
Learning Before Lunch
A speaker series offering thought-provoking programs and a chance to meet new friends
Are you an active adult interested in lifelong learning... a retiree eager to expand your social network... a student of life looking to expand your horizons?
Learning Before Lunch is a monthly series of talks designed to spark meaningful conversations about the local community of New Orleans. Come together with friends and neighbors to hear entertaining and well-informed speakers discuss their passions: captivating explorations of the people and places that make New Orleans one of the world's most interesting cities.
Learning Before Lunch enters the new decade with a wide range of speakers and topics of interest to the general community. The monthly speakers we are lining up for 2022 include authors, musicians, scientists, artists, economists, and a host of other talented individuals with fascinating stories to tell.
Join us on the second Thursday of each month. Meetings are presented Live and via Zoom for an entertaining hour with our featured speaker.
Speakers begin at 10:00 Central Time; end at 11:00
July 13th
Yellow Fever & Bananas
Emily Perkins
Curatorial Cataloger, THNOC
In the early 1900’s New Orleans was one of the largest banana importers in the US. However, the booming banana trade was threatened by outbreaks of yellow fever.
Through a unique object in The Historic New Orleans Collection archive - a leather bound photo album - Emily Perkins will discuss the history of yellow fever in New Orleans, its connection to the United Fruit Company, and what has become a familiar conflict between powerful commercial interests and public health officials.
August 10th
Galvez in Louisiana
Robert Freeland
VP, Friends of the Cabildo
Robert Freeland from Friends of the Cabildo will discuss the impact of the Spanish in New Orleans and will address the efforts by Louisiana for the upcoming 250th celebration of the US Independence.
The organization of the La Luisiana Chapter of the Granaderos y Damas de Galvez will meet at 8:45am, prior to the LBL presentation. All LBL members are welcome to attend to learn about the Granadores organization. Coffee and donuts will be available.
September 14th
Louisiana Aviation
Vincent Caire
Development & Administration Manager, Baton Rouge Metro Airport
At the turn of the 20th century, the skies attracted Louisiana entrepreneurs and pilots who ushered in the Golden Age of Aviation. They advanced aircraft design, revolutionized aerial crop dusting, pioneered airmail routes, and pushed the limits of stunt flying.
A pilot and author with more than twenty years of experience in the aviation industry, Vince Caire will chronicle the state’s history of flight.