WHEN: Sunday, April 15, 2012, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

WHERE: Rosenbach Museum & Library, 2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia

INFO: Free for Rosenbach and Historical Society of Pennsylvania members. Included with museum admission. For more information, visit www.rosenbach.org. 

WHAT: The Rosenbach Museum & Library – renowned for telling compelling stories through the use of its vast historic collections – will host The Stories of Two Titanic Passengers. This program will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of this remarkable ship by telling the story of this epic day in history. The Rosenbach, in conjunction with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, will read aloud the stories of two passengers – R. Norris Williams II and Harry E. Widener from documents in both organizations’ collections. Williams survived the disaster and created an account of his experience about the ship. He later became the Director of the Historical Society ofPennsylvania (HSP). Widener perished in the sinking, but his memory lives on at Harvard College’s Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, which Dr. Rosenbach – one of the Rosenbach’s founders – helped create.

As part of the program, visitors will hear readings from items from the Rosenbach’s and HSP’s collections including letters, telegrams, and first-hand accounts that tell the stories of these of these two men from Philadelphia on the Titanic’s voyage.

This program is in conjunction with one of the Rosenbach’s current exhibitions, Titanic: The Rise of Rosenbach, on display through June 24th. The exhibition follows the story of book dealer Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach as he hears about the sinking of the Titanic and realizes that his friend and protégé, Harry E. Widener, has gone down with the ship. Visitors are invited to learn the details of the tragic event and how, ultimately, Dr. Rosenbach’s personal loss led to professional success as he undertook a project that positioned him to become the greatest rare-books dealer of the 20th century.

Other events at the Rosenbach to honor the memory of those lost on the Titanic include a Conversation with the Curator with Elizabeth Fuller on April 19 at 6 pm.

Media Contact:
Amber van Niekerk
Grimm & Grove Communications
215.520.5035
amber@grimm [at] grove [dot] com