LCSNA Spring 2015 Meeting

The fabled Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, home to three legendary Carroll collections (Warren Weaver, Helmut Gernsheim, Byron W. and Susan R. Sewell), hosted our meeting on April 18. We began with a tour of their fabulous sesquicentennial exhibit, led by Dr. Danielle Sigler, its curator. After lunch, Dr. Francine Abeles, Professor Emerita of Kean University, gave a talk entitled “On the Truth of Some New Mathematical Ideas in Alice in Wonderland,” particularly those proposed by David Day in his forthcoming book Decoding Wonderland, and Melanie Bayley in articles in the New Scientist and The New York Times. Next was the inimitable Christopher Morgan, editor of the forthcoming The Pamphlets of Lewis Carroll, Volume 5: Games, Puzzles, and Related Pieces, on “Lewis Carroll’s Game of Syzygies and How It Drove Him Slightly Crazy.” Joel Birenbaum next talked on the extraordinary Alice150 events, soon to become reality! Bridgette Mongeon spoke on “Finding Alice: Lewis Carroll Inspires a Texas Artist to Create a Monumental Bronze Sculpture,” which depicts the Tea-Party and will be unveiled in Houston in 2016. In honor of the anniversary, it will have 150 hidden elements.