Join the San Bernardino County Museum in 2017 for the inaugural Dome Talks. These evening events connect the Inland Empire community with leading historians, scientists, researchers, and technologists to share research and discuss topics relevant to the past, present and future of our region. Each speaker has a unique story to tell, and we invite you to join the conversation.
Doors open at 6:30 pm. Speakers begin at 7:00 pm. Light refreshments will be provided by the San Bernardino County Museum Association. See below for dates, speakers, and ticket purchase information.
Ray and Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away (published November 2016)
Thursday, January 26 – Lisa Napoli, author
McDonald’s milkshakes and hamburgers have their origins in San Bernardino County. How did this fast food fare become the foundation for a business empire and a force for public good?
“Ray and Joan is a moving, extremely well-written story of big business, big love, and big giving” – Huffington Post
“What Napoli captures so well is a woman who, having gotten so much for the simple act of saying “I do,” decided that others were as equally entitled to her good fortune as she was – and acted accordingly. [Napoli] has given us a book that is a snapshot of 20th-century America, particularly in the postwar years. That her two main characters were both rags-to-riches stories makes it all the more appealing.” – the Washington Post
Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California (published October 2015)
Thursday, March 16 – Frances Dinkelspiel, author
The extraordinary story of winemaking and collecting in California is woven into a tale that also includes Rancho Cucamonga’s John Rains and his mysterious murder.
“From its explosive prologue to the very last sentence, Frances Dinkelspiel has written an utterly riveting true crime book… Unlike …the wine collectors in Tangled Vines, I cannot taste ‘the earth, the sun, the sky, and the steady hand of the winemaker in that glass.’ But I know a spectacular book when I read one.” -the Los Angeles Book Review
Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands 1861-1867 (to be published February 2017)
Wednesday, April 19 – Andy Masich, President & CEO of the Heinz History Center
Still the least-understood theater of the Civil War, the Southwest borderlands saw not only Union and Confederate forces clash but Indians, Hispanos, and Anglos struggle for survival, power, and dominance on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. While other scholars have examined individual battles, Andrew E. Masich is the first to analyze these conflicts as interconnected civil wars.
“Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands is a landmark achievement, sure to prompt a rethinking of the transnational dimensions of the Civil War in the Far West and the unprecedented violence of those years.” -David Fridtjof Halaas, former Colorado State Historian, consultant to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe
“Documenting Current Events in an Age of Social Media”
Thursday, May 18 – Bergis Jules, University and Political Papers Archivist, University of California Riverside
Social media has democratized information sharing and information consumption in ways we haven’t experienced in the past, giving everyone a platform to publicly engage in discourse around significant issues. How does “hashtag reporting” in the form of tweets, images, video, and audio from citizens contrast and supplement traditional media reporting and what possibilities and challenges does it hold for historians? Learn about this fascinating UCR project to archive #Ferguson tweets numbering in the millions.
“Asteroid Anchors, Rock-climbing Robots, Gecko Grippers, and Zero Gravity”
Thursday, June 22 – Dr. Aaron Parness, Extreme Environment Robotics Group, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The ability to rove the surface of Mars has revolutionized JPL missions. With more advanced mobility, new targets like cliff faces, cave ceilings, and the surfaces of asteroids and comets could be explored. Dr. Parness presents the work of JPL’s Robotic Rapid Prototyping Lab, including grippers for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, which plans to extract a 15-ton boulder from the surface of an asteroid-altering its orbit and perhaps preventing Earth impact. You’ll also hear about gecko-inspired adhesives being tested on the International Space Station, miniaturized robots that can drive across surfaces in zero gravity, and rock-climbing robots crossing giant lava tubes in New Mexico.
SUBSCRIPTION OR SINGLE TICKETS PURCHASE & INFORMATION
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE by credit card, check, or cash at the door
SERIES SUBSCRIPTION (tickets to all 5 dates)
Advance purchase required
Regular $60/person
Museum MEMBER $40/person
SINGLE TICKETS
Available in advance online or at the door (depending on space availability)
Regular $15/person
Museum MEMBER $10/person
Series takes place at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands CA 92374
909-798-8608 * www.sbcounty.gov/museum
Doors open at 6:30 pm. Speakers begin at 7:00 pm. Light refreshments will be provided by the San Bernardino County Museum Association. Where pertinent, author books will be available for sale and book signing.
