Name: Algren, A Life, with Mary Wisniewski by Newberry Library
Duration: 58 min 51 s
Description: On March 7, 2017, journalist Mary Wisniewski visited the Newberry to discuss her biography of Nelson Algren, "Algren, A Life." In "Algren," Wisniewski reveals new details about the writer’s life, work, personality, and habits, digging beneath the street-crawling man stereotype to show a funny, sensitive, and romantic but self-destructive artist.

On March 7, 2017, journalist Mary Wisniewski visited the Newberry to discuss her biography of Nelson Algren, "Algren, A Life." In "Algren," Wisniewski reveals new details about the writer’s life, work, personality, and habits, digging beneath the street-crawling man stereotype to show a funny, sensitive, and romantic but self-destructive artist.

Algren, A Life, with Mary Wisniewski

In this episode of “Shelf Life,” we talk with archivists Martha Briggs and Catherine Grandgeorge about how and why they’re crowdsourcing an archive of modern protest.

Following the Women’s March held in Chicago and other cities on January 21, the Newberry began collecting protest signs and personal accounts from the people who took to the streets. While the Newberry’s collection contains plenty of materials documenting activism in history, this is the first time the library has collected such materials in the moment.

Shelf Life

Give Us a Sign

Anne Durkin Keating, moderator for the symposium, introduces the topic of the day and the first panelist of the symposium: Mary Beth Fraser Connolly. Connolly speaks about her work on the Sisters of Mercy in her talk entitled, “’Souls are Trained and Prepared for the Other’: The Mercy Charism and Catholic Female Education in Chicago, 1840s-1940s, A Comparative Study”

Women Religion Social Change - Pt 1

Women, Religion, and Social Change in Chicago: Part 1, Introduction and Mary Beth Connolly

Free and open to the public since 1887, the Newberry is a research library committed to sharing the humanities with a range of different audiences. Our world-class collection of maps, manuscripts, books, and other materials illuminates a variety of themes related to the history of Western Europe and the Americas. The collection, accessible to anyone who is at least 14 years old, comes to life when users engage with it in our reading rooms, and also when they peruse our exhibit galleries, attend public programs, or participate in adult education seminars. 

If anything you hear on our Soundcloud channel inspires you to learn more about the Newberry, please visit our website or other social media pages.

Algren, A Life, with Mary Wisniewski

Newberry Library

Related tracks