PRESENTATION AND BOOK SIGNING AT THE CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM

May 12, 2009, 06:17

Ali Kahn and Peggy Fox will present their newly released book Patapsco: Life Along Maryland’s Historic River Valley on June 7 at 2:00 p.m. in the museum auditorium. With a backdrop of photographs from the book taken by Fox, and live music by local musicians, Kahn will share the unfolding story of how this book came to be, and what it meant both to the authors and the people they chronicled.

This documentary effort is about a historic valley that saw the birth of industry in Maryland, the nation's first railroad, and the nation's first cross-country highway. This compelling portrait of the region is viewed through personal narratives, evocative essays, and photographs of farmer and merchant, minister and teacher, policeman and firefighter, domestic and mill worker. From their voices we gain a true sense of the cultural legacy of Maryland's historic Patapsco River Valley.

Alison Kahn is a writer, editor, and folklorist, with a special interest in oral history. She has a master’s degree in folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she published her first book, Listen While I Tell You: A Story of the Jews of St. John's, Newfoundland. The book inspired a CBC radio documentary, which she co-produced.
 
Kahn has written for and edited numerous National Geographic publications, and also written for the Smithsonian, Time-Life Books, and others. She has edited several books on regional culture for the Maryland Historical Trust and Maryland Traditions. Kahn currently works as an editor at American University.

Peggy Fox trained as a painter at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. After relocating to Baltimore and serving as director of the art department at St. Paul’s School, she embarked on a career as an independent photographer. She balances her time between assignment photography and art.

Early in her career, Fox was featured in a one-person show at the Baltimore Museum of Art. In 1987, she created “Lost in the Cosmos,” a 10-by-200-foot mural executed in porcelain enamel on steel and commissioned by the Maryland Transit Administration for the Johns Hopkins Hospital Metro station. She has received two Maryland Arts Council grants and her work is exhibited nationally.

In her introduction, Ali Kahn states: “Only people can express the life and textures of the past. Oral history captures these details, creates a record, gives our places a voice… In the process of remembering, we discover the extraordinary in the ordinary. We discover our common humanity.”  This sentiment is as true of the Patuxent as the Patapsco.

Patapsco: Life Along Maryland’s Historic River Valley is available for sale in the museum store, with a book signing following the presentation. The presentation is free in the museum auditorium. For more information, call Sherrod Sturrock at 410-326-2042 ext. 32.