Past Events:
19 November 2009: 2005-2006 Steinbeck Fellow Sara Houghteling read from Pictures at an Exhibition (Knopf 2009), her critically acclaimed novel, giving a slide show of art work relating to the novel's plot, answering questions, and signing books. The event took place in room 550 (Schiro Room) of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.
18 September 2009: Pete Seeger, legendary folk singer, performed at the second annual "This Land Is Your Land Festival," sponsored by the John Steinbeck Family Foundation and with the support of Live Nation. The concert took place in San Francisco, helping benefit the Center for Steinbeck Studies, the Woody Guthrie Foundation, and San Francisco Food Bank. Also appearing: folk-rock singers Sarah Lee Guthrie (grand-daughter of Woody Guthrie) and Johnny Irion (grand nephew of John Steinbeck).
Spring 2009: The Center sponsored activities relating to the SJSU Campus wide Reading program, which chose Cannery Row as its selection. Lectures were given by Michael Hemp, A. L.“Scrap” Lundy, and former Center Director, Professor Susan Shillinglaw.
25 September 2007: The John Steinbeck Award: "In the Souls of the People" is given to Garrison Keillor.
2006: A conference took place in Sun Valley, Idaho, organized by Stephen K. George and with the cooperation of the Center for Steinbeck Studies: “Steinbeck and His Contemporaries.”
2005: An International Steinbeck Congress took place in Kyoto, Japan.
10 September 2004: The John Steinbeck Award: "In the Souls of the People" is given to Sean Penn.
26 February 2003: The John Steinbeck Award: "In the Souls of the People" is given to Joan Baez.
Fall 2002: On 02 October, Studs Terkel was given the John Steinbeck Award at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. The Center's Director published three books to mark the Centennial: America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction, edited by Susan Shillinglaw and Jackson Benson (Penguin, 2002); John Steinbeck: Centennial Reflections by American Writers (Center for Steinbeck Studies, 2002), and How to Organize a Steinbeck Book or Film Discussion Group, by Susan Shillinglaw and Harold Augenbraum (Center for Steinbeck Studies and The Mercantile Library).
Spring 2002: The Steinbeck Centennial project, coordinated by The Mercantile Library, the Center for Steinbeck Studies, and the National Steinbeck Center launched the most ambitious series of events for any American writer of the 1900s. Over 500 libraries across the country sponsored events. Additional programs were held in Austria, Belgium, Italy, China and Japan. A traveling photographic exhibit (4 sets of 35 photographs of Steinbeck's life) curated by Susan Shillinglaw was shown at 40 libraries around the country. With Hofstra University and the John Steinbeck Society of Japan, the Center co-sponsored an international centennial conference, "John Steinbeck's Americas," held at Hofstra University in March. Over 300 attendees heard over 90 papers. On 26 February the John Steinbeck Award was given to Jackson Browne at the Capitol Club in San Jose; on 27 February he gave a benefit concert at the Fox Theater in Redwood City.
2001: The Mercantile Library, the Center for Steinbeck Studies, and the National Steinbeck Center are awarded a $265,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities to coordinate events at libraries around the country during the Centennial year, 2002.
22 April 1999: The John Steinbeck Award: "In the Souls of the People" is given to Arthur Miller.
14 February 1998: The John Steinbeck Award: "In the Souls of the People" is given to John Sayles.
02-03 November 1997: With Opera San Jose, the Center co-sponsors a seminar on Of Mice and Men, in conjunction with performances of Carlisle Floyd's opera, Of Mice and Men.
Art Ring, Martha Heasley Cox, and Bruce Springsteen at the presentation of the Steinbeck Award in 1996.
26 October 1996: The John Steinbeck Award: "In the Souls of the People" is created. Bruce Springsteen is the first to be honored. He gave a benefit concert for the Center at SJSU's Event Center. In February the second annual Cannery Row Symposium is held in Monterey, co-sponsored by The Center for Steinbeck Studies, "Working Days on Cannery Row: 1995-1996."
1995: San Jose State University's "Year of Steinbeck" is launched. Several departments in the University - Art, Music, English, Drama - sponsored events. In the spring, the drama department performed The Grapes of Wrath. The Center for Steinbeck Studies sponsored a semester-long speakers' series.
Elaine Steinbeck and Gary Sinise on location during the shooting of Of Mice and Men.
1992: The Center sponsors the world premiere of Gary Sinise's film Of Mice and Men at the Town and Country Theatre in October.
1989: To mark the 50th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath, an interdisciplinary conference was held at San Jose State: "The Grapes of Wrath, 1939-1989: An Interdisciplinary Forum," with over 300 attending the three day event in March. Conference proceedings are published in San Jose Studies. The Esalen Institute of San Francisco sponsored a US/Soviet exchange, sending five Steinbeck scholars, among them Susan Shillinglaw, Director of the Center, to Moscow for a series of lectures. For Moscow's Library of Foreign Literature, the Director also curated and mounted a exhibition of over 100 Steinbeck photographs.
An international conference, "Steinbeck and the Environment," sponsored by the Center and the University of Massachusetts Field Station, is held on Nantucket Island in May. Over 75 people heard 20 scholars from America and England discuss Steinbeck's ecological vision. Conference proceedings, edited by Susan Shillinglaw, Susan Beegel and Wes Tiffney were published by the University of Alabama Press, Steinbeck and the Environment (1997).
Elaine Steinbeck and Robert DeMott at The Grapes of Wrath 50th Anniversary celebration, probably at the ‘21’ Club at 21 West 52nd Street in New York city. This party was a rager, attended by A+ listers as Douglas Fairbanks, Junior, Elia Kazan, Arthur Schlesinger, Junior; and Edward Albee.
1987: The Center begins distributing The Steinbeck Newsletter, its award-winning publication, issued twice yearly (renamed Steinbeck Studies in 1998 and Steinbeck Review in 2006).
1984: Under the direction of Robert DeMott, the Steinbeck Research Center publishes in a limited edition, Your Only Weapon is Your Work, a letter from John Steinbeck to Dennis Murphy.
1973: The Steinbeck Research Center is dedicated at a conference celebrating Of Mice and Men, opera, film, play, book. The San Francisco Opera performs Carlisle Floyd's opera Of Mice and Men in San Jose.
1971: At one of the first Steinbeck conferences, held at SJSU, President Bunzel announces the formation The Steinbeck Research Center, founded by Martha Heasley Cox, Professor of English.
Doctor Martha Heasley Cox circa 1966, probably near time when she became Full Professor at San Jose State University.
