Event: The Harry Ransom Center hosts free public programs.
When: Various dates throughout September
Where: Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, 21st and Guadalupe streets, and Jessen Auditorium at The University of Texas at Austin
Background: The Harry Ransom Center presents public programs related to its current exhibitions “The Mystique of the Archive” and “A Cabinet of Drawings” and the center’s holdings. The events are free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-serve, and doors open 30 minutes prior to the start of events.
Poetry on the Plaza: “The Mystique of the Draft”
Wednesday, Sept. 3, noon at the Ransom Center
The Ransom Center kicks off the 2008-09 Poetry on the Plaza season with “The Mystique of the Draft.” This event features works by poets whose drafts can be found in the Ransom Center’s collections. Readers include Professors Jerome Bump and Coleman Hutchison from the English Department. This program is in conjunction with the exhibition “The Mystique of the Archive.”
Curator’s Tour of “The Mystique of the Archive”
Thursday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m. at the Ransom Center
Ransom Center Associate Director of Exhibition and Education Cathy Henderson leads a free curator’s tour of “The Mystique of the Archive,” an exhibition that explores the promise of mystery, adventure and discovery embodied in the archives. Drawing from the Ransom Center’s extensive modern literature collections–Julian Barnes, Don DeLillo, Anne Sexton and many others–the exhibition describes what constitutes an archive, documents the evolution of creative works from first draft to first edition and maps an archive’s journey from the writer’s home to the scholar’s desk, revealing acquisition intrigues and preservation challenges and cataloging puzzles along the way.
Archives Film Series: “Fahrenheit 451”
Monday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m. at the Ransom Center
The Ransom Center kicks off the Archives Film Series with François Truffaut’s “Fahrenheit 451” (1966). Starring Oskar Werner and Julie Christie, the film is adapted from Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same name. The story chronicles the life of firefighter Guy Montag, who has been told to burn books to protect society from their contents. The film series is held in conjunction with the exhibition “The Mystique of the Archive.”
Curator’s Tour of “A Cabinet of Drawings”
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m. at the Ransom Center
Ransom Center Associate Curator of Art Peter Mears leads a free curator’s tour of “A Cabinet of Drawings.” Using almost any medium that will leave a mark–crayon, pencil, charcoal, chalk, pastel, pen and ink, gouache and watercolor–visual thinkers have produced a wide range of images, from intimate expressions of the individual’s innermost thoughts to highly refined master works. This survey or “cabinet” of more than 100 drawings from the Ransom Center’s diverse collections features book illustrations, designs, illustrated letters, landscapes and portraiture by such internationally recognized figures as William Blake, Jean Cocteau, Miguel Covarrubias, E. E. Cummings, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Miller, Pablo Picasso and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Signatures Series: Julian Barnes
Thursday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m. at Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall
The Ransom Center presents a discussion with writer Julian Barnes, whose archive is housed at the center. In this “Signatures Series” event, Barnes talks about his new memoir “Nothing To Be Frightened Of.” The book is a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on mortality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God and a homage to the French writer Jules Renard. A book signing follows. Items from Barnes’s archive are displayed in the exhibition “The Mystique of the Archive.”
High-resolution press images relating to all events are available.
