HCPL Press Releases

(Belcamp, Maryland – March 6, 2012) Harford County Public Library (HCPL) is exploring Harford’s Car Culture this spring with For the Love of the Car, a juried fine art photography exhibition, author event, and car show. The transportation-themed showcase was developed in conjunction with the Smithsonian exhibition Journey Stories, coming this May to the Abingdon Library, and is the first of the six Journey Stories’ partner exhibitions to open in the County. The Journey Stories exhibition and accompanying programs are offered to the public through a partnership between Harford County Public Library and the Harford County Department of Community Services.

Festivities will be in high gear beginning April 13th with a weekend of special events honoring that maddening, lovable, iconic, truly American object….the automobile!

On Friday car enthusiasts and history buffs alike will enjoy HCPL’s 2012 A Night Out @ the Library from 7 PM to 9 PM at the Jarrettsville Branch. Five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, PEN finalist, and Fulbright fellow, journalist Earl Swift comes to the county as the first Journey Stories speaker to discuss his newest book The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways, a New York Times editors’ choice. The Virginia-based journalist is the author of two other non-fiction books and a collection of short stories which have earned him a reputation for powerful narrative and scrupulous reporting. Swift’s account of the creation of the superhighway and how it transformed travel in the U.S. is called “Well-focused and lively…” by the Los Angeles Times, and “Engaging, informative. . .” by the Washington Post.

“Earl Swift was a perfect choice for this year’s event,” said Amber C. Shrodes, HCPL Foundation Director, “Big Roads examines one of the ultimate creations devoted to journeying, the interstate.”

Tickets for A Night Out @ the Library are $30 general admission and $50 for VIP tickets, which include reserved seating and an invitation to a pre-event reception with Swift. Please go to www.hcplonline.org to purchase tickets or to get additional details.

A Night Out @ the Library also heralds the opening of Cars: A Harford County Love Affair, a juried fine art photography exhibition exploring local photographers’ views of Harford County’s car culture. Photographic works included in this exhibition will be for sale with proceeds benefitting Harford County Public Library. Photographs can be submitted to Bethany Hacker at hacker@hcplonline.org for consideration for the exhibition through March 15th. Cars: A Harford County Love Affair opens April 13th and runs through May 19th and is being held in cooperation with the Harford County Cultural Arts Board.

The weekend culminates on Saturday, April 14th, with Romancing the Chrome, a car show presented in partnership with the Jarrettsville Lions Club. Auto lovers are invited to enter their obsession in categories ranging from muscle and sport to Jeep to “Journey Story” cars, which would be any auto that has a good journey story behind it! Cars can be pre-registered online at www.hcplonline.org or on Saturday starting at 8 AM. The event will be held at Jarrett’s Field on Norrisville Road across from the Library from 10 AM to 3 PM, and will also feature live music, vendors, and pit beef.

Keene Dodge is the Headlining Sponsor for the April exhibition and activities. Additional sponsorships are available and start at $500 for Contributing Partners. For more information regarding sponsorships please contact Amber Shrodes at 410.273.5600 x 2283 or shrodes@hcplonline.org.

Journey Stories is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Maryland Humanities Council.

Harford County Public Library operates eleven branches located throughout Harford County, Maryland. The library serves over 160,000 registered borrowers of all ages and has an annual circulation of over 4,800,000. Harford County Public Library is committed to connecting people with information and promoting the love of reading within the community.

The Harford County Public Library Foundation is a 501© 3 charitable organization established to raise funds to augment the financial resources of the Library and to promote awareness of Library services. For more information call 410 273 5601 x2283.

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(Belcamp, Maryland – February 29, 2012) Take an interactive journey through time, from immigrants arriving from across the globe to the innovations that made it possible to cultivate the wild. Harford County Public Library (HCPL) and the Harford County Department of Community Services are pleased to offer a unique cultural opportunity this spring: Journey Stories, a Smithsonian Exhibition opening May 19 and running through July 6 at the Abingdon Library.

Journey Stories examines the intersection between modes of travel and Americans’ desire to feel free to progress and flourish, voyage and explore. Interactive displays allow visitors to experience both harrowing and joyful journeys made by individuals in search of physical, social, and economic freedom. Families can plan a trip across the unknown West; contemplate shipping a loved one across the sea to escape slavery; and marvel at the adventure of automobile travel. Thoughtful recordings allow visitors to listen to the intimate accounts of a diverse array of journeys. Photographs and other images bring to life the advances that made it possible to populate vast territories and tame the west. In short, Journey Stories is a way to experience what makes us Americans – our ability to find a way to freedom.

Accompanying Journey Stories are six additional exhibitions which explore Harford County’s unique history of the Journey Stories themes. The Jarrettsville Library’s Cars: A Harford County Love Affair, a fine art photography showcase on Harford County’s car culture, kicks off the exhibitions on April 13. On May 11th, the County Activity Centers will open exhibitions. Journey Through Harford County’s History at the Chenowith Activities Center in Fallston uses the Aegis and local accounts and historic artifacts to “tell” the story of the County from its early beginnings. Bel Air’s McFaul Activity Center plays host to From Trail to Train: The Building of Bel Air, which considers Bel Air as the apex of how goods and services were received and transported in Harford County. In Havre de Grace, the Activity Center’s exhibition, Money and Migration: Population and the County Economy, explores the distinctive relationship between workforce and society. Women, shoes, chemicals, and technology have brought people in, moved people out, and influenced the culture of Harford County.

Opening with the Smithsonian Exhibition, on May 19 at public libraries, are three additional exhibitions. Highway Hospitality, at the Abingdon Library, looks at a time before “super highways” and interstates, when stopping at quirky motels, eating in sparkling diners, and full-service auto stations with uniformed attendants made the memories! Visitors will see ice cream fit for space, vintage advertising and other artifacts from the lost story of food in the Edgewood Library exhibition Food on the Go. Finally, the difficult but inspiring journeys made by runaway slaves and the people who helped and hindered them are explored in the Bel Air Library’s Fugitives, Accessories, and Catchers, where guests will experience the escape Henry “Box” Brown made; imagine the weight of leg irons and manacles; and hear the tales of those from Harford County both seeking and preventing freedom.

The Journey Stories themes have captured the interest of many celebrated authors who have been invited to share their works:
• Fulbright fellow, PEN Finalist, and five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Earl Swift will discuss his novel The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, at the Jarrettsville Library at 7:00 pm on April 13 and in conjunction with the Library’s annual Night Out @ The Library. Tickets $30+.
• At the Jarrettsville Library at 6:30pm on May 3, D.E. Johnson, author of the mystery The Detroit Electric Scheme, will tell his story of turning a passion for cars and history into a best-selling mystery series.
• Local Henri Diamant spent a lifetime traveling around the world until he found Harford County and Aberdeen. His story is captured in the book Escape to Africa. He shares it at the McFaul Activity Center in Bel Air on Tuesday, May 15, at 6:00pm.
• Immigration debates have raged on for more than a century and no one is more fascinated with the different schools of thought than Vincent Cannato, author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island. Dr. Cannato opens the Journey Stories Exhibition at the Abingdon Library on Saturday, May 19 at 10:30am, with a community discussion on immigration.
• On Wednesday, May 23 at 6:00pm, the McFaul Activity Center in Bel Air hosts Dr. Rebecca Boehling and her book Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust: A Jewish Family’s Untold Story. The book is composed of correspondence reflecting a family’s life before, during, and after the Holocaust.
• Wendy McClure, best-selling author of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, will share her equally hilarious and heartbreaking travelogue through the real “Laura World,” at the Bel Air Library on June 2 at 6:30pm.
• Col. Al Worden, the first astronaut to walk in deep space and the record holder as the most isolated human being will talk about his book Falling to Earth and what it is like to to journey to the moon and back. He is appearing at a ticket event on June 14 at the Vandiver Inn in Havre de Grace.
• One man is credited with taming the Wild West and civilizing train travel – Fred Harvey. How he used new modes of travel, good food, and proper young women to create an innovative and progressive empire are explored in Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West–One Meal at a Time. Author Stephen Fried will recount his journey in Fred’s shoes at the McFaul Activities Center on Thursday, June 21 at 6:30pm.
• Historian, journalist, and author Fergus Bordewich explored the Underground Railroad in his 2005 best seller, Bound for Canaan. His newest book, America’s Great Debate, focuses on the nation’s westward expansion, slavery and the Compromise of 1850. He will discuss both at the Bel Air Library on June 23, at 6:30pm.

Other special guest presentations through the months include:
• Poetry and the American Dream with Poet Linda Joy Burke at the Jarrettsville Library on Monday, April 16 at 6:30pm.
• A Female’s Journey Through the World of Food with Executive Chef & Restaurateur Cindy Wolf on Thursday, June 7 at 6:00pm at the Veronica “Roni” Chenowith Activity Center in Fallston.
• Janet Sims-Wood’s Fighting for Freedom: Black Women’s Army Corps During WWII on Tuesday, May 29, at 6:00pm at the Havre de Grace Activity Center
• Actress Mary Ann Jung as Rosie the Riveter on Tuesday, June 12, 6:00pm at the Havre de Grace Activity Center.

Additional programs including a film festival and genealogy series will be offered at Library branches. Please visit www.hcplonline.org for complete details on all the Journey Stories events.

Registration for all programs, events, and speakers is suggested. More information on exhibitions and associated programming is available in the Journey Stories Official Guidebook, available mid-April at all Library branches and key outlets throughout the county. Journey Stories is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Maryland Humanities Council. The Journey Stories exhibition and accompanying programs are offered to the public through a partnership between Harford County Public Library and the Harford County Department of Community Service.

Harford County Public Library operates eleven branches located throughout Harford County, Maryland. The library serves over 160,000 registered borrowers of all ages and has an annual circulation of over 4,800,000. Harford County Public Library is committed to connecting people with information and promoting the love of reading within the community.

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Photo caption: Smithsonian Exhibition, “Journey Stories,” comes to Harford County Public Library May 19th – July 6th.

(Belcamp, Maryland – January 12, 2012) On December 19th, the Harford County Public Library Foundation turned over a check for $50,000 to the Bel Air Branch for its Children’s Early Literacy Interactive Space.

More than forty partners for the project including elected officials, members of the community, and representatives from several groups who donated to the campaign attended the check ceremony and reception. The Greater Bel Air Community Foundation, the Bel Air Friends of HCPL, the Morris A. Mechanic Foundation, the Bel Air Rotary, and the friends and family of Mary Beth Crisco, and many individual contributors donated to the campaign.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the completion of the Bel Air Early Literacy Center Campaign,” stated Amber Shrodes, HCPL Foundation Director. “It kicked off in October 2010 and now, just 15 months later, $50,000 has been raised for this exciting project which will support the County’s youngest learners. This would not be possible without the support of many generous donors, and I am pleased that so many of them were able to join us for the reception. With their help, we have made a significant investment in our youth.”

The Morris A. Mechanic Foundation, a contributor towards the campaign stated, “Children are a community’s greatest asset; they are our future. Libraries are an integral part of a child’s developmental process and a storehouse of knowledge.”

Expected to be completed by 2013, the Early Literacy Interactive Space will be an invigorating learning environment located in the Children’s Department of the Bel Air Branch, targeted to the youngest library customers and families. Through engaging play, age appropriate materials and access to innovative programs, this dedicated area will encourage the emergent literacy skills essential for school readiness and inspire children to explore literature, music, science and the fine arts.

“Harford County Public Library is committed to providing the necessary skills for early literacy development,” stated Mary Hastler, Library Director. “The library is often a child’s first classroom and a lifetime of learning can begin here. We envision this new interactive learning center to be the beginning of many great learning experiences for our youngest customers!”

Harford County Public Library’s commitment to early literacy has a long history. The Learning and Sharing Collection, created over 35 years ago, is a circulating collection of developmental toys, puppets, puzzles, parenting DVDs, books, and magazines targeted towards children from birth through age five. These kits are housed at the Bel Air and Joppa branches and contain over 16,000 items which can be requested and sent to any branch in Harford County.

The Parent-Teacher Collection is a selection of books that provide parents and caregivers with creative ideas to enhance their interaction with children from birth through 8th grade. Programming at the Library branches includes monthly story times with themes like Babies Love Books, ABC’s and 123′s, and Tales for Twos. Also enhancing early literacy skills, Opening the Gift and Sharing the Gift are Library outreach programs geared toward children who attend daycare. The Library’s circulation numbers speak for themselves when it comes to the early literacy materials: for fiscal year 2010, picture book circulation was over 317,000 and concept book circulation was 20,800. The Learning and Sharing Collection circulated 26,275 items.

An ideal location for the Early Literacy Interactive Space, the Bel Air Children’s Department has served the children and families of the community for 50 years at its current location and has been a destination for many generations of young readers. The Bel Air Branch is the busiest branch in Harford County with more than 1.3 million items circulated last year, as well as over 132,000 walk-ins and more than 16,000 children, adults and teens attending programs.

Harford County Public Library operates eleven branches located throughout Harford County, Maryland. The library serves over 160,000 registered borrowers of all ages and has an annual circulation of over 4,800,000. Harford County Public Library is committed to connecting people with information and promoting the love of reading within the community.

The Harford County Public Library Foundation is a 501(C) 3 charitable organization established to raise funds to augment the financial resources of the Library and to promote awareness of Library services.

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Photo caption #1: The Bel Air Early Literacy Interactive Space campaign came to an end with a check presentation from the Harford County Public Library Foundation for $50,000 on December 19. Pictured left to right: Bill Kelly, Greater Bel Air Community Foundation; Jim Welsh, Greater Bel Air Community Foundation; Carolyn Lambdin, Secretary, Bel Air Friends of HCPL; Chad Shrodes, County Councilman; Bill Vanden Eynden, Greater Bel Air Community Foundation; Paige Cox, Greater Bel Air Community Foundation; Terry Troy, Greater Bel Air Community Foundation; Bill Cox, Greater Bel Air Community Foundation; Kathleen Whitehead, Treasurer, Bel Air Friends of HCPL; Linda Van Deusen, HCPL Foundation; Cynthia Hergenhahn, HCPL Foundation; Mark Welsh, HCPL Foundation; Mari Kane, President, Bel Air Friends of HCPL; Mary Hastler, Director, HCPL; Amber Shrodes, Director, HCPL Foundation; Jennifer Vido, HCPL Board of Trustees; Beth LaPenotiere, Branch Manager, Bel Air Branch of HCPL; Susan Burdette, Bel Air Town Commissioner; Vanessa Milio, CEO, Harford County Chamber of Commerce; Jerry and Doris Kavanagh, Morris A. Mechanic Foundation; Beth Hendrix, HCPL Foundation; Richard Crisco, Mark Crisco, Beth Crisco; and Richard Slutzky, County Councilman.