First Parish Church in Concord Presents
“Margaret Fuller in Italy”
Thursday October 21, 2010 at 7:30 P.M.- 9:00 P.M.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Carla A. Gomez
(978) 502-3113
margaretfullerpr@gmail.com
Concord, M.A. October 4, 2010 - Reverend Jenny Rankin will present a lecture and slideshow, “Margaret Fuller in Italy” at the First Parish Church in Concord, Unitarian Universalist, 20 Lexington Road, Concord, Ma., on October 21 at 7:30 P.M. Reverend Rankin traveled to Rome to research Fuller’s experiences in Italy and retrace her steps. She has created this presentation based on her research.
From the time she was a young girl growing up in Cambridge, Margaret Fuller had dreamed of going to Europe, and especially to Italy. She had studied the Italian language, knew its literature and poetry, and followed its politics. Her dream was deferred, however, due to the sudden death of her father. Margaret took over as “head of household” working to earn money to support her family. Finally, in August 1846, her dream came true as she sailed from Boston to Liverpool. She toured England and France before arriving in Italy in the spring of 1847.
“I was lucky to be able to travel to Rome last March during a sabbatical,” says Rev. Rankin. “I worked at the library of American Academy of Rome which is located across the street from the building that was Garibaldi’s headquarters during the Roman Republic. Consequently, I was “right on location” to research the Roman Republic in which Margaret was so involved in the spring of 1849.”
Rev. Rankin’s lecture will trace the story of Margaret’s time in Italy, from her arrival as a “tourist” to her settling down in Rome, working as a journalist, falling in love, giving birth and participating in the Revolution which swept Rome in the spring of 1849. Slides will show 19th century images of Italy and Rome as well as contemporary photos of sites in Rome where Margaret lived and worked.
Rev. Jenny Rankin is a Unitarian Universalist minister at First Parish in Concord, Unitarian Universalist. She has taught classes on Transcendentalism and Margaret Fuller.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Donations will be gratefully accepted to support the Margaret Fuller Bicentennial and ongoing classes and discussion groups of the Wright Tavern Center for Spiritual Renewal. Refreshments will be served following the program.
This event is part of the Bicentennial’s Conversations Series, supported by a grant from Mass Humanities and modeled after the “Conversations” which Margaret Fuller offered for women (and later men) in Boston in the late 1830s and 1840s. The event is co-sponsored by the Margaret Fuller Bicentennial Committee, First Parish in Concord, and the Transcendentalist Council of First Parish, and is part of a year-long series of events celebrating Margaret Fuller’s life and work. For a complete list of the other programs, please visit: www.margaretfuller.org.
