Marquette's Tolkien Exhibition To Feature In-Person Lecture Series

MILWAUKEE, WI —Fans of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic books like "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" have an exciting year ahead at Marquette's Haggerty Museum of Art.

The university previously announced the Haggerty Museum would host "J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of The Manuscript," an exhibition featuring 100 items relating to Tolkien (1892-1973), including the original manuscripts created by the author for "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings" and other works.

The exhibition will run from August 19 to December 12, 2022. Tickets are available online.

On Wednesday, the Haggerty Museum and Raynor Memorial Libraries announced an in-person lecture series that will take place in conjunction with the exhibition.

The series will feature three lectures — one each month between September and November — at the Haggerty Museum, 1234 W Tory Hill St. The lectures also will be streamed online for audiences to attend virtually. The lectures are free, though attendees are asked to make advanced reservations online due to limited capacity.

The series includes:

5 p.m. on Sept. 22: "Editing the Tolkienian Manuscript" — The lecture will be presented by Carl Hostetter, a computer scientist at NASA who has become one of the leading experts on Tolkien's invented languages.

According to organizers, Hostetter is one of the most experienced students of Tolkien's manuscripts. His ability to read and interpret Tolkien's notoriously difficult handwriting is second to none.

Hostetter's work "Tolkien’s Legendarium," which was co-edited with Verlyn Flieger, is considered one of the best collections of essays on the history of Tolkien's secondary world, organizers said.

5 p.m. on Oct. 13: "Tolkien's Faith and the Foundations of Middle-Earth" — The program will be presented by Holly Ordway, considered a rising star among Tolkien scholars. She is the author of a 2021 book "Tolkien's Modern Reading."

Ordway, on the faculty at Houston Baptist University, currently is working on a research project about Tolkien's Catholicism.

5 p.m. on Nov. 17: "Whispering Leaves: How Tolkien's Manuscripts Reveal the Secrets of His Creativity" — The lecture is presented by John Garth, who has gained an international reputation as a writer about Tolkien. His most recent published work on the author is "The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien," (2020).

Garth's lecture will focus on a Tolkien manuscript that is part of Marquette's collection and has never previously been exhibited.