Library News »01/15/2013

U-Idaho Professor Ron McFarland to lead next discussion in Let's Talk About It, Idaho! series

The second in the five-part Let’s Talk About It, Idaho! series will take place Wednesday, January 30 at 7pm in the University Library when longtime University of Idaho English professor Ron McFarland will talk about Mary Hallock Foote’sA Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West. Foote’s memoir chronicles her move to Idaho in the late 1800’s and inspired Wallace Stegner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Angle of Repose.

The book talks call attention to Idaho history as an historical milestone begins, the state’s territorial sesquicentennial year. The theme of this year’s readings and discussions, “Idaho at 150 – Sesquicentennial Days,” explores life in early Idaho and the challenges faced by people settling and developing the state. The University of Idaho Library is partnering with the Moscow Public Library to provide the talks, which bring adult readers together with humanities scholars to discuss fine literature.

The remaining programs are scheduled for: February 7, Paula Coomer will talk about Thousand Pieces of Gold by Ruthanne McCunn; February 26, Barbara Meldrum will speak on Home Below Hell’s Canyon by Grace E. Jordan; and on March 20, Ron McFarland will discuss We Sagebrush Folks by Annie Pike Greenwood. The programs on January 30 and March 20 will be held in the University of Idaho Library, and the others will be held in the Great Room at the 1912 Center in Moscow. All programs will begin at 7pm and are open to the public. Refreshments will be served.