Pequot Library Digital Digest Newsletter - September 23, 2023

Sunday, October 1 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.: Learn more about the United Illuminating Company Railroads Transmissions Line Upgrade Project (Docket 516) with representatives from Sasco Creek Neighborhood Environmental Trust. Click here for more information on this project.

Per a letter from State Representative Jen Leeper:

“Docket #516 proposes replacing the existing 115-kV powerlines situated atop the catenary structures along the MetroNorth Railroad tracks, which are typically 60 to 80 feet above ground. UI is proposing replacing these existing structures with monopoles that range in height from 95 to 145 feet above ground. This represents an enormous change to the landscape of our community and neighborhoods."

We're hard at work preparing for the launch of our newest exhibition, How William Became Shakespeare: Four Hundred Years of the First Folio, which opens on October 5 at 6:00 p.m. with a host of impressive guest speakers and panelists. This Digital Digest takes its cues from Shakespeare. Make sure to read all about our companion programs for children and adults.

Also, October 1 kicks off Banned Books Week. In spite of his renown, Shakespeare has been censored and/or banned at various points in history, as this article relates, including by Thomas Bowdler, whose heavy-handed editing has been immortalized in the word bowdlerize.

Upcoming Programs

Meet the Author: Jeff Benedict
Tuesday, Oct. 3, 6:00 p.m.

Described by The Atlantic as “a masterly journalist who can create characters and spin plot as crisply as any novelist,” Jeff Benedict is a celebrated sports biographer who will discuss his latest book, LeBron, about NBA star LeBron James. Benedict is also the author of The Dynasty, a look inside the New England Patriots, as well as Tiger Woods, which has been released as a documentary by HBO.

Southport Globe Onion Festival II
Saturday, Oct. 7, 6:00 p.m.

Join us and celebrate the Southport globe onion with live music, refreshments and light bites, and all things onion. Entertainment will be provided by local bands, with an assortment of programming and activities designed to educate and enlighten participants about our community’s agricultural heritage.

Click here to see our full calendar of programs & events.

Past Exhibition Connection

William Shakespeare, The New Temple Shakespeare
(London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1934-1935)
Pequot Library Special Collections

Eric Gill (1882-1940) was a British artist known for his sculptures, typeface design, printmaking, wood engraving and illustration of more than 100 books. He is best known today for his typefaces Gill sans, Joanna and Perpetua which can be found on most any computer. Gill, a prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, although it doesn't appear that he had any direct ties with William Morris one of the movement's founders and the subject of our latest exhibition, The Book Beautiful: Selection from the Private Press Movement, which closes today, Sept. 23. Read more on this topic here. Gill was commissioned by the League of Nations, the BBC, and the London Transport system to produce architectural sculptures. In 1914, his sculptures of the Stations of the Cross were installed in Westminster Cathedral.

Gill converted to Roman Catholicism in 1914. Unfortunately, he is also known as a controversial figure because his religious views were at odds with his widely published sexual activities, including adultery and incestuous relations. Gill wrote and lectured on workers' rights and community living. He and his associates lived together as a community of faith while working on creative projects. The subject matter in his art varied between the deeply religious to the highly erotic.

We included Gill's work (above) in our 2016 Special Collections exhibition,

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