RECENT EVENTS

The spring 2009 dinner of the President’s Council featured guest speaker Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author whose awards and recognition include being named as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Council members and guests were fascinated by the insights Gladwell offered in his talk about the ways of overcoming seemingly impossible odds, drawing lessons from David and Goliath, Lawrence of Arabia, modern political insurgencies, and a California middle-school girls’ basketball team. Following cocktails and the evening’s program in the South Court Auditorium, attendees joined together for dinner in the Library’s grand white marble entranceway, Astor Hall. (Pictured, from left: President’s Council Co-Chair Gayfryd Steinberg, Malcolm Gladwell, Council Co-Chairs Alice Tisch and Louise Grunwald, and Library President Paul LeClerc.)

In God We Trust? Faith and America
Guest speakers: Jon Meacham, Peggy Noonan, and Sally Quinn
See pictures from the event

The President’s Council fall 2008 dinner featured a distinguished panel discussing the topic of “Faith and America”: Jon Meacham, the Editor of Newsweek; Peggy Noonan, columnist for The Wall Street Journal; and Sally Quinn, journalist and author who, with Mr. Meacham, co-hosts the Washington Post’s blog, On Faith. Members of the President’s Council and guests were treated to a lively discussion exploring the relationship between faith and government in America from the nation’s founding to the present day, with each panelist offering special insight on the 2008 U. S. presidential election. The event began with cocktails and the program in the South Court Auditorium, followed by dinner in Astor Hall. (Pictured, from left, Peggy Noonan, Library Chairman Catherine C. Marron, Jon Meacham, Council Co-Chair Louise Grunwald, Sally Quinn, Council Co-Chairs Alice Tisch and Gayfryd Steinberg, and Library President Paul LeClerc.)

The History of the Twentieth Century Through Music
Guest speakers: Alex Ross and John Schaefer      View the program

The President’s Council spring 2008 dinner featured John Schaefer, host of WNYC’s Soundcheck, interviewing Alex Ross, the bestselling author and music critic of The New Yorker, whose latest book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, was named one of the top five non-fiction books of 2007 by The New York Times. Council members and guests were entertained and intrigued by Ross’s description of the relationship between 20th-century history and social movements and the music they produced. A selection of manuscripts from the Library’s music collections was on display as part of the program, including works by John Cage, Aaron Copland, and Igor Stravinsky. The event began with cocktails and the program in the South Court Auditorium, followed by the dinner in Astor Hall. (Alex Ross, in photo, with Council Co-Chairs Gayfryd Steinberg, left, and Louise Grunwald, right. Co-Chair Alice Tisch not pictured.)

September 17, 2007

Presidential Courage
Guest speaker: Michael Beschloss

“Presidential Courage” was the theme for the fall 2007 President’s Council dinner, which featured special guest speaker Michael Beschloss (pictured), the NBC News Presidential Historian and author of nine books on the American presidency. Council members and guests were inspired by Beschloss’s colorful accounts of crucial moments in history when courageous Presidents dramatically changed the future of the United States, and his focus on the human element and common struggles we all face provided insightful lessons in leadership. The more than 100 dinner guests also were treated to a special display of rare treasures from the Library on American Presidents, ranging from the manuscript of George Washington’s farewell address, dated 1796, to a letter from Ronald Reagan to the publisher of The New York Times in 1962. The event began with the program in the Trustees Room, followed by dinner in the McGraw Rotunda.

February 12, 2007

On Pleasure
Guest panelists: Fran Lebowitz, Charles Masson, Esther Perel, and André Leon Talley

The theme for the President’s Council 2007 pre-Valentines Day celebration was “On Pleasure,” exploring our insatiable appetite for gratification in its many forms. The lively program featured André Leon Talley, Editor-at-Large of Vogue and highly influential figure in the world of fashion; humorist Fran Lebowitz, best known for her wildly sardonic commentaries on American life; Esther Perel, the insightful author of Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and Domestic; and Charles Masson, owner of one of New York’s most elegant restaurants, Le Grenouille, renowned for its excellent cuisine and exquisite floral arrangements. Guests were treated to a special exhibit of treasures from the Library’s collections, including valentine drawings by e.e. cummings, intimate 18th-century watercolor depictions of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigori Potemkin, and an autograph manuscript of Claude Debussy’s Les Papillons, dedicated to Marie-Blanche Vasnier, his muse. Dinner was strikingly set in Astor Hall with décor by the noted designer, David Monn. (Pictured: Library Chairman Catherine C. Marron, far right, and President Paul LeClerc, far left, with President’s Council Co-Chairs and panelists at the February 2007 dinner.)

September 25, 2006

Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Billy Rose Theatre Division
Guest panelists: Jane Greenwood, John Guare, Donna Karger, and Kathleen Marshall

The fall 2006 President’s Council dinner traveled uptown to the Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Billy Rose Theatre Division. The pre-dinner program in the Bruno Walter Auditorium featured a panel of illustrious guests, composed of playwright John Guare, choreographer and director Kathleen Marshall, and costume designer Jane Greenwood, who were led in a fascinating discussion by Donna Karger, of NY1’s On Stage. The panel spoke about some of their most well known plays and productions—including Guare’s House of Blue Leaves, Marshall’s 2006 revival of The Pajama Game, and Sir John Gielgud’s 1964 production of Hamlet, for which Greenwood designed costumes—and shared how the Library has been a resource and inspiration to them through the years. Clips from the Library’s Theatre on Film and Tape Archive and letters from the Theatre Division were used to complement their stories. After the program, guests adjourned for dinner to the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Reading Room, with its spectacular view looking out onto Lincoln Center Plaza. (Pictured, from left, panelists Donna Karger, John Guare, Jane Greenwood, and Kathleen Marshall.)

January 30, 2006

Tenth Anniversary Gala
Guest speakers: Simon Russell Beale and Linda Emond

The President’s Council Tenth Anniversary Gala took place in two of the Library's grandest spaces, the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division and the McGraw Rotunda. . The program featured three outstanding performers bringing the collections of the Library to life. At the cocktail reception, the musical performance by the critically acclaimed jazz quartet Meta-Four, lead by the saxophonist and composer Eric Person, included arrangements based on three manuscripts of John Coltrane recently acquired for the Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The after-dinner program featured readings from great Library treasures given by two award-winning actors: Simon Russell Beale, of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and Linda Emond, acclaimed for her roles on Broadway and in feature films—both of whom starred in the PBS documentary John & Abigail Adams, which aired one week before the Library’s event. The evening was a fitting celebration of the President Council’s wonderful success in raising more than $15 million for the Library over its first decade. (Pictured: Library President Paul LeClerc, standing at the podium, with guests in the McGraw Rotunda.)