The Medford Public Library welcomes College of the Holy Cross professor Virginia Raguin for a talk explaining the technique and craft of stained glass with a wide variety of images. Her book “The Illuminated Window: Stories Across Time” (Reakion Press 2023) demonstrates that this art results not from a single maker, but through a collaborative process. The building that will house the stained glass, the desires of the patrons, concern for the windows’ relationship to the spectator, and always, the prevailing style of the era are part of the artist’s preparation. Popular piety as much as wealthy donors animated the selection of the themes in many parish churches. Louis Comfort Tiffany, however, the son of a jewelry maker, knew full well the attraction of a high-end product. Frank Lloyd Wright saw his geometric stained glass essential to his homes, remarking that the “element of pattern is made more cheaply and beautifully effective when introduced into the glass of the windows than in the use of any other medium that architecture has to offer.” RSVP through the library’s online calendar.