Burnham Plan Is Topic of Next University-Library Lecture

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Carl Smith, Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English and American Studies and professor of history at Northwestern University, will present a lecture/slide show about Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's 1909 "Plan of Chicago" Thursday, May 8, in the Evanston Public Library.

Smith's presentation -- the second event in the Evanston Northwestern Humanities Lecture Series -- will take place at 7 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room of the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave. Like all lectures in the series, it is free and open to the public.

Smith is author of "The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City," for which he was awarded the 2006 Lewis Mumford Prize for Best Book in American Planning History. A book signing will follow his presentation.

Commonly called the Burnham Plan, the Plan of Chicago is one of the most important documents in the history of urban planning. It proposed many of Chicago's most distinctive features today and presented a new vision of urban life.

The Evanston Northwestern Humanities Lecture Series was established by Northwestern's Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities and the Evanston Public Library as a way for Northwestern faculty to showcase and share their research in the humanities with the Evanston community.

The series' inaugural lecture was delivered by Hollis Clayson, director of the Kaplan Humanities Institute, Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities and professor of art history and history. In fall 2008, Assistant Northwestern University Librarian Jeffrey Garrett -- an international children's literature specialist -- will talk about universals in children's book illustration and present illustrations from children's books around the world.

For further information about the May 8 event at the Evanston Public Library, call (847) 448-8620 or (847) 491-7916.