Adult Craft: Novel Fairy House
2026-07-23 17:30 (America/Chicago)
Join us in the McCoskey Room to create Fairy Houses constructed from discarded books and other materials.
Required Registration will begin on July 15th.

MCL Book Club
2026-07-25 10:00
We will meet in the McCoskey Room to discuss a book The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama .
Bonus! This book will also count towards one of the Adult Summer Reading Challenge.

Summer Reading Social
2026-07-30 17:30
Gather with other readers to celebrate the end of Summer Reading. Bouquet Bar hosted by Shelton Gang Flower Farm and catering in the McCoskey Room.
Required Registration begins July 25th.

Adult Craft: Butterfly Migration Centerpiece
2026-08-06 15:00, 2026-08-06 17:30
Commemorate the beginning of the autumn migration of monarch butterflies and create a butterfly centerpiece.
Required registration begins July 29th.

Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51
2026-08-13 17:30
Join us to welcome Aerospace historian Peter Merlin to talk about his book, Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51 – the first ever scholarly history of the National Classified Test Facility at Groom Lake, Nevada.
Better known as Area 51, this top-secret installation hidden in a remote desert valley northwest of Las Vegas, has been shrouded in mystery since 1955. Decades of Cold War secrecy spawned rumors and conspiracy theories, and catapulted Area 51 into popular culture.
Now, after more than 30 years of painstaking research, Merlin cuts through the myths to reveal the true story of one of the nation’s premier flight-test and evaluation facilities, where evolving global threats are met with unprecedented technological innovations.
Peter Merlin is an aerospace historian and author of numerous books and articles. His research topics include Cold War history, space exploration, aerospace technology, human factors engineering, aviation archaeology, prehistoric cave paintings and petroglyphs, archeoastronomy, and the mysterious world of top-secret “black” projects. Merlin has appeared in more than a dozen film and television documentaries on the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and others. Before joining the Aviation Management and Flight faculty at Southern Illinois University, he spent most of his career supporting flight research and testing under contract to NASA and the US Air Force.

Illinois Archaeology: The Deep Roots of the Prairie State, A Traveling Exhibit
2026-08-18 - 2026-09-26
History in Illinois didn’t begin when the first Europeans arrived 350 years ago. Euro-American communities have existed here for less than three percent of all the time people have lived in Illinois. Illinois Archaeology: The Deep Roots of the Prairie State is a quick look at where and how people have lived in Illinois for the last 12,500 years. It explores how things like conflict, climate change, and new technology altered the ways people lived. It does this by examining the archaeological evidence people left behind.
Presented by Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Opening for Illinois Archaeology: The Deep Roots of the Prairie State, A Traveling Exhibit
2026-08-18 18:00 - 19:00
Join us on the Main Floor at The Deep Roots of the Prairie State Traveling Exhibit. Williamson County Historical Society President, Sam Lattuca, will be discussing local connections related to the artifacts displayed.
History in Illinois didn’t begin when the first Europeans arrived 350 years ago. Euro-American communities have existed here for less than three percent of all the time people have lived in Illinois. Illinois Archaeology: The Deep Roots of the Prairie State is a quick look at where and how people have lived in Illinois for the last 12,500 years. It explores how things like conflict, climate change, and new technology altered the ways people lived. It does this by examining the archaeological evidence people left behind.
Presented by Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

MCL Book Club
2026-08-22 10:00
We will meet in the McCoskey Room to discuss the book The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe.
Meet in the McCoskey Room.
