The library will host an online presentation by editor H. Richard Dietrich III to share from his new book, In Pursuit of History: A Lifetime Collecting Colonial American Art and Artifacts.

A tribute to a major collection and its founder, this beautiful book illuminates life in colonial America. This book showcases highlights from the Dietrich American Foundation, established in 1963 by H. Richard Dietrich Jr. and focused on 18th-century American fine and decorative arts. Essays explore the formation of the collection and its many areas of strength, enhancing current understandings of colonial history and material culture. The volume’s coeditor, H. Richard Dietrich III, unfolds an American story of a family’s entrepreneurship and speaks to his father’s varied yet interconnected collecting interests, as well as the common threads that unified them. An array of specialists explore the scope and uncommon richness of the foundation’s holdings, of which books and manuscripts account for half. Chinese export wares, furniture, silver, fraktur, and other decorative arts, and paintings of historical importance speak in varied ways to the nature of colonial identity, while objects related to the whaling trade signal the new nation’s maritime focus. With striking new photography and insightful scholarship, In Pursuit of History brings to life both the collector and the time period that he loved.

H. Richard Dietrich III is president of the Dietrich American Foundation, and a summer resident of the Blue Hill peninsula. Richard will share images from the book in an online presentation, speak about the unique history it showcases, and tie that history to the Blue Hill area.

This program is sponsored by the library. It is free of charge, and everyone is welcome, but advance registration is required to receive the link to join via Zoom. Register using the library's web calendar at www.bhpl.net or by calling 374-5515.