Sharon Snyder
LIBRARY News:
Los Alamos is blessed with a group of history enthusiasts, both amateur and professional, who devote countless hours to researching and understanding the stories that have shaped our community.
Two of those professionals, Sharon Snyder and Heather McClenahan, will be featured at Mesa Public Library’s Authors Speak talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23.
Snyder is the director of publications for Bathtub Row Press, the publishing arm of the Los Alamos Historical Society and McClenahan is the executive director of the Los Alamos Historical Society. Both are published authors. Snyder has written At Home on the Slopes of the Mountains and McClenahan has co-authored, with Craig Martin, Of Logs and Stone. Both of those books will be for sale by the Historical Museum bookstore at the event, and the authors will be happy to sign their work.
Also in attendance on Thursday will be many of the accomplished amateurs known as “The History Nuts.”
“Libraries are revered worldwide,” Snyder said. “They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some are designed by famous architects or have recognizable names- the Bodleian, the Library of Congress, the Huntington. Others occupy a structure the size of a phone booth. Or even smaller! No matter. They all represent one of mankind’s best hopes for the future. And associated with them are a myriad of stories, from the Library of Alexandria to a humble library cat to an Iraqi librarian who saved 30,000 books from destruction. To those will be added the account of a small library at the Los Alamos Ranch School that evolved through the Manhattan Project years to become the library we know today.”
The building that houses Mesa Public Library today was opened to the public in October of 1994. This Authors Speak presentation is one of many events celebrating the 20th anniversary. Those events will culminate in a celebration 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, in the Upstairs Rotunda of the library.
The Authors Speak Series is a monthly event featuring local and regional authors speaking about their writing on a variety of subjects such as local and state history, travel, outdoor activities, fiction, Native American history and culture, poetry and more. The series is funded by the Friends of the Los Alamos County Library System. The talks are free and begin at 7 p.m., followed by the opportunity to meet the authors and enjoy refreshments.
