Visiting author and artist Faythe Levine will give a lecture on “Fact, Fiction, and Storytelling in the Archive” that explores the relationship and lives of two Milwaukee Downer College faculty members who founded the Layton School of Art. The talk will be Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. at the American Geographical Society Library, on the third floor of the Golda Meir Library.
Levine is motivated by reimagining archives and collections through a queer feminist lens. She will give a visually led talk about her many-year research process, about her recently published fourth book, “As Ever, Miriam (2024).” The book centers on the relationship and lives of Charlotte Russell Partridge (1882-1975) and Miriam Frink (1892-1978), whose papers are housed at the UWM Archives.
Through her extensive archival and secondary research involving books, magazines, newspapers and interviews, Levine brings readers into the work of connecting archival traces to tell stories about past lives. Frink and Partridge’s impact on Milwaukee’s cultural landscape was unprecedented and remains underrecognized, and Levine’s lecture will encourage future scholarship and conversations around deeper knowledge of their legacy.
