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The Origins of Venture Capital in America

Date / Time

  • April 18, 2020
    10:00 am - 12:00 pm

America dominated the whaling industry in the mid-1800s with three times as many whaling ships as the rest of the world combined. Our dominance came from a combination of technology, increased productivity, and proprietary knowledge. Our ships were bigger and better, and we had more precise charts. Improvements in harpoon technology led to the invention of the iron toggle harpoon. Innovation in winch technology enabled ships to be handled with fewer skilled sailors. Finally, whaling venture capitalists were innovators in employee compensation. However, fifty years on the industry was dead; the fleet having been reduced by 90%.

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Behind the Bookcase | James Joyce & Irish Authors

Date / Time

  • March 17, 2020
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Along with James Joyce’s handwritten manuscript of his modernist masterpiece Ulysses, we’ll also read and handle works by Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and more! These Irish authors have connections and influences extending from Thomas Jefferson and Moby-Dick to the present day.

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Behind the Bookcase | Sleuths and Spies

Date / Time

  • March 29, 2020
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

The game is afoot to ferret out the realm of detective and spy literature at the Rosenbach. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to explore early mystery stories, examine an original cypher belonging to a female Civil War spy, and exercise your sleuthing skills to detect a forgery.

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Behind the Bookcase | Lewis Carroll

Date / Time

  • February 25, 2020
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Mathematician and cleric Charles Lutwidge Dodgson published children’s books under the pen name Lewis Carroll. This tour will explore both the man and the author, drawing on letters from Dodgson to his publishers, original drawings by John Tenniel (the illustrator of the Alice books) photographs of children taken by Carroll, and, of course, copies of his books.

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Behind the Bookcase | Love Letters

Date / Time

  • February 14, 2020
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Join us for this rare peek into some of the most personal and emotional writing in our collections. From the aching yearnings of poet John Keats to the dying wishes of a Civil War solider, the Rosenbach is home to a variety of love letters. Spend an hour getting up-close and personal with a variety of treasures, including correspondence from Marlene Dietrich to Mercedes De Acosta and handwritten pages from James Joyce’s Ulysses.

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Behind the Bookcase | Love Letters

Date / Time

  • February 12, 2020
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Join us for this rare peek into some of the most personal and emotional writing in our collections. From the aching yearnings of poet John Keats to the dying wishes of a Civil War solider, the Rosenbach is home to a variety of love letters. Spend an hour getting up-close and personal with a variety of treasures, including correspondence from Marlene Dietrich to Mercedes De Acosta and handwritten pages from James Joyce’s Ulysses.

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Behind the Bookcase | Charles Dickens, The Inimitable Boz

Date / Time

  • February 7, 2020
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Beginning with his early works published under pseudonym “Boz” (he later impishly signed his letters “The Inimitable Boz”), Charles Dickens was a literary phenomenon in the 19th century, and his ubiquity continues with legions of readers all over the world.

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Behind the Bookcase | James Joyce & Irish Authors

Date / Time

  • February 6, 2020
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Along with James Joyce’s handwritten manuscript of his modernist masterpiece Ulysses, we’ll also read and handle works by Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and more! These Irish authors have connections and influences extending from Thomas Jefferson and Moby-Dick to the present day.

Read more