In collaboration with City of Light Publishing, the spring 2020 Archives Speaker Series presents “Discarded Ancestors: At the Intersection of Art and Ancestry” on Friday, February 28, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. in the Canisius College Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, Library.
The presentation and subsequent book launch will feature mixed-media artist Elizabeth Leader, who is drawn to places and objects most people would pass by on a street without ever giving a glance. When she found a photo album, curbside, on Buffalo’s East Side, Leader wondered how she might find clues to the lives of people found in the pictures? Whose faces are those lost in another time?
Out of these artifacts, Leader first created art, bringing stories to new life. Then, a chance meeting with two Canisius College librarians changed everything. The hunt for “Eleanor” was on!
Elizabeth Leader, along with librarians Lisa Sullivan and Kathleen DeLaney, will share how “finding Eleanor” led to personal stories of Buffalo’s rich immigrant history, the workplaces and urban landscapes filled with treasured legacies and secrets sometimes living among rubble that make for more mysteries to be solved.
Leader’s new book, Discarded Ancestors, is her debut as a non-fiction writer and features the artwork inspired by the photo album.
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Books will also be available for purchase.
For more information, contact Kathleen DeLaney, archivist/special collections librarian at Ext. 8421 or at kdelaney@canisius.edu.
Submitted by: Kathleen Delaney, archivist/special collections librarian, Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, Library
