Lessons from the Stacks: Reading Dangerously

Efforts to control what people read have played a central role in American political and cultural life in the 20th century. Whose access was protected and whose was restricted?

Join NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools for a workshop that explores , a free curriculum guide that traces our nation’s history of censorship, impact of book banning, and struggles over access to information. Educators will explore primary documents that reveal how books, ideas, and readers have long been sites of conflict and how those conflicts continue to shape public life today.

Participants will reflect on how historical case studies of censorship can support classroom conversations about power, freedom, and the right to read.

Eligible NY State educators can receive 1.5 CTLE credit hours for participating in this session. Light snacks will be provided.

This workshop is part of Lessons from the Stacks, a multi-part professional learning series that invites educators to explore New York City and U.S. history through NYPL’s collections. Each session explores a different resource from NYPL’s curriculum guides, which highlight various historical case studies using primary sources from the Library’s research collections.

Educators are encouraged to attend multiple sessions to build a broader picture of how archival materials can support historical thinking, research, and classroom inquiry across topics and time periods.

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PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs are photographed and recorded by the New York Public Library. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to [email protected]. Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

ACCESSIBILITY | You may request ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing [email protected] at least two weeks in advance of the event.

This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

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Host or Publisher The New York Public Library