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2024 Philadelphia Memory Parlor
"Conscience in Action"

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2023 Philadelphia Memory Parlor
"Toward Unity"

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2022 Washington D.C.
"Pop Up" Memory Parlor

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2021 Mt. Pleasant (Art Reach of Michigan) Memory Parlor

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What is a Memory Parlor? Simply put, it is an interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and international space in which participants get "work done" on their memories. Inspired by the both the Ancient "Art of Memory" and the Lyceum Movement of the 19th Century, at Memory Parlors, we connect fragmented narratives pertaining to peace, human dignity, law, history, and philosophy, under the protection and shelter of beauty. We believe that in so doing, we decrease alienation and increase connection, belonging, harmony and understanding. Our Memory Parlors acknowledge the need for a space to cultivate our understanding of moral relevant history, i.e., the stories of value-centric ideas and persons who bring those ideas to life. A foundational principle of our Memory Parlors is that history should be learned not only to avoid the repetition of errors, but also to repeat the triumphs of virtue. We believe that history is narrative of past ethics, and is indispensable for charting the course towards a better horizon.

The Cora di Brazz
à Foundation organized its first Memory Parlor in 2021 at Art Reach of Mid-Michigan.

Our second "Pop Up" Memory Parlor was held at the Friends Meeting House (Quaker House) in Washington D.C., in March 2022.

Our third Memory Parlor, "Toward Unity" was held at the Philadelphia Masonic Temple on July 19-20, 2023, the 175th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention of 1848.

Our fourth Memory Parlor, "Conscience in Action," was held at the Philadelphia Masonic Temple on July 17-18, 2024.

For information about each, click on the relevant image above.
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It was in a "Suffrage Parlor" in Washington D.C. in 1886 when Adelaide Johnson, at the suggestion of a friend, first decided to sculpt Susan B. Anthony. A "Memory Parlor" is a nod to the earlier “Suffrage Parlors” and to the recognition that we need spaces to cultivate our understanding of positive history.
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©2024 Hope Elizabeth May/The Cora di Brazzà Foundation Contact Me