Update ~ Library Winter Lecture Series with Professor Daniel Breen, ‘It’s a Mystery’

February 12, 2021

After technical difficulties on February 7, the Library’s Winter Lecture Series featuring Professor Daniel Breen will get underway at 2 pm on Sunday, February 14, and continue through March 14. The series will be presented via Zoom.

The log-in for each lecture will be the same:
Join Zoom Meeting  https://zoom.us/j/93241615425
Meeting ID: 987 1759 3087
Dial by your location: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York); +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC); +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago); +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose); +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma); +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aetfCIauff

February 14—The Cock Lane Ghost
Can disembodied spirits give evidence against their murderers?
A purported haunting that attracted mass public attention in 1762 on Cock Lane, a short road adjacent to London’s Smithfield Market and a few minutes’ walk from St Paul’s Cathedral. The event centered on three people: William Kent, a usurer from Norfolk, Richard Parsons, a parish clerk, and Parsons’ daughter Elizabeth.

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February 21—The Infamous Burke and Hare
Murder in the cause of Medicine?
A series of 16 killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland, undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures.

February 28—The Death of Harvey Burdell
Homicide and Dentistry in Antebellum New York
On January 31, 1857, a prominent dentist named Harvey Burdell was found brutally murdered — strangled, then stabbed 15 times — in his office and home on Bond Street with suspects who populated the rooms at 31 Bond St.

March 7—Florence Chandler Maybrick
Fifteen Lost Years in Aylesbury Prison
Was an American woman convicted in the United Kingdom of murdering her husband, cotton merchant James Maybrick.

March 14—The Case of Hawley Crippen
Murder enters the Age of Mass Communication
A mild-mannered physician who killed his wife, then for a time managed to elude capture, in one of the most notorious criminal cases of the 20th century.

About the 2021 Lecture Series

This year the lecture series is dedicated to the memory of Jim Purvis. Jim was a long time Friends’ member and bookie, who dedicated many hours sorting and appraising book donations in preparation for the Friends’ book sales.

These 2 pm lectures are funded through the generosity of donations to the Friends of the Library in his memory.

Dr. Daniel Breen is a professor of Legal Studies at Brandeis University. In the past fourteen years,  Dan has lectured at the Library about World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, the American Revolution, Prohibition, Supreme Court cases, the Civil War, the Roosevelts, great moments in science,  the Space Race and presidential campaigns. Dr. Breen has a BA from the University of Wisconsin,  a JD from the University of Georgia and a PhD in History from Boston College. He has taught at Framingham State University and Newbury College. 

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