Presentation to Focus on Facts and Fiction Behind Orphans and Inmates Book Series

October 9, 2015: Local author and anthropologist, Rosanne Higgins, PhD, will debut her latest work of historical fiction, The Seer and the Scholar, on Friday, November 6, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Museum of disABILITY History, at 3826 Main Street in Buffalo.

The novel is the third installment in Higgins’ Orphans and Inmates series, which tells the tale of three sisters who were orphaned on their way from Ireland to Buffalo and sought refuge at the Erie County Poorhouse.  The Seer and the Scholar takes place during the cholera epidemic of 1849, and incorporates pieces of local history, including Bishop Timon’s attempts to establish a school for the deaf in Buffalo.

Higgins’ presentation, which is part of the Museum’s Dialogues on disABILITY Speaker Series, will include information about the books’ characters and their progression throughout the series. She will discuss the facts and themes that have shaped her work, and will also sign books for attendees.

Rosanne Higgins is an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo. Her research focuses largely on the nineteenth century’s Asylum Movement and its impact on disease specific mortality. In the spring of 2012, she was invited to join the Erie County Poorhouse Cemetery project, undertaken by the Department of Anthropology at the University at Buffalo. This project, paired with a longstanding desire to tell a side of the ‘Poorhouse story’ that was accessible to more than just the scholarly community, resulted in her novel, Orphans and Inmates. The book is the first in a series chronicling fictional accounts of poorhouse residents inspired by historical data. The series’ second installment, A Whisper of Bones, was released in October 2014.

Admission for the book presentation and signing is $6 for adults, $3.50 for students, seniors and human service employees and free for Museum members. For more information or to register, call 716.629.3626.

Established in 1998, the Museum of disABILITY History is the only one of its kind in the United States and is dedicated to advancing the understanding, acceptance and independence of people with disabilities. The Museum’s exhibits, collections, archives and educational programs create awareness and a platform for dialogue and discovery.