Frieze Lecture Series to look at pandemic, history
The annual Frieze Lecture Series is a 23-year partnership between the Rock Island Public Library and Augustana College. This year's theme is "Global Crises, Past and Present."
Lectures will be offered online at 2 p.m. Oct. 20 and Nov. 5. Lectures will be presented virtually via Zoom. Registered participants will receive the meeting invitation via email.
Why We Forgot the 1918 Flu: A Historian Looks at a Century of Pandemics, Oct. 20
Dr. Lendol Calder, professor of history at Augustana College, will consider the global influenza pandemic of 1918. His presentation reviews America's response to the 1918 pandemic, as well as how the legacy of that tragedy has — and hasn't — shaped responses to subsequent public health emergencies.
Tip of the Iceberg: Understanding the Bigger Picture of Pandemic Disease Severity, Nov. 5
Dr. Rebecca Heick, assistant professor of public health at Augustana College, considers the rising death toll of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While it is understandable that the number of deaths has become a major focus of media reports and intervention efforts, mortality is just the tip of the iceberg. Less severe disease is much more common and is an important component of the bigger prevention picture.
About the series
Frieze Lecture Series is named for the 1903 library's frieze, an architectural feature which goes all the way around the top of the building and is engraved with the names of writers. The authors carved into the sandstone are Homer, Longfellow, Emerson, Virgil, Hugo, Shakespeare, Goethe, Burns, Dante, Hawthorne, Esaias Tegner and George Bancroft.
The late Ruth Evelyn Katz, a library board member, created the series as part of the library's 125th anniversary.
Lectures from some previous years are available on the Augustana Frieze Lecture channel.
For more information about the series, call 309-732-7323.