August 17, 2009

H.L. Mencken exhibit to open at George Peabody Library

H.L. Mencken is perhaps best known in his hometown for his decades-long connection to The Baltimore Sun. But throughout his career as a newspaper journalist—which started when he was just 19—he also worked for magazines as a writer and editor. As he gained national prominence as a cultural critic, Mencken himself became the subject of magazine stories.

An exhibit opening Friday, Aug. 27, at the George Peabody Library documents Mencken’s contributions to American magazines as both a commentator and a topic of commentary, and demonstrates the important role that magazines played in American life from the 1900s through the 1950s.

Drawing from the rich resources of the George H. Thompson Collection of Henry Louis Mencken, A View of the Parade: H.L. Mencken and American Magazines allows viewers to understand the writer’s broader context and to glimpse the history of American magazines during a time of rapid cultural change.

The exhibit is on view through Nov. 30.