Monthly Archives: April 2018

04 4, 2018

MPL Talks: Ambrose Burnside – Innovator in Facial Hair & Firearms

By |2018-04-04T06:00:13-04:00April 4, 2018|

Major General Ambrose Burnside is best known for two things: his failures as a Civil War general and that facial hair.

But Burnside led a remarkable life both before and after the Civil War.

Matt Jones of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site put Burnside beneath the microscope during the March lecture of our Leaders & Legacies of the Civil War series. He discussed how:

  • Burnside created a rifle so impressive that it was the third most popular carbine during the Civil War
  • Burnside’s innovations in firearms nearly ruined him
  • Burnside befriended Otto von Bismarck during the Franco-Prussian war
  • his ex-girlfriend became a Confederate spy

Our Civil War series continues at noon on Wednesday, April 11, at our Main Branch. The topic will be the Mexican-American War where many Union and Confederate generals, including Burnside, began their military careers. The talk is free and open to all.

If you’re interested in Civil War history, some other previous talks in our Civil War series can be viewed online in their entirety:

04 1, 2018

Master online resources with Niche Academy

By |2023-11-04T09:14:47-04:00April 1, 2018|

We offer a dizzying amount of tools online: databases for research; online classes; digital resources where you can read eBooks and magazines, listen to music and audiobooks, and watch videos.

It can be confusing to find the resources you want and learn how to use them—intimidating even. So we’re offering a new service, Niche Academy, that teaches you how to use all of them. Niche Academy offers short video tutorials that you can watch for free and at your convenience. Learn how to:

Niche Academy also offers videos that explain how to use online tools like Gmail, Goodreads and social media, including Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. All of these video tutorials are available for free. You can watch as many as you like at mentorpl.org/niche.

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