June Midday Program

“Oh no! Where’s my phone?”

For some people, gasping that out in concert with a frantic beating of pockets, rifling through bags, and swiveling of the head provides the sort of terrifying adrenaline rush a diver might experience upon seeing a shark barreling toward them. (And some would rather face the shark.)

What in the world did people carry and use to record important thoughts, dates, and other deeply personal information before we were blessed by the invention of smart phones?

Pocket diaries. Manuscript books in their purest form.

Join us in June as Julie Park introduces us to the world of eighteenth-century pocket diaries. Dr. Park will be joining us from the Pennsylvania State University where she serves as Paterno Family Librarian for Literature and Professor of English. Much published, she is the editor of the Penn State Series in the History of the Book at Penn State University Press and is the author of My Dark Room: Spaces of the Inner Self in Eighteenth-Century England (University of Chicago Press).

Think of all the contributions diaries have made to the presentation of history, from Pepys to Frank, from Woolf to Scott. Then update your diary to reflect your planned attendance at this — the final midday meeting of the Caxton Club’s 2023–2024 season!

Register today!

Live attendance and optional lunch

View Zoom program on eighth floor, Steel Room, Union League Club. Presentation begins at 12:00 PM CT. Optional lunch immediately following in the fourth floor Rendezvous. $35 includes non-alcoholic beverage, a cup of soup, and your choice of sandwich, salad, or hot entree, tax, and tip.

Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curbside wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

If you are traveling by car, the Union League Club offers valet parking for Caxton events at $35.00. You must register and prepay in advance through the Caxton Club. Valet parking options will now be included as an option with all event registrations.

Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).

June Evening Program

Are you curious to see what your fellow Caxtonians collect? Club members will open their libraries to share a favorite book or other piece from their collection for an information evening of on-line bibliomania.

This is a great way to meet fellow Caxtonians and learn more about them and their collections! We are hoping this will become a regular event.

The presenters will be:

Neil Harris is the Preston and Sterling Morton Professor of History and Art History, Emeritus, at the University of Chicago. A specialist on the history of collecting, museums, World’s Fairs, and the built landscape, he is the author of numerous books and articles. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Getty Scholar, a Guggenheim Fellow, and has received numerous other awards. Most importantly, he has been a member of the Caxton Club for more than 35 years and he is a devoted book collector, particularly of illustrated books published between the two World Wars.

Marc Joseph is semi-retired from the Wine & Spirit trade, now working several days a week as a manager at a fine wine and spirit shop in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. A new member of the Caxton Club, his book collecting interests are concentrated in two primary areas: Fine and Private Presses from the late 19th century to the current day, with an emphasis on the period of the 1890s to the late 1940s; and Books on Books, with an emphasis on the fine printers of the golden age of letterpress printing. Of course, like most collectors there are a few other interests, like Science Fiction and Wine & Spirits.

Susan F. Rossen has been a Caxtonian for over four decades, serving as chair of the Publications and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Outreach committees. She was publisher at the Detroit Institute of Arts until 1981, and then at the Art Institute of Chicago until her retirement in 2009. She collects books from around the world for adults that are illustrated mainly with woodcuts and wood-engravings and that date from the 1920s into the early 1950s.

Diane Stilwell Weinberg, a former actress, is now a teacher and a collector of beautiful books. She prefers that the subject as well as the binding might come in a lovely form. Some examples of her collecting interests include: artists books, miniatures, fore-edge and 19th-century Asian adventure travel books.

Zoom begins at 6:30 pm CT / 7:30 pm ET. Registration required via website. Program is open to Caxton Club members.