Event Details

Name: Letters from Clara: One Intrepid Woman's Travels on the Eve of War, 1936-1939
Start: 2024-09-13
End: 2024-09-13
Location: WJ Niderkorn Library

Friday, September 13, 2024

10am

Free and open to the public. Talks will occur at both 10am and 4pm

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Location

WJ Niderkorn Library

316 West Grand Ave

Port Washington, WI 53074

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About the Event

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The Wisconsin Historical Society Speakers Bureau offers an exciting opportunity for our historians, curators and authors to visit your community and share the stories of our great state.

In 1936 YWCA member Clara Pagel set off from Wausau, Wisconsin on what would become a three-year world tour, traveling extensively throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe as the world headed towards war. A fascinating collection of letters to her YWCA friends back home documented her many adventures, as Clara witnessed history in the making and described the bombing of Shanghai, Italy under Mussolini, India during one of Gandhi’s hunger strikes, and an earthquake in Manila. Now, in Letters from Clara, author Janet Newman vividly brings Clara life and letters to light, offering the story of a remarkable, independent woman on an unexpected but fulfilling journey to learn about the world and herself.

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In her retirement, Janet Newman participates in four book clubs and a writers’ circle. Her writing, which shines a light on fascinating people, has appeared in the anthology Mondays at Ten and various news publications. Janet and her husband split their time between Wisconsin’s Northwoods and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.