Picturing America for Public Libraries

My library used the Picturing America posters for activities during Black History Month. We used Augustus Saint-Gaudens' memorial, Lawrence's The Migration of the Negro Panel no, 57, Bearden's The Dove, and Karales' Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965 for an interactive display. The theme of the display was change and was tied into changes in the past and changes initiated by the election of President Obama.

I also discussed the pictures with my teens group using suggestions in the teaching activities. Our library is moving to a new location this summer and plans to feature one poster a month as a display and will also use one month for high school age activities each Saturday based on selected posters and activities from the teachers' lessons. For example, we will use Crazy Quilt and Grandmother's Fan Quilt and questions from the teaching activities to motivate a quilting project for the teens.
The posters mentioned in the answer to question one were displayed along with archival pictures featuring the lives of African Americans in our community in the past. We had a local fishing industry that was predominantly African American that not only providing jobs in the community but added to the culture through the musical chants used by the fisherman. We included these pictures, pictures of African American baseball greats, and other successful, prominent African Americans from our past. The display was located across from our circulation desk.

I plan to use the poster of the Fallingwater House to explore the world of Frank Lloyd Wright. I will use the posters of pottery and baskets as well as Sans Arc Lakota Ledger in conjunction with the PBS American Experience "We Shall Remain" event kit for a library "Lets Talk About" reading event that will last two months and include adults and middle school/high school students. The strength of the Picturing America collection is that the posters will be the serendipity we discover as we find interests in our community that the library can respond to.

Submitted by Leslie McCombs-Porter