HomeMy WebLinkAbout(0003) IR 10306 - Library Americans and the Holocaust Traveling ExhibitINFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
No. 10306
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To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
August 20, 2019
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SUBJECT: LIBRARY APPLYING FOR "AMERICANS AND THE HOLOCAUST"
TRAVELING EXHIBIT
The American Library Association and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is
sponsoring Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition that examines the motives,
pressures, and fears that shaped Americans' responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe
during the 1930s and 1940s. The exhibition will travel to 50 sites across the United States and
Fort Worth Public Library has applied to be one of the sites. Americans and the
Holocaust examines various aspects of American society: the government, the military, refugee
aid organizations, the media, and the general public. It aims, like all of the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum's exhibitions, to motivate audiences to think critically about the
history as individual citizens, as a country, and as members of a global community. If awarded,
Fort Worth will host the exhibit for six weeks sometime in 2020-2022. The 1,100 square foot
exhibit will be displayed at the Central Library and will involve public programming, including
programs aimed at school -aged children.
As a publically funded educational institution, the Fort Worth Public Library is the perfect place to
host an exhibition that challenges the community to figure out how to prevent an event like the
Holocaust happening again. It is important that as a community we engage in conversations that
help us examine failings from the past and contextualize them in the present. As a safe and
neutral space, the public library helps people from all backgrounds, political beliefs, and economic
status to come together as a community to have hard conversations that are not always
acceptable to have with friends and family. The library is thrilled to have this opportunity because
it advances their mission to building a community of learners, dreamers, and doers.
If you have any questions concerning this information, please contact Manya Shorr, Library
Director at 817-392-7707 or manya.shorr@fortworthtexas.gov.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER
FORT WORTH, TEXAS