A lecture, reception, and booksigning

Join us on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 6:00p.m. for IT’S ABOUT TIME: Short films from the Secret Cinema Archive inspired by the APS Museum’s current exhibition Tempus Fugit: Time Flies

For information, and to reserve a seat, please click here.

Join us on Wednesday, October 10 for a rare screening of “Just Imagine,” a 1930 film that imagines a 1980 New York City. This time-travelling piece of film history is best known for its art direction and special effects. It’s a rare gem and may be the only sci-fi musical ever made!

The Library will open its slate of fall programs with a one-act play on the life of Thomas Paine, written and performed by British actor and playwright Ian Ruskin, with Elliot Gould as the voice of the prologue and epilogue.

Author Andrea Wulf will present an illustrated lecture based on her forthcoming book on the history of the Transit of Venus. Her preceding book was Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation, published in spring 2011.

RSVP for lecture to rsvpmuseum [at] amphilsoc [dot] org

Tim McGrath is a compelling and lucid writer, and is an executive who lives outside of Philadelphia. An avid sailor, he has been published in Naval History magazine. He has served on the board of directors of the Kearsley Retirement Community (founded by Benjamin Franklin’s physician) Christ Church Hospital and Fort Mifflin. He has written articles on management, U.S. history, and healthcare issues for various newspapers and magazines. John Barry has been nominated for the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Excellence in Naval Literature. Dr.

 Of Pictures & Specimens is organized by the APS Museum in conjunction with its current exhibition, Of Elephants &

 Join musician Kyle Bartlett for a “Listener Encounter” that considers different views of the natural world and the role that chance plays in natural systems like hurricanes. Bartlett will also discuss her sound installation for the temporary contemporary greenhouse at the APS Museum and give you the chance to create your own mobile sound installation (no musical skills required!). You will move about the garden and exhibition gallery as you compose.

 The secret history of Philadelphia trees revealed!

Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg are Professors of History at Louisiana State University. Burstein is the author of seven other books, including Jefferson’s Secrets and The Passions of Andrew Jackson. Isenberg is also the author of Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr and Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America. Students of political culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they previously collaborated on a study of death in early America: Mortal Remains (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003).

Rare books viewed during residencies at the American Philosophical Society and Chemical Heritage Foundation libraries have informed and inspired the development of recent work. As an artist, exploring significant history of science collections creates a unique opportunity to render and transform words into tangible, visual form. These cumulative experiences have instilled a profound sense of awe and wonder for the world around me, and continue to create new bridges between art and science in my work as both an artist and professor.