Fresh from the Stacks

Veterans Wall of Honor

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at the Wood River Museum of History and Culture

The Wood River Museum is exhibiting a Wall of Honor for United States Veterans, November 12-22, 2024, to recognize those who served and sacrificed for our country, our freedom, our liberty.

You are invited to participate by filling out a page with a veteran that you know. This person can be yourself, a family member, friend, neighbor, etc. and the veteran can be living or deceased.

Download the form below or pick one up at the Museum, Gold Mine stores, or main circulation desk at The Community Library. Please return your submission by November 9, 2024!

“Honoring a Veteran” Forms

Return by November 9, 2024 to:

FAQ

  • The Wall of Honor will be on display at the Wood River Museum (4th and Walnut in Ketchum) November 12-22. 2024.
  • Please return the completed pages no later than November 9! Digital forms can be emailed to Kristine Bretall or forms dropped off at the Museum, Gold Mine stores, or the main circulation desk at The Community Library.
  • You are more than welcome to fill out more than one form. We ask that you make one page per veteran.
  • Please include a photo of the veteran along with the information. If you need assistance with this, please reach out to Kristine Bretall. She is happy to help!
  • The veteran does not have to be from the Wood River Valley, the connection prompt is a way to share how the veteran is connected to this place (ex: “Cousin of Brigid Miller who lives in Ketchum” etc.)
  • Please share this project with friends, family, other organizations or groups that you are a part of —everyone is welcome to participate!

It is our privilege to provide this opportunity to honor our veterans. Thank you for your service!

Can You See Me in This Camo?

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Camo is sitting in plain sight in most every corner of the the Gold Mine Thrift store this season. The Fall/Winter Opening revealed a wide assortment of camo-wear in rugged colors, shapes and sizes, including boots, hats, tops, and bottoms for men and women.

Plus … new merchandise is hitting the floor every day to keep you camouflaged in the great outdoors – and maybe even in a crowd!

Happy camo shopper - Gold Mine Fall Opening 2024
Camo boots mens Gold Mine
Camo bottoms mens Gold Mine

    Proceeds from the Gold Mine help support books, literacy, and programs at The Community Library. The store is located at 331 Walnut Avenue in Ketchum.

    All Things Plaid

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    The Fall/Winter Opening at the Gold Mine Thrift store has revealed a delightful selection of hats, boots, and apparel – for adults and children – in a wide assortment of colors, shapes and sizes.

    And … new merchandise is hitting the floor every day to keep you warm, cozy, and stylish during the chilly season!

    Mens plaid shirts Gold Mine Thrift

    Pictured above:

    • Plaid Aviator Cap from REI in charcoal, men’s small/medium for $18
    • Girl’s Skirt with Dog Appliqué from Mini Boden in houndstooth plaid with button tab closure, 100% cotton, size 9-10Y
    • Ceramic cup from the housewares department will add charm and delight to your autumn hot chocolate
    • Men’s plaid, long-sleeved shirts in flannel, cotton, and corduroy, with choices in many sizes, patterns, and colors

    Proceeds from the Gold Mine help support books, literacy, and programs at The Community Library. The store is located at 331 Walnut Avenue in Ketchum.

    What’s in a Library Collection?

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    By Collections Manager Aly Wepplo

    I love my library and I love books.

    Working in The Community Library, I get a lot of requests for what’s new and next in the world of reading:  

    • “Emily Henry’s next one comes out in October – put me on hold!”  
    • “I just finished the last Daniel Silva – when is the next one out?”  
    • “Did you hear? There’s a new Malcolm Gladwell!”  
    Aly Wepplo and patron Joyce Patricelli
    Aly and patron Joyce Patricelli discuss books in the New Books Nook.

    Since the Library posted our online acquisition request form to our website last Fall, we have received about 800 requests. That’s 73 a month, 17 a week, or three a day. And that’s just what we collect online!  

    All these requests mean our shelves hold something for everyone. We’re building the library’s collection together.  
      
    As Collections Manager, I love hearing your requests. I also look to library trade publications for the latest in book news – I never miss Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus, all of which you can read online. I consult reviews from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and People Magazine, all of which are available to read in the library. And I love the email newsletters from Book Riot and Publishers Weekly.  

    But personal recommendations are my favorite.

    They make me feel in-the-know and connected to the community. Earlier this month, I received patron requests for The New Whole30 and Beyond Paradise Season 2, which I hadn’t realized were available yet. And of course, I’m always filling my to-read list with recommendations from coworkers, like the new kids’ fantasy Impossible Creatures, recommended by Children’s Librarian DeAnn Campbell and the indie bestseller Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, recommended by Director of Programs and Education Martha Williams.  

    Where do you get your book recommendations? Let us know in the comments!  

    Hemingway’s Grave: A Year of Offerings

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    The Community Library opened a new exhibit this week in its Foyer that displays objects that were collected from the gravesite of Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Hemingway died by his own hand in 1961 in his home in Ketchum, Idaho.* He was buried in the the Ketchum Cemetery and his funeral ceremony was attended by close friends and family.

    Ernest Hemingway's Funeral 1961
    Photo: Center for Regional History, Hemingway Collection

    Curated by prominent Broadway director Les Waters, Hemingway’s Grave: A Year of Offerings, brings together select tokens from hundreds that were left at Ernest Hemingway’s grave in Ketchum over the course of one year. The exhibit features all the liquors bottles left there, plus the coins and paper money, an assortment of ephemera, a rose, and a deeply personal letter.

    Waters also selected items he found most interesting, and surprising, for the exhibit, including a brand new red lipstick, a fly fishing lure, a bullet casing, a shiny silver bracelet, and a cat collar. These are displayed in a collection with other ephemera found at the gravesite. One of the most poignant items left behind was a letter from a woman who found encouragement and hope in Hemingway’s work during in a particularly difficult period of her life.

    Hemingways grave for website

    Liquor bottles, coins, and paper bills were among the most common items left at Ernest Hemingway’s gravesite over the course of one year.

    Ernest Hemingway’s Final Refuge 

    Hemingway Portrait by Yousef Karsh 1957
    Portrait by Yousef Karsh, 1957

    Ernest Hemingway died by suicide in Ketchum, Idaho, on July 2, 1961. He had been coming to Idaho for twenty-two years, when he was at the height of his literary powers and when he was his most vulnerable. He developed deep friendships here, and he had an abiding affection for the landscape.   

    Hemingway is buried in the Ketchum cemetery, now surrounded by the gravesites of his immediate family members and close friends. His gravesite has become a pilgrimage site, and many people leave offerings at his grave. The objects accumulate daily, throughout all the seasons.  

    In September 2022, the theater director Les Waters came to Ketchum through the Sun Valley Playwright’s Residency to collaborate with monologist David Cale on Blue Cowboy, a piece about Ketchum,  a dog, a certain cowboy, and the annual Trailing of the Sheep.  

    Waters knew little about Ketchum before that visit—only that people skied here, that Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich were associated with the town; that perhaps a famous writer lived and died here. . . . While he was in Ketchum, Waters visited Hemingway’s gravesite, and he became fascinated by the tokens that people left there and what they might represent.  

    Waters was inspired to develop a project with The Community Library (with the permission of the Ketchum Cemetery) to collect and log these objects over the course of one year. He did so with the help of local literary scholar Lauren Allan, who also worked on the Hemingway Letters Project. Over one year, hundreds of objects were collected from the gravesite of this complex man who shaped modern literature. 

    The exhibit, Hemingway’s Grave: A Year of Offerings, presents a collection of these tokens. It will be on display in the Library’s Foyer through December 2024.

    *The Historic Ernest Hemingway House and Preserve, which Ernest shared with his fourth wife, Mary Welsh Hemingway, is managed by The Community Library Association as a private residence for visiting writers, and the site of ongoing preservation efforts.

    Call for Local, Self-Published Authors

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    The Community Library is hosting a Local Authors Showcase August 15, 2024. Deadline to apply: July 31, 2024.

    Juan Reyes podium podium LR

    The Community Library is hosting a Local Authors Showcase from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on August 15, 2024, in the John A. and Carol O. Moran Lecture Hall. This is a terrific opportunity for local, self-published authors – who don’t typically receive powerhouse publicity machines to nudge their books onto bestseller lists – to take the stage and share their work. 

    The Library is accepting applications through July 31. Interested authors can apply here.

    Up to six authors will have 15 minutes each to share from their work, whether through a reading, presentation, or speaking. Authors will each be provided a table in the Lecture Hall from which to sell books and interact with attendees and each other. 

    This event is intended for Wood River Valley-based, self-published authors, but others will be considered based on availability. Applicants in all genres will be considered, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, narrative, and other genres. Unpublished work will not be considered.  

    The authors selected to present at the Local Authors Showcase will be notified by August 2. 

    The Local Authors Showcase is part of the Library’s annual open house, “Book around the Block!” which celebrates the Wood River Valley community and shines a light on the work of the Library, Wood River Museum of History and Culture, and the Gold Mine Thrift and Consign stores.  

    Says Director of Philanthropy Carter Hedberg, who spearheads the event, “We’re going to ‘book around the block’ for literacy, history, shopping, community, food, and fun. Join the scavenger hunt, get your picture taken in the ‘Olympic’ photo booth, enjoy free food and beverages, or just sit back, relax, and enjoy music on the lawn. Kids will also have special activities just for them.”  

    Book around the Block! will be centered at the intersection of 4th Street and Walnut Avenue and include the Wood River Museum and Gold Mine stores, as well as the Donaldson Robb Family Lawn, Cimino Plaza, Lecture Hall, and the Library’s foyer—where the Summer Games | Local Heroes exhibit recently opened. 

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