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A reference librarian at the Lincoln Public Library in Springfield
had answered a query about the term for a 175th anniversary with "sesquiquinquagenicentennial"
and suggested laughingly that the town had better just use "175th."
Mason City is also celebrating that milestone in 2007.
Upcoming events at the Knapp Library
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March 18, 11 a.m.
-- Chess club
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April 29, 9:30 a.m.
-- Genealogical workshop
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May 18, noon --
1800s book fair, sponsored by Abraham Lincoln Chapter, Daughters
of the National Society of the American Revolution
The Knapp-Chesnut-Becker Historical Society has received
confirmation of its status as a not-for-profit corporation in good
standing from the Illinois attorney general's office. Donations are
tax-exempt as corroborated with the Internal Revenue Service.
The society was incorporated July 29, 1991, to restore the oldest
brick building in Logan County as a library-museum, providing a
depository for the rich heritage of genealogy and history of the
area.
New additions to the library
- Genealogical data; from Dorothy J. Allison Dirks
- "Flags of Our Fathers," by James Bradley and Ron Powers;
from Kathy Sommers
- "Leonardo's Notebooks," edited by H. Anna Suh, 2005; from
Winnie Golden
- "Dream Machines"; from the Coffee Group
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"Dream Machines"
With never-ever an airport in Middletown, it is ironic that the
village is "on the map" as far as aviation is concerned. The Vin Fiz,
the first plane to fly over America, landed in Hinck's field in
1911. In 1984, John Petrehn brought Middletown five hot-air balloon
world records that were documented in Washington, D.C., and Paris,
France.
The gift of the video "Leonardo's Dream Machines" is of great
importance to educating our youth and ourselves about the art and
science of flight. Common, erroneous knowledge tells us that flight
began with the Wright brothers. However, da Vinci (1452-1519) --
painter, sculptor, architect and engineer -- is to be given that
credit.
The video shows a team of British engineers who followed da
Vinci's directions faithfully and were successful in completing a
plane that was then test-piloted by a woman. The video also shows
another team of British engineers who knew more than da Vinci and
deviated from his plans on building a weapon of war -- a huge
crossbow. It was a failure, because in the catapulting of the iron
ball, the wood broke and the ball ejected only a short distance.
The huge reference volume of the da Vinci notebooks contains
drawings of the flying machine and the crossbow, as well as many of
the heart (physicians now recognize that da Vinci gave them unique
information), the human body, architecture and more.
[News release from Winnie Golden]
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