Upcoming Events
4 PM - 6 PM
Libraries are more than reading: lifelong learning is also making and doing! Join fellow yarn enthusiasts once a month on the first Wednesday of the month from 4-6 pm at the State Library, located at the Forum Building, Main Reading Room, 607 South Drive, Harrisburg for a maker time of stitching, knitting, crocheting, felting, and camaraderie! Show off your new project and share inspiration with one another.
State Employee Fiber Arts Club Registration. Questions? Email ra-makerspace@pa.gov or call 717-783-5993.
Dates: March 10 - April 19, 2025
Magic comprises the most profound contemplation of the most secret things, their nature, power, quality, substance, and virtues, as well as the knowledge of their whole nature.
- German occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, 1533
In 1997, a literary phenomenon was born. Although a fantasy story, the Harry Potter book series features magic that is based partially on Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science, including alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy.
Incorporating the work of several 15th- and 16th-century thinkers, the exhibit examines ethical topics such as the desire for knowledge, the effects of prejudice, and the responsibility that comes with power.
The National Library of Medicine produced this exhibition and companion website. More resources about the exhibit from the National Library of Medicine's Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine in Harry Potter’s World webpage.
Visit the exhibit in the State Library’s Main Reading Room, open Tuesday through Thursday, 10 AM – 6 PM.
In 2018-2020, the Commonwealth Monument Project launched a "Look Up, Look Out" campaign to reimagine Harrisburg's Old Eighth Ward, the multi-ethnic neighborhood demolished from the 1910s to install the buildings and green space of the State Capitol Complex. The campaign was designed to draw attention to a once-thriving neighborhood that now teems with government workers and those associated with the everyday business of the capital city. Using a combination of historical research and digital tools, a group of local historians, change agents, technologists, and faculty and students of area universities identified 12 sites throughout the various buildings of the Capitol Complex to place posters that told the varied stories of the vanished neighborhood. These posters are now on display at the State Library Main Reading Room, in the heart of the Old Eighth Ward.
Visitors to Pennsylvania’s capitol district are invited to stop, look up, look out, and imagine a thriving neighborhood that once existed before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appropriated the grounds a century ago for state use. View the exhibit and download a walking tour map at the State Library reading room on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 AM – 6 PM.
Date: April 9, 2025
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
Are you interested in writing or illustrating children’s books? Author Margaret Peterson and Illustrator Cheryl Bielli share their story with you.
About the author and illustrator:
Margie Peterson grew up in Ramsey, N.J., the daughter of two writers. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in English and worked in journalism in Washington, D.C. and Pottsville, PA before settling with her husband in Salisbury Township, outside Allentown, PA. She toiled in newspapers while raising two children and later became a freelance writer. The Boy Who Never Threw Anything Out is her first book.
Cheryl Bielli is an artist, illustrator and art teacher who was born and raised in Erie, PA and now lives in Peck Lake, NY. She works in a variety of two- and three-dimensional media, including graphite, charcoal, pastel, acrylic, oil and watercolor paint, clay, wood, papier mâché, cloth and mixed media. She operates a small, commissioned art business, Mrs. B's Petite Galerie & Studio, and her illustrations have been published in a national tabloid in Florida and trade and regional periodicals in Western NY. Illustrations for The Boy Who Never Threw Anything Out (2022) have led to illustrating contracts for children's books with three additional authors: Henry Didn't Listen (2023), and I Love My Heart and M. Oiseau, both seeking publication in 2025.
About their book:
"The Boy Who Never Threw Anything Out" is a children’s book about a packrat named Tommy who becomes trapped in his bedroom because he can't bear to part with his old stuffed animals, books and toys - even the broken ones - and they pile up around him. In rhyming prose, Tommy's parents help him realize the solution lies in donating toys and clothes to others and recycling what can't be reused. The story teaches important lessons in giving and sustainability with humor and wacky, over-the-top scenes. Colorful, comical illustrations will delight children and charm adults, especially those with their own packrat in the family. A hidden-picture page at the end allows readers to find concealed objects among Tommy's clutter.
Please register for Margaret Peterson & Cheryl Bielli's Author Talk.
Date: April 24, 2025
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
The little loud cousin of Goth music, Industrial Music's roots wind through many different genres of music. Those who love NiN, Machines of Loving Grace, KMFDM or Static-X will find many sources of interest here, with some non-European bands as future favorites. STEMlab lead instructor Bill Fee continues the music program series in partnership with Carol Buck, State Museum curator.
Date: May 15, 2025
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
Rudolf Diesel’s engines would run on most oils, and they revolutionized early motor vehicles and ships. Rather than an extensive refinement, as required by gasoline, these early engines would run on most any oil, including peanut oil. Join the State Library STEM librarian and learn about the changes that the diesel engine has brought to the world, and the strange case of its inventor.
Book Club
Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Time: 12 Noon to 1PM
Book: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
About the Book Club: The State Library of Pennsylvania hosts a quarterly lunchtime book club open to state employees as well as to the public. The book club meets in the format of a virtual meeting. Attendees take part in conversations about the book moderated by staff at the State Library of Pennsylvania. Share thoughts about the characters, plot, setting, and impact of the book with others who have read the book or any part of it.
About the book: In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.
About the author: James McBride is a native New Yorker and a graduate of New York City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. He holds several honorary doctorates and is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. He is married with three children. He lives in Pennsylvania and New York.
- This book may be borrowed from many Pennsylvania public libraries. State employees may borrow from the State Library through EZBorrow.
- Please register for Book Club to participate.
Lunch and Learn Programs
The State Library of Pennsylvania offers Lunch and Learn programs. These programs are typically free, open to the public, and held at the State Library or virtually via on online platform between noon and 1 p.m.
If you missed a program or want to experience it again, see below for recordings from recent programs.
If you have a question about the Lunch and Learn program contact community engagement librarian Ellen Shenkat ellshenk@pa.gov.
Upcoming Programs
Date: March 27, 2025
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
At the end of the European Dark Ages, the Renaissance was a time of Enlightenment, the age of science and the reduction of the role of religion in the life of the middle and upper classes. Join the State Library staff to learn more about the science of the time, in coordination with the Renaissance Science exhibit in the Main Reading Room.
Recent Programs
Visit our Lunch and Learn YouTube playlist to explore recordings of more than 40 Lunch and Learn sessions.
Date: March 12, 2025
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
Join the State Library in a virtual program about Pennsylvania folklore with author Jeffrey Frazier. Jeffrey R. Frazier, born and raised in Centre Hall, Centre County, holds a BS from Penn State and an MBA from Rider University. Growing up in a “Tom Sawyer” sort of way, he has always loved the Pennsylvania mountains and has collected their folktales and legends for over fifty years, starting in 1970. He self-published them in a series of eight volumes titled Pennsylvania Fireside Tales. Since the tales often sound “far-fetched” today, the author takes on the role of an investigative reporter to explore their origins, writing in a format that the average reader can enjoy.
In 2024 he became a published author when Sunbury Press in Harrisburg came out with his three-volume series titled Pennsylvania Mountain Landmarks – an armchair journey to some of the most unusual and inaccessible landmarks in the Pennsylvania mountains and the history and legends that surround them. Sunbury Press published expanded and improved versions of all eight volumes of the author’s Pennsylvania Fireside Tales series and of his Pennsylvania Fireside Ghost Tales.
"Pennsylvania Mountain Landmarks" (YouTube)
Date: February 26, 2025
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
In 2018-2020, the Commonwealth Monument Project launched a "Look Up, Look Out" campaign to reimagine Harrisburg's Old Eighth Ward, the multi-ethnic neighborhood demolished from the 1910s to install the buildings and green space of the State Capitol Complex. The campaign was designed to draw attention to a once-thriving neighborhood that now teems with government workers and those associated with the everyday business of the capital city. Using a combination of historical research and digital tools, a group of local historians, change agents, technologists, and faculty and students of area universities identified 12 sites throughout the various buildings of the Capitol Complex to place posters that told the varied stories of the vanished neighborhood. These posters will be on display at the State Library Main Reading Room, in the heart of the Old 8th ward.
We invite visitors to Pennsylvania’s capitol district to stop, look up, look out, and imagine a thriving neighborhood that once existed before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appropriated the grounds a century ago for state use. Visit the State Library reading room exhibition to explore the Eighth Ward. The Main Reading Room hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 AM – 6 PM.
The State Library's virtual Lunch and Learn program will host a presentation from the creators of the exhibition and public humanities students of Messiah University to discuss the original campaign and the new digital resources available for exploring the lost neighborhood in the shadow of the state capitol.
"Look Up, Look Out" Event (YouTube)
Date: December 18, 2024
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
Pioneer, patriot, politician...
John Harris Jr. was a true visionary in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania-during a time in history when taking a risk meant putting your life on the line. He proudly took bold steps in supporting monumental changes that now define history. His legacy is strong in Pennsylvania, but his story has never been told, until now.
Visionary Road to the Capital sheds light on Harris' journey-filled with both tragedies and triumphs-during life on the frontier. While his name doesn't stand out amongst other influencers during that era, like Washington or Jefferson, Harris' life is woven into the fabric of America's birth. He funded and supported the cause for freedom and took brave measures to secure the land that would eventually become Pennsylvania's capital city, Harrisburg. (Amazon)
Dave Biser is pastor of CrossPoint Church in Harrisburg, and president of the Historical Society of Dauphin County.
"Visionary Road to the Capital" (YouTube)
Date: November 6, 2024
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
About the book:
In 1939, a native-born Polish and Belarusian citizen embarked on a journey to save his Motherland from destruction by the Nazi regime. First as an air defense sergeant credited with disrupting the first raid of Warsaw and then as an agent with the Soviet NKVD, Sergei Bravo’s young life is one series of battles after another. Trusted for assignment with the Kovpak partisans in Ukraine, Sergei is faced with the ultimate test: Save the medieval city of Krakow from destruction as the Nazi’s are chased from eastern Europe and the Red Army begin its race to Berlin.
Based on true events, this is a captivating story, with ties to modern day events. A tale of global conflict, espionage, genocide, and the test of one’s loyalty to their homeland. This tale follows the tradition of John le Carre and Alan Furst novels. (from author’s website: K.R. Kiehl - Fiction Writer | K.R. Kiehl (authorkrkiehl.com)
About the author:
K.R. Kiehl is an American writer of historical fiction and short stories. He is relatively new to creative fiction but has over 25 years’ experience writing and publishing in academic and research journals. K.R. Kiehl is a retired military officer, college professor, and state government executive. He began his creative writing journey as a Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program grantee from The Foundation on Enhancing Communities. His work has been published in The Bluebird Word, Fan Story, and Prentice Hall.
"Saving Krakow: A Novel" Event (YouTube)