The Genealogy & Local History Library is partnering with Alton Area Landmarks Association (AALA) this winter to bring back our three-part Saturday lecture series in January, February, and March. AALA is dedicated to educating, promoting, and saving the architectural heritage of the Alton area. Feel free to register for one talk or all three. All three lectures will take place at the Genealogy & Local History Library, 401 State Street, Alton.

Reimagining Places of the Past: HistoricPreservation Lecture Series, Part 1: Gertrude Barlabie, Amanda Kitchell, and Those Who Helped Them: Underground Railroad Activities in Antebellum Madison County, Illinois

Presenter: J. Eric Robinson

In the first of these lectures, historian J. Eric Robinson will tell the story of two women, slaves in the state of Missouri, who escaped to freedom in 1853 via the Underground Railroad in northwestern Madison County. A graduate of Howard University and University of Missouri-Columbia, J. Eric Robinson has offered Underground Railroad tours, informed by his lifelong interests in genealogy and in local Alton history, to visitors from around the world since 1995. The tours are an outgrowth of his radio show Eavesdropping.The BBC World Service, Discovery Channel, PBS, The New York Times, Fox News Channel, and Australian Broadcasting are among the media that have featured Robinson’s tours. He is an assistant professor of history at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St.Louis, formerly the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Seating is limited. Please register at 1-800-613-3163.