Monday April 3, 2001 11:30 am-1:30 pm

Speaker: Dr. Janet R. Fireman, "Paradise Los Angeles and Its Evil Twin, Sin City"

Speaker generously supported by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Dr. Janet Fireman, Curator and Chief of History at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, will explore the twin images of Los Angeles: as a paradise of light, opportunity, and happiness, and as "Sin City," a place of darkness, excess, nastiness, and corruption.

Dr. Fireman has curated or co-curated over 25 exhibitions for the Museum on a broad range of topics related to California history, art, and culture, including California artists, landscape and portrait painting;Spanish and Mexican California church iconography; Latin American folk art; Gold in the New World; motion picture history; and the automobile in American life. Besides developing exhibitions, she is responsible for curation, research, and public programs concerning the History Department’s 1.5 million objects. She has been a consultant to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, the Getty Research Institute, the Huntington Library, the Institute of Museum Services, the Museum of New Mexico Palace of the Governors, and the Oakland Museum, among others. She was President of the Western History Association, 1997-98, and received its Honorary Life Membership Award in 1995