Public Library Lectures Celebrate George Peabody
By • April 18, 2012 0 907
A free author lecture series in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of George Peabody’s arrival in Georgetown and the return of his fully restored portrait that was damaged in the 2007 Georgetown Branch Library fire.??
This May marks the 200th anniversary of 17-year-old George Peabody’s arrival in Georgetown in 1812 with his older uncle and their establishment of a dry goods store on Bridge Street, today’s M Street. Decades later, Peabody was a multi-millionaire and in 1867 he donated $15,000 to establish a library in Georgetown. Mr. Peabody believed that the only way to elevate oneself was through education. That was why he funded a library in Georgetown among dozens of other educational and cultural organizations throughout the United States. The Georgetown Branch Library’s Peabody Room was named in his honor in 1935 with the purpose to serve as a repository of Georgetown’s neighborhood history.
??The lectures begin at 6:30 p.m. each Thursday in May at the Peabody Room, located on the third floor of the Georgetown Branch Library, 3260 R Street, N.W. (corner of Wisconsin Avenue), Washington, D.C. For additional information contact Jerry A. McCoy, (202) 727-0233 or email jerry.mccoy@dc.gov.
??The line-up in May of Thursday, 6:30 p.m. author talks are:
??May 3, Garrett Peck, The Potomac River: A History and Guide
??May 10, John DeFerrari, Lost Washington, D.C.
??May 17, Michael Lee Pope, Hidden History of Alexandria, D.C.??
May 24, James H. Johnston, From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family
??May 31, David Mould, Remembering Georgetown: A History of the Lost Port City
