Calendar
Sunday, September 21
All programs are FREE with museum
admission unless otherwise noted.
2:00 pm
LECTURE & BOOK-SIGNING
"From the mountains to the prairies, from sea to shining sea, Carll Tucker has seen the greatness of America and the astonishing variety of our presidents and vice presidents. Tucker offers surprising views of familiar leaders and brings forgotten leaders back to life. This is a trip no American will want to miss."— former New York Governor George Pataki
On Sunday, September 21, at 2:00 pm, the Albany Institute of History and Art will host a book-signing and lecture by Carll Tucker, author of The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Finding America, Finding Myself (Liebert, 2008). The event is free and open to the public.
At age 50, Tucker set out on a journey of self-discovery. After 26 years of marriage, three grown children, and a lifetime of doing what was expected of him, Tucker took to the open road for nine months in an RV he called “Migrant,” to discover America—and himself—by traveling the nation and visiting the final resting places of our nation’s presidents and vice presidents along the way. Of interest to Capital District residents: Chester A. Arthur, who is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery, and Martin Van Buren of Kinderhook.
Tucker’s Albany roots run deep. In 1853, his great-grandfather, Luther H. Tucker (1802–1873), established in Albany one of America’s largest and best known 19th-century magazines, The Country Gentleman: A Journal for the Farm, the Garden and the Fireside, Devoted to Improvement in Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural Taste. Tucker’s grandmother, Marcia Ann Brady (1894–1976) was the daughter of another notable Albanian, Anthony Nicholas Brady (1834-1913), a nationally-known financier. The Brady family lived at 411 State Street (now the Rockefeller Institute) in Albany from 1907 until 1914. Marcia Ann Brady married Carll Tucker, the author’s father, in 1908.
Most recently, Tucker was editor and publisher of Trader Publications, which published newspapers and magazines in New York State. Prior to that, he was editor and publisher of the Saturday Review, where he won a National Magazine Award, and a staff writer and theater critic for the Village Voice. His work has appeared in The New York Times, New Republic, Patent Trader, among other publications. A graduate of Yale, Tucker lives in New York City.
"Tucker’s book is
a revelation about America and its author. Geographically, historically,
and emotionally, it’s a lively fascinating read , packed with delicious
gossip about obscure and well-known presidents and vice-presidents. Why
didn’t we have this in college?"
—Betsy Gotbaum, New York City Public Advocate
For more information about Carll Tucker’s appearance at the Albany Institute of History & Art, contact Steve Ricci at (518) 463-4478, ext. 467, riccis@albanyinstitute.org.
Carll Tucker at the wheel of Migrant, the RV in which he traveled the U.S., visiting the resting places of many of the country's presidents and vice presidents.
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