The evolution of the physical landscape in and around the city of Beloit will be the focus of a lecture at Beloit College in mid-September. Professor of Biology Yaffa Grossman and guest speaker Robert Baller will present “ Beloit’s Landscape, Then and Now: 1870-2007” on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 4 p.m., in the lower level north lounge of the Col. Robert. H. Morse Library, on the Beloit College campus. Like most events at the college, the lecture is free and open to the public.

Grossman and Baller will provide a photographic and historic tour of the environment that surrounds Beloit using a range of images—some dating back to the 19th century. A local environmentalist, Baller will explain how the images provide a visual narrative that details how the landscape was transformed over a period of 137 years. Grossman will discuss how she uses the images in a course titled Environment and Society, in which students examine the city of Beloit as an ecosystem.

“ Beloit’s Landscape, Then and Now: 1870-2007” is the first in a series of presentations focusing on digital collections that the college library will host this fall. It will draw on digital scans from the collection of the Beloit College Archives, the Beloit Historical Society and a compilation of unique images created by Baller. Lisa Viezbicke, assistant director for library services at Beloit College, helped coordinate the event. She says that the images are important as historical and learning documents. “Digital collections provide remarkable content for research and classroom discussions,” she explains. “The nature of the photographic re-enactment process allows viewers to take in tremendous amounts of data very quickly.”

The series presentations will explore the content of digital collections, as well as their applications to teaching and learning at Beloit. Some of the college’s collections are posted online at www.beloit.edu/library/bcdc.

For details about upcoming library presentations at Beloit College, contact Viezbicke at 608-363-2486 or viezbick@beloit.edu. Information about events at Beloit College can be found online at www.beloit.edu.