All Library locations will be closing early Wednesday, November 26 at 5 p.m. and will reopen Saturday, November 29.
Signature Event Locked Up in Leavenworth - Jake Ersland Sunday, February 16, 2014 2:00pm Central Library In Person Murderers. Mob bosses. Anarchists. Bootleggers. Thieves. They’ve all found a home at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, regarded for man... Read More
Signature Event Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker Sunday, January 19, 2014 2:00pm Central Library In Person Trumpeter Miles Davis once said: "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker." Saxophone virtuoso Charli... Read More
Signature Event The 1940 Kansas City Project Sunday, December 8, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person By 1940, Kansas City authorities had finally deposed “Boss Tom” Pendergast. In the spring of that year, teams of laborers from the Works Progress A... Read More
Signature Event Tommy Campbell, Kansas City’s Greatest Boxer Sunday, November 17, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person In the late 1940s and 1950s, Kansas City native Tommy Campbell won 50 professional fights and became the world’s No. 2 lightweight. B... Read More
Signature Event We Were Hanging by a Thread - Ann Brownfield Sunday, September 15, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person Though far from the fashion center of New York, Kansas City once boasted a large, vibrant garment manufacturing industry. During its heyday in the ear... Read More
Signature Event The Sunflower Ordnance Works - Anne Jones, Matt Gilligan Sunday, September 8, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person Built in 1942 in Johnson County, Kansas, the Sunflower Ordnance Works quickly became the world’s largest producer of rocket propellant, an essentia... Read More
Signature Event Quantrill in the Movies: John Tibbetts Sunday, August 18, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person William Quantrill’s August 21, 1863 Confederate raid on Lawrence, Kansas, left nearly 200 men and boys dead and the city in flames. Film expert... Read More
Signature Event The Kansas City Barbecue Documentary Project Sunday, July 21, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person Arguments may ensue on the merits of individual barbecue joints, but no one disputes the extent that the “culture” of B-B-Q has helped define every... Read More
Signature Event Farewell to the Kansas City Board of Trade Sunday, June 9, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person As the Kansas City Board of Trade prepares to move to Chicago, its CEO Michael Braude traces the history, development, and economic i... Read More
Signature Event Robert Farnsworth Sunday, January 20, 2013 2:00pm Central Library In Person Biographer Robert Farnsworth discusses his new eBook about the life, death, and legacy of Leon Jordan, a one-time po... Read More