The history written in house numbers
Historian Eleanor Vance spent six years in our street archives and emerged with a book about doors: who renumbered the city in 1919, which families kept the old numbers painted on, and what house numbers reveal about rent, race and respectability. She tells the story with maps, deeds and a slide of the funniest misspelling in the archive.
On the evening
- 6:30 — Talk: “Every Door Has a File” (50 minutes).
- 7:20 — Questions, chaired by our Thursday consultation historian.
- 7:40 — Book signing; copies sold by the library Store.
Tickets are $5, redeemable against the book on the night. Members booking three talks save across the season.
Good to know
Doors open at 6:00 PM; the Lecture Hall seats 180. Can’t make it? Book a Thursday consultation and work the same archives yourself.