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Presidential Series: Martin Van Buren

with Doodler Heather Rogers on Zoom

Join us for a yearlong series in which “America’s Preeminent Presidential Doodler”, Heather Rogers, shares facts, factoids, and fun illustrations about the presidents of these United States.

This month we're talking Martin Van Buren: First president born in the United States but English wasn’t his first language.  Don't you want to know more?

In 2026, journey through Heather's sketchbooks as she shares some of her favorite tidbits, doodles, observations, and stories about the first 12 presidents.

Heather Rogers isn’t a historian, an academic, or an impartial storyteller… but she has read more than one book about every U.S. president. Out of spite. She was dubbed “America’s Preeminent Presidential Doodler” by one of her favorite biographers and she’s been repeating it ever since. When she’s not reading or doodling history books, she’s a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, and content creator.

To keep her interest during her accidental spite project, Heather Rogers filled hundreds of sketchbook pages doodling her way through presidential biographies. Doing so heightened her curiosity and turned her into an insufferable presidential nerd. Along the way, she discovered unexpected threads connecting seemingly unconnected people, times, and events. She can’t get enough of the weird trivia, coincidences, and quirks. Like the fact that English wasn’t the first language of the first president born in the U.S. Or that a three-part plan was proposed to bring George Washington back to life. Don’t even get her started on William Henry Harrison – he was only president for a month, but she could talk about him for hours.

*All illustrations for this series have been created by Heather Rogers and are her property therein. 

This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 48 hours of the program.

This program is supported by the Friends of Memorial Hall Library and is in partnership with the Ashland Public Library and many other MA and NH libraries.

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