Massachusetts author and historian Alan Earls will present a slideshow and discussion on Wednesday, June 14 at 7PM via Zoom of some of the important milestones, architectural gems, and key figures in this story as well as an overview of just how richly endowed we are with libraries of all kinds today.

Highlights include Ben Franklin’s gift to found the first free public library in Franklin; the first library for industrial workers; the first children’s library; and the first tax-payer funded town and city libraries, as well as pioneering cataloging systems, philanthropists, architects, and more. 

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 24 hours of the program. 

Join us on Thursday, May 25 at 7PM via Zoom for a virtual visit with author Charlotte McConaghy, author of Migrations. We welcome readers to send in their questions for the author in advance to Jessica at jfitzhanso@chelmsfordlibrary.org. The conversation will be led by Meena Jain, Director of the Ashland Public Library in Ashland, MA.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. Presented by Chelmsford in partnership with the public libraries throughout Massachusetts.

About the book: A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive. How far you would you go for love? Franny Stone is determined to go to the end of the earth, following the last of the Arctic terns on what may be their final migration to Antarctica. As animal populations plummet and commercial fishing faces prohibition, Franny talks her way onto one of the few remaining boats heading south. But as she and the eccentric crew travel further from shore and safety, the dark secrets of Franny’s life begin to unspool. A daughter’s yearning search for her mother. An impulsive, passionate marriage. A shocking crime. Haunted by love and violence, Franny must confront what she is really running towards – and from.

About the author: Charlotte is an Australian author living in Sydney with her partner and son. She has a Masters Degree in Screenwriting from the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and a number of published SFF works in Australia. Her novel MIGRATIONS is her first foray into adult literary fiction, published in North America by Flatiron Books, and by Penguin Random House in Australia and the UK. It is being translated into over 20 languages, and adapted to film. Fueled by her love of nature and her interest in stories of fierce women, McConaghy’s newest novel, ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES, the New York Times Bestseller, is a romantic mystery about a biologist charged with reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands in order to rewild the landscape and bring a forest back to life.

Learn the factors on Thursday, May 4 at 2PM via Zoom that make for happy houseplants, including light, water, and soil…and how to provide them. Common houseplant pests and diseases are also on the agenda, as well as how to treat them.

Led by Bonnie Power, a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 and a serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life. Curious and research-oriented by nature, she has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. Bonnie holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects; she is also an administrator for a “sick houseplant” group on Facebook. She spent the past year as manager of the MMGA Soil pH Testing team and while she has passed this on to a new manager, she continues as a member of the team. Bonnie also volunteers at Garden in the Woods, a Native Plant Trust botanical garden in Framingham, where she is a guide. She learned to grow vegetables as a child from her father, and flowers and houseplants from her mother. At home in Marlborough, Bonnie grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals (with a bias for natives).

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

NOTE: This program will NOT be recorded.

On Tuesday, April 25 at 7PM via Zoom, learn about Army Sutlers, Love Tokens (jewelry), an anti-war poem that became a Christmas Carol, and the unknown stories of ordinary but heroic soldiers just doing their duty. I call one soldier the Rodney Dangerfield of the Civil War because he never gets credit for his actions that earned him a Congressional Gold Medal. Be amazed at what you did not learn in school about the Civil War.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Dana Zaiser is a retired pharmacist from Norton, Massachusetts who loves to travel and share his experiences with others. He and his wife, Kathy, have traveled to Switzerland, Australia, the Galapagos Islands, Ireland, and The Amazon. In addition to his love of travel, Dana is an amateur historian who has published five times on the subject of the American civil war and is the current president of the Old Colony Civil War roundtable of Dedham, MA.