First Sunday Lecture Series

What’s With Atlanta?: The Quirks, Personality, and Charm of the ATL
Sunday, January 7
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Join local Atlanta author and travel writer Paige Watts to uncover Atlanta's quirks, history, and charm. Her new book, What's With Atlanta?, answers all your burning questions about the ATL:

"Why are there so many Peachtree Streets?"
"How did Atlanta get to be the home of the Braves?".
Come learn something new, test your Atlanta trivia, and play ATL Bingo!

Speaker Bio:
Seasoned travel writer and Atlanta local Paige Watts has spent a decade writing about all things travel. She chronicles her journeys on her blog, PaigeMindsTheGap.com, where she highlights the joys of visiting Southern destinations. In addition to her blog, Paige has written for a number of online and print publications, including the Culture Trip, Matador Network, Epicure & Culture, MSN, and Travel the South. She received a double Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Evansville in Creative Writing and Literature, with a minor in International Studies.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Friday, January 19, 2024
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
ages: 18 and up
RSVP – registration required

Event Description: Smyrna Library is hosting a special exhibit in January called “From DNA to Beer: Harnessing Nature in Medicine and Industry.” The exhibit explores how humanity utilizes nature to advance technology. In this Adult Craft Workshop, we will use natural ingredients to create our own salves with beeswax, almond oil, botanicals, and essential oils.

This workshop is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

The Life & Career of Nellie Mae Rowe, Folk Artist
Black History Month Event
Sunday, February 4
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

A creative and resourceful self-taught African-American folk artist, Nellie Mae Rowe gained national recognition during the last decade of her life (1900-1982). Long before that, she was well known locally by visitors who came to her exuberantly embellished home on Pace’s Ferry Road, containing her colorful drawings, paintings, stuffed dolls, and recycled objects. Mrs. Rowe’s works are today on display at the High Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and several other notable public and private collections across the nation.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. William Marchione, author of A Brief History of Smyrna (2013) and former Associate Professor at the Art Institute of Boston.

Sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library

Adult Art Workshop: Chinese Calligraphy

Friday, February 9
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Smyrna Library Meeting Room
Ages 18 and up
Registration is required

Celebrate Chinese New Year with an introduction to Chinese Calligraphy - a visual art form of writing Chinese characters. A paper sculpture craft is also included in this session. All supplies will be provided.

This program is sponsored by The Friends of the Library.

Instructor: Ms. Loyee Ling is a certified Chinese teacher and an advocate of cultural education.

Black History Month Celebration: "An Evening with Daniel Black"

Please join the City of Smyrna for a Black History Month celebratory dinner with Dr. Daniel Black, novelist, essayist, and professor at Clark Atlanta University. The Black History Month Celebration Dinner will be held Friday, February 23, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at Smyrna Community Center, 1250 Powder Springs Street, in downtown Smyrna.

The Black History Month Celebration Dinner includes dinner, a presentation by Dr. Black, and a book signing. Book sales will be available on site, courtesy of Bookmiser.

General Admission: $20
Buy ticket

Reserved tables: $200
Buy ticket

Daniel Black is a renowned professor of African American Studies at Clark Atlanta University. He is the award-winning author of several novels, most noteworthy of which are They Tell Me of a Home, Perfect Peace, The Coming, and Don’t Cry For Me. His first essay collection, Black on Black, was released in 2023.

A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Black spent his formative years in rural Blackwell, Arkansas. He graduated from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) where he earned the prestigious Oxford Modern British Studies fellowship and studied abroad at Oxford University. He was then awarded a full fellowship to Temple University where he studied with Black Arts Movement poet laureate Sonia Sanchez and, in 1992, earned his Ph.D. in African American Studies. Dr. Black has spent the majority of his 30 academic years as a professor of African American Studies at his beloved alma mater, Clark Atlanta University.

Dr. Black lives in Atlanta and is the founder of the Ndugu-Nzinga Rites of Passage Nation, a mentoring society for people of African descent who seek to love themselves and build a world of character for their people.

Currently, Dr. Black has completed the literary sequel to Don’t Cry for Me, tentatively titled Isaac’s Song. He is also working on part II of The Coming and a black scripture titled The Good Book.

Friday, March 1
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Smyrna Library Meeting Room
Ages 18 and up
Registration is required

All supplies will be provided. This program is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

This workshop will introduce the techniques, materials, and vocabulary of watercolor painting. It will focus on getting comfortable with watercolor painting techniques and enjoying the process of painting. In addition- color, value and “seeing” your subject will be explored as well as the fundamentals of shape, line, and color. Advanced artists are also welcome to attend this course.

Artist Abby Redmond will work on a painting inspired by Georgia OKeeke. As an artist at the forefront of American Modernism, Georgia O’Keefe is one of the most celebrated female artists in history and her early drawings led to bold experiments in abstraction with a focus to express her feelings.

Instructor: Abby Taylor Redmond studied art at O'More College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA from the prestigious Parsons School of Design. She spent the first part of her career as a costume designer and design assistant. Since moving to Smyrna, Abby has focused on watercolor paintings and has worked as an art teacher to children of all ages, starting her own business Art With Ms. Abby, and for adults with her program Shake n' Create.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Notable Women of Smyrna: Part II
a Women's History Month event

RESCHEDULED DATE

Saturday, March 16, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Museum Manager Jennie Eldredge and Smyrna Library Director Mary Wallace Moore will explore the lives of prominent women from Smyrna's past. This lecture follows up last fall's presentation with all new women profiled from the past and present. The selection includes women in politics, entertainment, and philanthropy, including Nancy Konigsmark, Maryline Blackburn, Sarah Sentell Scott, Dorothy Bacon, and Julia Roberts.

Speaker Bio:
Jennie Eldredge is the Manager of Smyrna History Museum on Atlanta Road. Mary Wallace Moore is the Director of Smyrna Public Library. They are the authors of Smyrna, Georgia: "The Jonquil City": Celebrating 150 Years.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Keeping the Chattahoochee
by Sally Sierer Bethea
Sunday, April 7, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Sally Sierer Bethea was one of the first women in America to become a “riverkeeper”—a vocal defender of a specific waterway who holds polluters accountable. In Keeping the Chattahoochee, she tells stories that range from joyous and funny to frustrating—even alarming—to illustrate what it takes to save an endangered river. Her tales are triggered by the regular walks she takes through a forest to the Chattahoochee over the course of a year, finding solace and kinship in nature.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Eclipse Party!

Monday, April 8, 2024
1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Downtown Smyrna Greenspace

Eclipse peak is at 3:05 p.m.

A Total Solar Eclipse will be viewable in the United States on Monday, April 8. Our area will experience 80% occlusion, so more than three-fourths of the sun will be blocked in Smyrna.

Bring blankets and snacks, and spread out on the new greenspace lawn to enjoy the celestial show.

Smyrna Public Library will provide free eclipse glasses to the first 250 families.

Enjoy crafts and science experiments provided by Smyrna Public Library.

2024 Annual Spring Used Book Sale

Cash, Check, PayPal & Venmo Accepted

Proceeds benefit the 2024 Summer Reading Program.

Smyrna Public Library
Downstairs Meeting Room
100 Village Green Circle
Smyrna, GA 30080

Sale Dates:
Saturday, April 13: 10:30 am to 4 pm
Sunday, April 14: 1 pm to 4 pm.

Volunteer Sign-Up

Volunteer Book Sale Duties

Join Smyrna City Arborist Lacey Fournier on a walk around Smyrna Pond to discuss the native tree species in Smyrna’s Arboretum. The arboretum was created over 20 years ago after the redevelopment of downtown Smyrna. Keep Smyrna Beautiful spearheaded the effort to develop the water retention pond into a proper arboretum. The groundbreaking and dedication of the first tree was held on February 19, 2000, in celebration of Georgia Arbor Day and in memory of late city landscaper, Joe McDaniel. On April 12, Ms. Fournier will discuss the species planted in the arboretum, how to care for them, and which might be right for your own backyard.

Please park at Smyrna Public Library and use the crosswalk to get to the arboretum. We will meet at the gazebo. Please wear comfortable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Smyrna in the 60s
by Dr. William Marchione
Sunday, May 5, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Time travel with us! Local historian Dr. William Marchione pulls all the Smyrna headlines and newsmakers from the 1960s into a nostalgic look at Smyrna's past layered with historical perspective. This lecture is made possible by an indexing project spearheaded by Dr. Marchione and conducted by Friends of Smyrna Library volunteers. For over a year, volunteers have poured over Smyrna Herald newspapers to create the first index of this valuable resource. The group is celebrating the completion of the 1960s with this lecture.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. William Marchione is the author of A Brief History of Smyrna, Georgia.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Papermaking Around the World
Virginia Howell, Director of the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking
Sunday, June 2, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Paper is a ubiquitous material, used in books to coffee filters to clothing and furniture. Discover the paper of papermaking and how different cultures developed techniques and uses for this material that allowed their societies to flourish and grow. From China to the Pacific Islands to India to Italy to Mexico and the Americas, find out about the tools and traditions of papermaking!

Speaker Bio: Virginia Howell is the director of the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking in the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech. She has been a museum professional for 25 years, working in historic sites, science, art, and history museums as an educator. A Tennessee native, Howell has lived in Smyrna for the last 9 years and is proud to have four different library cards to support her interest in paper-as-books.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

The Chattahoochee River Line
by Phil Ivester, Concord Covered Bridge Historic District Board President
Sunday, July 7, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Join us as Phil Ivester, Concord Covered Bridge Historic District Board President, discusses his research into the Chattahoochee River Line troop movements and battles during the Civil War in the summer, 1864. We will share first person narratives by soldiers who were there.

Smyrna-native Philip Ivester, serves as CEO of Kennesaw-based Energy Management firm. His degree is in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, but he is passionate about Smyrna history, having grown up in the historic Martin Luker Ruff house near the Concord Woolen Mill, Grist Mill, and Covered Bridge. Over the years he has done extensive research into the history of 19th-century communities known as Concord, Millgrove, Nickajack, and Tillman. He is President of the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District and Treasurer of the Smyrna Historical Society.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

2024 Summer Book Sale
for Children & Young Adults

Cash, Check, PayPal & Venmo Accepted

A HUGE selection of books for children & young adults will be available. Proceeds will benefit the purchase of a new library collection (to be announced).

Smyrna Public Library
Downstairs Meeting Room
100 Village Green Circle
Smyrna, GA 30080

Sale Dates:
Saturday, August 10: 10 am to 4:30 pm
Sunday, August 11: 1 pm to 4 pm

2024 Summer Book Sale

Volunteer Book Sale Duties

First Sunday Lecture Series

The Liquor Wars
by Dr. William Marchione
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Fourth Sunday This Month
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

The production and sale of alcoholic beverages was the most divisive political issue Cobb County faced from its foundation in the 1830s well into the 20th century. In this lecture local historian Dr. William P. Marchione, author of A Brief History of Smyrna Georgia, will examine the strident and often violent history of liquor regulation in Cobb County, with particular emphasis on Smyrna and vicinity.

The first liquor store to be established in downtown Smyrna in 1938, owned and operated by Bill Reed, older brother of Raymond Reed.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Architectural Eras of Smyrna
by Jennifer Corcoran & Rebekah Helfgot
Sunday, September 8, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

"The Architectural Eras Tour, 20th Century Residential Architecture in Smyrna," will be presented by historians Jennifer Corcoran and Rebekah Helfgot. This talk will outline the evolution of housing and neighborhoods in the city throughout the twentieth century, divided into five architectural “eras”. This presentation will include illustrations and examples of the types of houses and neighborhoods that were constructed during each era. Jennifer and Rebekah will explain how local, national, and world events influenced the size, style, and arrangement of our homes. Attendees will leave knowing more about Smyrna and its houses, and you might even see your house or neighborhood pictured!

Speaker biographies:

Jennifer Corcoran is an architectural historian and NEPA planner for Jacobs Engineering. She has a Master’s degree in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from Florida State University. She primarily works on environmental and cultural resource documentation for GDOT projects. She lives in a compact Ranch house in Cheney Woods and has been a Smyrna resident for 19 years. She is married and has one child at Campbell High School plus one pup named Apollo. Her favorite thing about Smyrna is living in a walkable neighborhood with school, restaurants, and entertainment close by.

Rebekah Helfgot is an architectural historian for AECOM. She has a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and History, from the University of Georgia. She works on architectural history surveys and historic evaluations for GDOT projects. She lives in a twenty-first century townhouse in Montclair and has been a Smyrna resident for 4 years. She is married and shares her space with 2 cats, Zoe and Eliot. Her favorite thing about Smyrna are the city events and facilities.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

The Art of Marsha Hamby Savage
by Marsha Hamby Savage
Sunday, October 6, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Marsha Hamby Savage will discuss her exhibit in the library's upper level galleries (on display September-October 2024). Based in Smyrna, Ms Savage is a seasoned artist with over 50 years of experience, known for her vibrant landscape paintings in pastel, oil, and acrylic. Her deep connection to nature is reflected in her works, which often capture the serene beauty of creeks, rocks, and cascading water. Living in the Southeastern U.S., she frequently paints en plein air, drawing inspiration from both local and western landscapes. Savage's art has been widely recognized, with numerous awards and commissions, including prominent installations at the Georgia State Capitol and various hospitals.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

2024 Annual Fall Used Book Sale

Cash, Check, PayPal & Venmo Accepted

Join us for our Annual Fall Book Sale.

Smyrna Public Library
Downstairs Meeting Room
100 Village Green Circle
Smyrna, GA 30080

Book Sale Dates:
Saturday, October 19 10:30 am to 4:30 pm
Sunday, October 20 1 pm to 4 pm

Volunteer Sign-Up Coming Soon

Volunteer Book Sale Duties

First Sunday Lecture Series

First Women: Culture and Change Among the Creek and Cherokee
by Jennie Eldredge
Sunday, November 3, 2024
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

This lecture will discuss the roles of women in Cherokee and Muscogee Creek cultures both before and after relocation. We will cover the shared ancestry of both groups in Georgia and look at how women anchored these matrilineal groups throughout their history. 45 minutes with a question-and-answer session to follow.

Speaker Bio: Jennie Eldredge grew up in East Cobb County and graduated from Georgia State University with a BA in Anthropology, and an M.A. in Heritage Preservation. She has been the Museum Manager for the City of Smyrna since October of 2017, overseeing the Museum and 3 historic cemeteries. Ms. Eldredge resides in Smyrna with a spirited Cairn Terrier named Duncan.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.