Brown Bag Lunch Program: Eugene Allen Smith’s Alabama: How a Geologist Shaped a State

Aileen Kilgore Henderson will discuss her new biography of Alabama’s first state geologist, Eugene Allen Smith’s Alabama: How a Geologist Shaped a State. Beginning in 1873, Smith spent his summers enduring chills, fevers, and verbal abuse as he searched for industrial raw materials that could bring about better lives for destitute Alabamians. Traveling in a mule-drawn wagon, he recorded in his journal detailed observations, botanical and geological discoveries, and mineral analyses. He loaded the wagon with specimens for the University of Alabama museum he dreamed of creating and recorded vivid descriptions of Alabama in transition. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Wednesday, January 11, noon.

Feed your body and mind at BPL's Brown Bag Lunch programs. You bring the lunch and we'll bring the drinks. Wednesdays at noon in Central Library’s Arrington Auditorium.