November 12, 2008 Helen Tangires, Author of "Public Markets," To Talk at Library of Congress on Dec. 3

Public markets, with their small vendors selling locally-grown food and locally-made crafts, accentuate the qualities of a town and help build a sense of community. The architecture and significance of these special places will be the topic of a lecture at the Library of Congress on Dec. 3. Helen Tangires, author of “Public Markets,” will discuss her book at noon on Wednesday, Dec. 3, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. Free and open to the public, the lecture is sponsored by the Library’s Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering. “Public Markets” is a richly illustrated compendium of the wide variety of architectural structures devoted to the urban marketplace. Drawn from the Library’s unparalleled collections, more than 800 photographs, architectural drawings, maps and posters from around the world depict the many types of public markets: open-air street, enclosed market houses, central markets and wholesale terminal markets Tangires is the administrator of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She is also the author of “Public Markets and Civic Culture in Nineteenth-Century America” (2003) and a frequent contributor to books and journals. Tangires holds a Ph.D. in American studies from George Washington University. “Public Markets” is the sixth volume in the Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design and Engineering series. The series is a project of the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering, which is directed by C. Ford Peatross. “Public Markets” joins “Barns” by John Vlach, “Canals” by Robert Kapsch, “Theaters” by Craig Morrison, “Lighthouses” by Sara E. Wermiel and “Bridges” by Richard L. Cleary. Public Markets," a 336-page hardcover book with 850 images, is available for $75 in bookstores nationwide and through the Library’s Sales Shop, Washington, D.C. 20540-4985. An accompanying CD-ROM contains high-quality downloadable TIFF files of all the illustrations and direct links to the library’s online, searchable catalogs and image files. Credit card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557. Online orders can be placed at www.loc.gov/shop/. Established by a bequest from the distinguished American architect Paul Rudolph, the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering in the Library of Congress preserves and makes accessible to the public the Library’s rich collections in those subject areas. For more information, visit www.loc.gov//rr/print/adecenter/adecent.html.