HHC Historical Research Specialist Maureen Heher will share information about how the photographs were selected. Archivist Jennifer Sharp will discuss newly available archival material from the Parks Collection, and how it is a starting point for much research about the City of Hartford, both in and out of the parks.
Virtual Exhibit Opening- Monday, May 17th: 12:00pm
Virtual, Zoom
To register, click here
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Foodshare Distribution
Free bags of groceries will be available outside the Barbour Library
Dates: Thursday, May 13 & 27
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Barbour Library (261 Barbour St.)
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"Change the Subject" Documentary Screening
No human being is illegal. When Dartmouth College students challenged anti-immigrant language in the Library of Congress, their activism sparked a movement--and a cataloging term became a flashpoint in the immigration debate on Capitol Hill. Watch this film and learn why “words are also actions.” The Change the Subject documentary has been screened at over one hundred universities and libraries in the United States and around the world, and has inspired library workers to address the ways that systemic racism continues to pervade institutions, particularly in controlled vocabularies.
Dates: Tuesday May 25th
Time: 7:00 pm
Virtual, Zoom
To register, click here
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Positivity Jar Workshop/ Taller de tarro de positividad
Join Graciela from the Park Library to make your own positivity jar with positive messages, affirmations, and quotes to foster a positive mind set. Reserve a kit, and join us through zoom for step by step guidance on this activity. Registration via google form required.
Dates: Wednesday, May 26th
Time: 3:30 pm
Virtual, Zoom
To register, click here
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Simple Beaded Crochet Necklace
Learn how to crochet a simple beaded necklace with HPL crochet expert, Bonnie. Beginners welcome! After you register, you will be contacted to set up an appointment to pick up your kit. For teens and adults. Space is limited.
Dates: Wednesday, May 26th
Time: 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Virtual, Zoom
To register, click here
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BOOK CLUBS
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"Reading material for the homies."
Hartford Public Library is a chapter of Noname's Book Club, an online/irl community dedicated to uplifting POC voices. They do this by highlighting two books each month written by authors of color. From cult classics to the words of emergent authors, Noname’s Book Club highlights books that speak on human conditions in critical and original ways. In addition to social media presence have free virtual meet ups to discuss the monthly picks in a safe and supportive environment. Click here for more information on Noname's Book Club. *If you have incarcerated friends/family who would be interested in reading along with us email their information to info@nonamebooks.com and they will send them the books.
Join Noname's Digital Nationwide Monthly Meet Up
May meeting date TBD. Check back for details. If you want to be included in the Zoom conversation, fill out the Google form here. For a list of all of Noname's book picks, click here.
May Picks:
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The End of Policing by Alex Vitale
This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice—even public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world, and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work, Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve.
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Facing the Rising Sun: African Americans, Japan, and the Rise of Afro-Asian Solidarity
Facing the Rising Sun tells the story of the widespread pro-Tokyo sentiment among African Americans during World War II, arguing that the solidarity between the two groups was significantly corrosive to the U.S. war effort. Gerald Horne demonstrates that Black Nationalists of various stripes were the vanguard of this trend—including followers of Garvey and the precursor of the Nation of Islam. Indeed, many of them called themselves “Asiatic”, not African. Following World War II, Japanese-influenced “Afro-Asian” solidarity did not die, but rather foreshadowed Dr. Martin Luther King’s tie to Gandhi’s India and Black Nationalists’ post-1970s fascination with Maoist China and Ho’s Vietnam.
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Deep Appreciation Book Club
Hartford Public Library and Hartford Stage invites you to the next “Deep Appreciation" book club meeting, a heart-led gathering featuring live readings, interactive dialogue and reflections on fiction and poetry by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) authors, past and present. The book club will meet quarterly to discuss the selection with teens and adults, as well as provide a family friendly book pairing for those who wish to continue the conversation at home.
Check back in for the next book club meeting date!
Hartford Reads in Color
Facilitated by Hartford's L.I.T, "Hartford Reads in Color" is a book club committed to delving into the narratives and rich diverse voices of communities of color. From the intellectually astute, to the uncouth and wretched, we are reading with no limits. Focused on shedding light on literature across the diaspora while also educating the community of the various authors and stories that sound and look like them.
This group meets every last Sunday of the month. Registration is required. Seating is limited.
May Meetup: Sunday May 30th, 2:00pm. Click here to register
May Pick:
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The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves' garden do not bloom. Pecola's life does change- in painful, devastating ways.
What its vivid evocation of the fear and loneliness at the heart of a child's yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment. The Bluest Eye remains one of Toni Morrisons's most powerful, unforgettable novels- and a significant work of American fiction.
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Hartford Reads in Color is facilitated Hartford's L.I.T. For more information about Hartford L.I.T, click here
VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING LIBRARY
Browse our past online programs and click the links to watch videos! |
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To browse our past virtual Art Inside programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Reads From the Hart programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Wellness Wednesdays programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Home Hacks programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Friday Jams programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual local business spotlight programs, click here
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ART WALK
ArtWalk at Hartford Public Library offers one of the largest and most stunning exhibition spaces in greater Hartford and the opportunity for Hartford residents and others to view art in a magnificent setting in our city.
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Lost in Color
Erik Williams, Black Frame Vision
UPDATE: Exhibit runs through July 6, 2020
ArtWalk, Downtown Library
Watch Virtual Exhibit HERE
Virtual Artist Talk on @HPLCT Instagram Live:
Watch Recorded Interview HERE
Erik Williams is a street photographer and also the owner of Black Frame Vision, a street photography brand based in Connecticut. He fell in love with this style of photography because of its rawness and the opportunity it creates to capture honest moments. It allows him to connect with people from all walks and to share their stories candidly through the lens of his camera.
"I use my photography to catch a glimpse of what I see, in order to share it with others. I look for the beauty in any and everything that most overlook.
My choice of subject is anything organically appealing to my eye, whether it's a kid sleeping on the city bus or a reflection of a building from a puddle. I enjoy using natural light, shadows, contrast and clarity as a way to communicate the essence of what I see. I'm drawn to people that radiate energy and great character, because that's all that truly matters. I am inspired by their stories."
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Hartford Women: Leading the Way
Online exhibit available HERE!
Actresses, award-winners, broadcasters, business women, politicians, soldiers, students, and truck drivers; all Hartford women who broke barriers and paved the way for other women.
In celebration of Women’s History Month this March, enjoy a selection of photographs of extraordinary Hartford women from the Hartford Times collection housed in the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library.
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Ella Brown, Hartford Times photograph by Morton J. Boardman
January 23, 1962
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New Banner at Downtown Library
A banner was recently installed on the northwest corner of Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street. The banner depicts various library activities.
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When Ramiro Louisa returned to Hartford from the Netherlands, one of the first place he brought his daughter, Delyani, was the Hartford Public Library’s Children’s Department.
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On Wednesday, May 15, Connecticut Ballet came to Hartford Public Library to present a free preview of “Old, New, Borrowed and Blue, an incredibly beautiful show it performed later in the week at The Bushnell. Shown here are Connecticut Ballet dancers are Stephen Diaz and Claire Mazza, performing ‘In The Shadow of Women’ by Marden Ramos.
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Each library in the HPL system tailors its programming to reflect the population it serves. The Downtown Library’s Children’s Department is very popular with Indian-Americans who live in the surrounding area. Each year, the department celebrates both Diwali in the fall and Holi in the spring. Yogitha Sarjay is shown making a decoration for Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights.
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Phone: (860) 695-6300
