Lafayette College Library

In the Lass Gallery, photographer Marguerite Nicosia Torres’ images document an immigrant community’s devotion to Mexico’s patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe. The exhibit explores the preservation of a religious and cultural heritage through rituals and traditions honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe in Marshalltown, Iowa. Torres is an award-winning photojournalist who has been photo editor and photographer at the "Ithaca Journal" and an artist-in-residence at St. Lawrence University.

She will give a talk on the photographs on Thursday, October 1 at 4:15 p.m. in the Gendebien Room, Skillman Library. A reception with traditional Mexican fare will follow.

Which books have most altered the intellectual and social terrain of America? This is the question that Jay Parini grapples with in his 2008 book, Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America, and that is the subject of Skillman Library’s fall exhibit in the Simon Room. Parini’s “thirteen” include some expected choices (The Federalist Papers, Uncle Tom’s Cabin) as well as surprises (How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care). The exhibit features various editions of the works with commentary from Parini’s book.