PAST PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Miss one of our programs? Use the drop down at right to view CPLF programs from past years,
or check out this collection of CPLF programs and events.

March 26, 2025

Fireside Chat in the Library
Can We Talk? Media, Ethics, and Dialogue Across Boundaries 
with Professor Patrick Belanger
6:30 PM, Reading Room at Harrison Memorial Library

Join CSUMB Professor of Communications Patrick Belanger as he explores varying ideas about how to reinvigorate public communication and enrich deliberative democracy.

Registration coming soon

March 13, 2025

Community Night with the Library
Media Literacy: Essential Tools for Critical Thinking 
with Jevin West
6:30 PM, Center For Performing Arts at Carmel High School

Join University of Washington professor and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public Jevin West as he addresses the issue of misinformation and provides strategies to discern genuine information from falsehoods.

Registration coming soon

February 19, 2025

Community Night with the Library
GPS: A Tale of Science and Subterfuge with Dr. Frank van Diggelen
7:00 PM, Carpenter Hall at Sunset Center

Join one of America’s foremost experts on GPS, former Stanford professor, current distinguished engineer at Google and member of NASA’s GPS advisory board, Dr. Frank van Diggelen, to learn more about this story of science and subterfuge, the myriad ways GPS impacts our lives, and how this technology might be used in the future.

Registration coming soon

January 22, 2025

Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Frank & Eva Buck Foundation and Robert & Lacy Buck
Timeless Treasures: Preserving Cultural Heritage Through Architectural Conservation with Kent Seavey and Seth Bergstein
7:00 PM, Carpenter Hall at Sunset Center

Historic cottages and buildings with architectural significance contribute to Carmel’s unique charm. Join architectural historians Kent Seavey and Seth Bergstein as they discuss the landmark buildings of Carmel and the importance of historic conservation to maintain community character.

Registration coming soon

January 8, 2025

Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Frank & Eva Buck Foundation and Robert & Lacy Buck
Literary Luminaries: 
Six Trailblazing Writers Who Shaped Carmel with Vince Emery
6:30 PM, Reading Room at Harrison Memorial Library

Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Mary Austin, Robinson Jeffers, George Sterling, Sinclair Lewis: As writers, they found artistic refuge and inspiration in Carmel. Join writer and publisher Vince Emery as he explores their literary legacy.

December 4, 2024

Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Frank & Eva Buck Foundation and Robert & Lacy Buck
Carmel’s Leading Man: Herbert Heron and the Forest Theater with Actor Taelen Thomas and Professor Susan Shillinglaw
6:30 PM, Reading Room at Harrison Memorial Library 

Join actor Taelen Thomas and Professor Susan Shillinglaw for a deep dive into the life of Shakespearean-trained actor Herbert “Bert” Heron, who oversaw the construction of the Forest Theater in 1910 and established the Carmel theater scene. This program will feature dramatic readings from Heron’s letters.

November 13, 2024

Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Frank & Eva Buck Foundation and Robert & Lacy Buck
Don’t Worry, Your Orchestra is Here: How Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous Brought Music to Carmel with David Gordon
7:00 PM, Carpenter Hall at Sunset Center

Discover the lives of two extraordinary musical visionaries, the Carmel women who inspired David Gordon’s historical book Carmel Impresarios: A Cultural Biography of Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous.

October 23, 2024

Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Frank & Eva Buck Foundation and Robert & Lacy Buck
Jane Gallatin Powers and the Ladies of the Club: How the Women Artists of Early Carmel Shaped its Destiny with Erin Lee Gafill
7:00 PM, Carpenter Hall at Sunset Center

September 25, 2024

Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture Series
Carmel’s True Beginnings: The Vision of James Franklin Devendorf with Jack Galante – Henry Meade Williams Local History Lecture