Presentations of Letters from Siberia

Posted on February 15, 2012

Presentation of Hope and Spirit to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Humanities Council

On January 7, 2012, a busload of historians, who were attending the annual American Historical Association meeting, arrived from the conference in downtown Chicago. I gave them a tour of the exhibit. It was very gratifying to have a professional historical association pay so much attention to this neglected chapter in the world’s history.

On January 21, with the assistance of Luka Saparnis and Sam De Sando, we performed an illustrated reading of letters from Siberia. This actually was quite an emotional experience–I had to control my own tears at times. We hope to have the readings recorded and released on DVD’s and YouTube.

On January 27, I was honored to give a personal tour of the Hope and Spirit program to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Humanities Council. These dignitaries came in from across Illinois (and one from Princeton University in NJ), for their quarterly board meeting. I was told that the reason they chose the Balzekas Museum was precisely because of my exhibit. They had read Mr. Bill Hageman’s article about this program in the Chicago Tribune, and wanted to see it.