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The General Society Calendar of Events
Labor, Landmarks and Literature Lecture Series continues a tradition of public lectures that started at The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen (GSMT) in 1837.
| LITERATURE WhichPublishingFuture? 
A series of conversations on what role books will play in the future of book publishing. Leading industry insiders and publishing legends come together to discuss the ways people read today, how reading may evolve in the future, and how publishers will be meeting readers needs in the decades to come. |
LANDMARKS OUR CITY NEIGHBORHOODS: ARMCHAIR WALKING TOURS 
The neighborhood walking tour is a New York City institution that was popularized in the many years leading up to the passage of the Landmarks Law in 1965. The walking tour introduced residents and visitors to the architectural wealth of the city, and fueled the drive to protect its future. From the comfort of your library seat, join four of the city’s most knowlegable and entertaining tour guides for visits to four city neighborhoods. |
LABOR CRAFTSMANSHIP IN NEW YORK 
While New York is not often thought of as a workshop, its manufacturing heritage and history can be seen in every aspect of the City’s creation, including its fuel, furnishings, and fixtures. Our series examines aspects of that heritage which display not only the transformation of work and the drive for productivity and quality control, but also the ways in which New York as an urban area continues to foster experimentation, interdependence and creativity in manufacturing and design. |
All lectures are hosted in the General Society building at 20 West 44th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues) and will take place on Tuesdays at 6pm (please note that the lecture, The Next Digital Age is at 1:00 pm on Saturday, December 6th and is free as part of the NYCIP 21st Annual Indie & Small Press Book Fair).
Reservations are strongly recommended as seating is limited. Admission tickets are not mailed but held at the door. Admission is $15, $10 for members, and $5 for students. Special lecture packages available: Full Pack includes all 12 lectures for $120, $70 for members. Six Pack includes any 6 lectures for $60, $30 for members. Four Pack includes any 4 lectures for $45, $20 for members.
Note a standard year membership is $50. Click here to become a member.
Tickets can be purchased online. We accept all major forms of payment online.
To request a brochure for on Labor, Landmarks, & Literature, or further information on events at The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen contact 212-840-1840 or email library@generalsociety.org.
Click here to download the PDF brochure of Labor, Landmarks, & Literature.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
Labor lecture New York and the Gas Lighting Revolution in the Nineteenth Century sponsored by The Merchant’s House Museum.
| Full Pack (12 lectures) — Non-Member: $120 | |
| Full Pack (12 lectures) — Member: $70 | |
| Six Pack — Non-Member: $60 | |
| Six Pack — Member: $30 | |
| Four Pack — Non-Member: $45 | |
| Four Pack — Member: $20 |
Matthew A. Thurlow, Research Associate, The American Wing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art During a career that spanned six decades, the New York cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) organized the trade’s first large scale operation by merging the various specialties associated with furniture production under one roof. In bringing Phyfe’s designs to life, his workshop crafted highly sophisticated wares that were sought after in the early nineteenth century for the dining rooms and parlors of the City’s elegant dwelling houses.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
Barney Rosset, well-known throughout our publishing community as a champion of free speech, fought multiple landmark legal battles in order to publish uncensored versions of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, and William H. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Grove Press became one of the bellwether cultural institutions of the 1950s and 1960s, introducing Americans to the writings of Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet, among many others. The evening will be devoted to using lessons of the past as a predictor of the future, and Mr. Rosset will be joined by surprise special guests.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
Daniel Karatzas, Historian, Writer, and Realtor In the Early 20th century in Queens, an unprecedented new community began to appear in the midst of farmland. A visionary developer, seeing an opportunity in the arrival of mass transit linking Queens to Manhattan, set out to build what was named Jackson Heights. Now a designated historic district for its architectural merit, the community is also one of the city's great melting pots. Resident historian Daniel Karatzas will show us the people and places of this groundbreaking neighborhood.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
New York in 1823 was the third city in the United States to establish a gas manufacturing company, ushering in a new era in the history of artificial illumination. Although third in line to adopt gas light, New York rapidly became the center of the gas industry.
Vincent Plescia, Project Director for the conservation and restoration of the Merchant’s House Museum’s two nineteenth-century gas chandeliers, will discuss early New York gas companies, their relationships with the City, and gas lighting devices designed for consumers. This lecture is co-sponsored by the Merchant’s House Museum.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
Four glass artisans, whose workshops restore period glass and produce original designs for today, gather to exhibit and discuss their work: Charles Flickinger, bent glass for lighting, restoration, cabinetry and architecture (www.flickingerglassworks.com); Michael Davis, blown glass for historic reproductions and replication (www.michaeldavisglass.com); Victor Rothman, stained glass conservation; and Tomas Tisch, wheel cut and engraved glass(www.tomastisch.org).
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
Michael Jensen has been at the forefront of electronic publishing, working with Johns Hopkins University Press, and University of Nebraska Press before becoming Director of Strategic Web Communications for the National Academies and National Academies Press. He will discuss the future of the book industry and reflect on the role of books in a landscape where the web enables organizations to offer "more than 3700 books (more than 650,000 pages) from the National Academy of the Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council fully browsable and searchable online for free."
Admission is free. But please note that advance reservations are required.
Tuesday February 3, 6:30 pmFor many decades urban homesteaders have transformed New York City communities, restoring neglected buildings, bringing new life and value to neighborhoods. Nowhere has this transformation been more startling than at Harding Park in the Bronx, where what began in the 19th century as a seasonal summer encampment now boasts year-round homes with waterfront views of Manhattan. Nestor Danyluk will take us there and introduce us to the tenacious Hispanic residents whose vision and sweat made it possible.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
One hundred years ago, Frederick Taylor and his followers developed “scientific management,” a program to organize and measure work processes to increase productivity. Join Eric Breitbart for a screening and discussion of his classic documentary film, which includes historical footage of the first “time and motion studies,” a first step in converting skilled craft processes into unskilled assembly line work.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
After a 17-year career at Hyperion, Robert Miller chose to pursue something new with HarperCollins. This venture, Harper Studio, aims to "effectively publish books that might not otherwise emerge in an increasingly 'big book' environment, an environment in which established authors are under enormous pressure to top their previous successes, while new authors are finding it harder and harder to be published at all."
Jason Epstein has been one of the most consistently creative innovators in American book publishing. In addition to being the founder of Anchor Books, co-founder of The New York Review of Books, and former editorial director at Random House, he is credited with responsibility for the original trade paperback format. He is also the founder of The Readers Subscription, and On Demand Books, creator of Espresso Printing technology, among other innovations.
Miller and Epstein will discuss what contemporary publishers may bring to the next generation of readers and presses.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
New York City's Lower East Side has famously been home to waves of immigrants of varying ethnicities. As the neighborhood gentrifies, it draws visitors not just to its shops and restaurants, but also to its history of remarkable people, "yearning to be free" and their struggles and successes. Historian and writer Joyce Mendelsohn draws these stories out of the 19th century tenements, synagogues and settlement houses that still shape the character of this changing community.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
With the hope that this series of conversations itself may have added to the amazing breadth and diversity of experience of the participants, the series will conclude with an open-mike symposium, inviting members of the audience to join us in revisiting and revising how we imagine the road ahead.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
One of the most dramatic events of 1776 occurred at the Billopp House on the South Shore of Staten Island. There, American patriots met with the British in an effort to gain independence without bloodshed. Almost two centuries later residents of the nearby town of Tottenville fought another kind of battle - to save the legendary house. Historian Barnett Shepherd will lead our armchair tour of this venerable site, now known as Conference House, and other historic but threatened places in this southernmost New York City community.
| Non Member Price - $15 | |
| Member Price - $10 | |
| Student Price - $5 |
| © 2008 The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen |