Authors Speak on Churchill and RFK

Students, faculty, and community members attended programs in April 2008 sponsored by the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library featuring talks by authors of recent books on Winston Churchill and Robert F. Kennedy.

On April 9, Dr. Jonathan Rose, the William R. Kenan Professor of History at Drew University, spoke on Winston Churchill and the Literary History of Politics in Bracken Library. The program was co-sponsored by the Center for Middletown Studies. Dr. Rose is the author of a recent book by the same title as his talk.

On April 21, Mr. Ray Boomhower, Senior Editor at the Indiana Historical Society Press, presented Robert F. Kennedy: The 1968 Indiana Primary, also the title of his book.

The cover of Boomhower’s recently published book features a photograph of Kennedy speaking at Ball State University on April 4, 1968, from the George Yeamans Collection in the University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections. Other photographs taken by Yeamans are used in the book also.

Boomhower’s program was particularly appropriate during the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s visit to Ball State University when he was running for president. Kennedy learned of the shooting and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while in Muncie and then went on to give his memorable speech in Indianapolis about King’s death.

The Yeamans photographs along with video and audio of Kennedy’s 1968 speech can be found in the Ball State Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu/.

For more information on the Kennedy speech collection or the Friends of Bracken Library, contact John B. Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.