Trailblazing photographer, publisher, artist and Irish independence activist Anna Francis Levins (1876-1941) has fallen into undeserved obscurity, which independent scholar Eve M. Kahn has set out to remedy based on archival treasures including in the American Irish Historical Society’s collection. This heavily illustrated talk will cover Levins’ work combating xenophobia, documenting Irish Americans dating back to Revolutionary War heroes, running her own publishing house, globetrotting to photograph remotest Ireland as well as eminences including Pope Pius X, serving as the American Irish Historical Society’s official photographer, and improbably metamorphosing in middle age into a baroness while confiding secrets to priest friends.

Eve M. Kahn, former Antiques Columnist at The New York Times, contributes to the Times among other publications. She wrote an award-winning biography of the 19th-century artist Mary Rogers Williams (Wesleyan U. Press, 2019). Her new book, Queen of Bohemia Predicts Own Death: Gilded-Age Journalist Zoe Anderson Norris(Fordham U. Press), is a finalist for a Sarton Award from the Story Circle Network and has been called “beautifully written and meticulously researched.”

This event is virtual. Please register at this link.