Spotlight On
A rotating showcase for topics of interest: current, historical, local, global. At the Library,
find a physical display highlighting materials in the collection that deepen one’s
understanding of and give context to the featured subject.
“Spotlight On” is also home to “Staff Picks,” where patrons will find reading, viewing,
and listening recommendations, and a forum for book clubs and other groups
in the community to share what they’re enjoying.
Women’s History Month, March 1-31
Untidy Origins: A Story of Woman's Rights in Antebellum New York
Lori D. Ginzberg
In a letter to her husband John Adams, March 31, 1776, while he was in Philadelphia, Abigail Adams wrote,
“Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.”
“The Mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania differed from New England and the South. These states were more diverse in both religion and ethnicity, creating a more open culture of tolerance. The region had Jewish communities, as well as Irish and Scottish, the largest populations of people of Swedish, Dutch, and German descent in the colonies, Quakers and many Native American groups.
This diversity gave women some advantages. Dutch customs included a stronger tradition of female business ownership than the English. The large Quaker population practiced greater gender equality in religious services than most contemporary Christian churches in British America.”
Abigail Adams petitioned her husband not to give unlimited power to husbands. It would be 144 years until women got the vote in the United States. The “ordinary” women farmers of northern New York
petitioned New York’s Constitutional Convention in August of 1946 demanding “equal and civil and political rights with men.”
The petition insisted the state had “departed from the true democratic principles upon which all governments must be based by denying to the female portion of the community the right of suffrage and any participation in forming the government and laws under which they live.”
Lori D. Ginzberg. Untidy Origins: A Story of Woman’s Rights in Antebellum New York. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. 256 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index.
100th Anniversary Titles
It was the Jazz Age. Coolidge was in the White House, Lou Gehrig was a rookie, and Lon Chaney was scaring people silly in The Phantom of the Opera.
And a few brave souls started a non-descript little magazine they called The New Yorker. (For a 100 year celebration of the magazine, check here for an upcoming NYPL exhibit)
And back in 1925, the below titles were the books to read.
-Mike McCoy, Reference Librarian
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
THE novel of the Jazz Age and Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
Before The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway was already the master of modern prose. This is his first collection of short stories.
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Often hailed as her greatest work of fiction, this story of one day in a woman’s life will grab you from the first sentence.
Carry On, Jeeves
P.G. Wodehouse
No one said great writing had to be serious, and Wodehouse proved it by creating two of the great comic characters of the 20th Century.
Explore More…
Interested in The New York Times best sellers? See them here!
Check out Senior Planet from AARP. Senior Planet is a community of people 60 and older who are learning to thrive in the digital world. Senior Planet programs are offered free of charge online and in-person. For classes on topics like artificial intelligence (AI), digital privacy & security, smartphones, social groups and more, visit the Senior Planet center in Chelsea (127 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001) or online at seniorplanet.org. Not quite sure where to start? Give their toll-free hotline a call at (888) 713-3495.
Watch a Youtube video from the Social Security Administration about scam awareness.
200 Books That Shaped 200 Years of Literature from The Center for Fiction
Meet Libby, the library reading app that has now replaced the OverDrive app. Upgrade to Libby today. You’ll find the same great titles and all of your loans, holds, and wish list items waiting for you. Watch a video about Libby to get started.
The New York State Department of Labor is partnering with Coursera to offer free classes to unemployed New Yorkers.
The Westchester-Putnam Career Center Network (WPCCN) and Westchester Community College (WCC) are actively recruiting men and women, 18 and up, who reside in Westchester, NY and are interested in exploring careers in healthcare with free training. Follow this link for more information.
Visit Westchester Library System’s website for Seniors to see library programs and services just for seniors. This includes information on VisionLabs, a program designed to find new ways for libraries to serve patrons with visual impairments and emerging vision loss.
The Television News Archive, launched September 2012, is an archive of hundreds of thousands of hours of news programming from 20 different networks, made sharable and searchable through closed captioning data. Follow this link to check it out.
The Internet Archive’s Democracy’s Library is working to provide free and open access to government materials in an online catalog for the public.
You can now turn your smart phone into a mobile PDF scanner! Download the free Adobe Scan app and scan any text, convert to PDF or JPEG, edit and share easily.
Westchester Library System and Other Events