Skip to main content

Frieze Lectures: The Year That Rock Island Began

The Frieze Lecture Series is a 19-year partnership between the Rock Island Public Library and Augustana College. This year's theme is "1841, the Year That Rock Island Began."

All lectures are from 2-3 p.m. Tuesdays in the Rock Island Main Library, 401 19th St., Community Room. Free coffee, cookies and conversation are offered after each lecture.

Oct. 18: Rock Island in 1841: A City and Its Times

Dr. Roald Tweet, professor emeritus of English and Conrad Bergendoff Professor emeritus in the Humanities, will take us back in time to what life was like in Stephenson, Illinois, in 1841, and the controversy that swirled like the waters below Fort Armstrong over the renaming of the community lying in the lee of the Mississippi's greatest limestone island.

Oct. 25: The Longest Inaugural Address in History

Dr. Meg Kunde, assistant professor of communication studies, will note the 175th anniversary of the longest inaugural address in history by William Henry Harrison, which clocked in at a marathon 8,443 words. She will provide an overview of inaugural addresses and what can be expected on Inauguration Day 2017.

Nov. 1: A Punch of Literary Humor

Dr. Kelly Daniels, associate professor of English, will note the 1841 birth of the literary magazine Punch, and all that has meant for satire and humor in writing.

Nov. 8: Dawn of Antarctic Exploration

Dr. William Hammer, Fritiof Fryxell Chair in Geology, will note that 1841 marks the dawn of Antarctic exploration. British naval Captain James Ross, commanding HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, discovered what they named the Victoria Barrier, and would later be renamed the Ross Ice Shelf. Hammer is the discoverer of the first dinosaur remains unearthed in Antarctica. Teams led by Hammer discovered Cryolophosaurus ellioti in 1991, and Glaciasaurus hammeri in 2004.

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 previous years are available on the Augustana Frieze Lecture channel.

For more information about the series, call 309-732-7323.


If you have news, send it to sharenews@augustana.edu! We love hearing about the achievements of our alumni, students and faculty.