News Release

The New Year rings in a new exhibition and a number of exciting programs at the Main Library. January’s highlights include an exhibition of rare Dorothea Lange photos, a talk about the Black Panthers, an author’s revelation about his family history, and a celebration of writers who died in 2007.

Renown photographer Dorothea Lange focuses the camera on her own family in A Life Surrounding a Cabin: Dorothea Lange at Steep Ravine, an exhibition of more than 50 photographs she took while spending time at her home-away-from-home in Marin County. These rarely-seen images capture intimate, everyday scenes depicting the bond between Lange’s family and the environment of Steep Ravine. The exhibition will be on display Jan. 19–March 16 in the Skylight Gallery.

Daniel Dixon (son of Lange and first husband painter Maynard Dixon) and his wife, Dixie, will kick off the exhibition with a two-hour presentation at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 in the Koret Auditorium. The Dixons will detail the universal appeal of Lange’s oeuvre, as well as talk about the family and Lange’s collaborative relationship with Maynard Dixon.

After 55 years of secrecy, writer Jim Van Buskirk’s mother offered her son some shocking news: “You are Jewish.” Unable to explain why she kept the information secret for so long, she went on to show him her mother’s suitcase filled with photographs, letters and documents. As Van Buskirk continues to look for answers to his family’s history—and his own identity—by researching his genealogy, talking to previously unknown relatives, and re-examining the contents of his grandmother’s suitcase, he recognizes that he now has the key to the family saga which spans four generations and across two continents. Punctuated by audio clips of his grandmother’s operatic career and family photographs, Van Buskirk will talk about his memoir-in-progress, My Grandmother's Suitcase, at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room.

On Jan. 12, cultural historian Jane Rhodes will discuss the media’s continuing fascination with the Black Panther Party and its extraordinary staying power in the American imagination. In her new book, Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of a Power Icon, Rhodes argues that once the media and pop culture latched onto the small, militant group, the Panthers became adept at exploiting and manipulating this coverage, pioneering a sophisticated version of mass media activism. Paradoxically, she says, the news media participated in the government campaign to eradicate the Panthers while simultaneously elevating them to a celebrity status that remains long after their demise. Rhodes will present examples from the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Sun-Reporter, as well as San Francisco television stations. The talk will take place 4–6 p.m. in the Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room. A book signing and sale will follow.

Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Public Library present Writers Remembered 2008: A celebration of the authors, poets and journalists who died in 2007, 1–4 p.m. on Jan. 27 in the Koret Auditorium. Friends, colleagues and admirers will gather to honor and celebrate the creative minds that left us in 2007. Writer Gerry Nicosia will emcee the free-form event, as participants reminisce, revel and read from the works of those who have departed. Phil Frank, David Halberstam, Philomene Long, Norman Mailer, Tillie Olsen, Grace Paley and Allen Wheelis are among those who will be remembered.

For a complete listing of all of the Library’s events, please visit www.sfpl.org. All events and exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.