October 10, 2007 The Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae and the Public Utility of Prints by Rebecca Zorach Associate Professor Art History and the College

Professor Zorach is the curator for the current Special Collections exhibition: A Virtual Rome for the Early Modern World: Printing and Collecting the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, and presented a talk titled, The Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae and the Public Utility of Prints.

		November 7, 2007 Researching the Julius Rosenwald Biography: A Voyage of Discovery by Peter M. Ascoli Author Julius Rosenwald: The Man who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South View the invitation here.

A graduate of the College, Mr. Ascoli has published several articles for the American Historical Review and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. His recent biography of his grandfather, Julius Rosenwald: The Man who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South, was named one of the best books of 2006 by the Chicago Tribune.

Among Mr. Ascoli's other accomplishments, he has worked as a fund raiser for a variety of cultural and educational non-profit organizations, including the University of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Steppenwolf Theater Company, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also currently teaches fund raising for the Masters in in Non-Profit Management Program at Spertus College.

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March 12, 2008 "Not in Fleeman" A Meditation on Collecting by Paul T. Ruxin Of Counsel Jones Day View the invitation here.

This talk will use one serendipitous acquisition as a starting point for discussion of the pleasures of collecting books.

May 14, 2008 Leora Auslander Professor Department of History and the College Committee on the History of Culture Committee on Jewish Studies and the Center for Gender Studies View the invitation here. Please call (773) 702-7695 or email Barbara Palmer-Bostick to reserve your seat for this program.

While global dispersion has often been mourned by Jews, it has also been the source of extraordinary creativity. Diasporic Jews have systematically melded Jewish aesthetic practices with those of the societies in which they have lived to produce new cultural forms. Among the innovations were new ritual objects and observances, as well as new modes of visually representing Jewish life. The Sondheim collection is particularly rich in materials exemplifying these hybrid forms. Focussing on the crucial life-cycle ritual of marriage on the one hand and the annual celebration of Passover on the other, this lecture will explicate this dynamic process.

Professor Auslander's interests cover modern European social history, ranging from material culture and gender to the politics of the nation. Her most recent work delves into the material culture of Jewish history and she has published such articles as "Coming Home? Jews in Postwar Paris," and "Resisting Context: The Spiritual Objects of Tobi Kahn."
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