Wednesday, September 16
Marla Miller
2009-10 Patrick Henry Writing Fellow, C.V. Starr Center
Betsy Ross: The Life Behind the Legend
Cosponsored by the Rose O’Neill Literary House
Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center, 7:30 p.m.
Book signing to follow
Washington College’s 2009-10 Patrick Henry Writing Fellow, the historian and author Marla Miller, discusses the fascinating real life of Betsy Ross. Miller is in residence at Washington College throughout the academic year, using the fellowship to complete her forthcoming work, a groundbreaking biography of the Revolutionary flag-maker, seamstress and government contractor.
Monday, September 21
Dennis Drabelle
Mile-High Fever: Silver Mines, Boom Towns, and High Living on the Comstock Lode
Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center, 7:30 p.m.
Book signing to follow
A contributing editor to the Washington Post's Book World section since 1985, and
a National Book Critics Circle Award-winner for excellence in reviewing, Dennis Drabelle brings to life the drama surrounding the storied Nevada silver vein called the Comstock Lode. After its discovery in the 1850s, Comstock became a mecca of profitable business and technical innovation – but also of untrammelled greed, outright theft, and stock-market fraud.
Tuesday, September 29
Maxine Susman
"Wartime Address" Reading
Cosponsored by the Rose O’Neill Literary House
Rose O’Neill Literary House, 5:00 p.m.
Wartime Address is a poem sequence by Maxine Susman based on a memoir by Jean Wetzel '67, recounting Wetzel's flight from Paris during World War II. Susman
is Professor of English at Caldwell College.
Thursday, October 22
George Washington Book Prize Celebration
Annette Gordon-Reed, winner of the 2009 George Washington Book Prize
The Hemingses of Monticello
4:15 p.m. book signing; 5:00 p.m. presentation and public conversation;
6:30 p.m. reception
Decker Theatre, Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts
Annette Gordon-Reed, winner of the 2009 George Washington Book Prize, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for The Hemingses of Monticello, shares the story of an extraordinary American family. The event will include a public conversation about the literary art of history with the Starr Center's Adam Goodheart, during which questions will be taken from the audience.
Thursday, October 29
James McBride
Song Yet Sung: A Reading by James McBride
Cosponsored by the Rose O'Neill Literary House, the Dean of the College, Gunston Day School, Kent County Library, and the "One Maryland, One Book" program of the Maryland Humanities Council
Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, 4:30 p.m.
Book signing to follow
In his 2009 novel, Song Yet Sung, James McBride follows a group of slaves as they escape to freedom through the swamps of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. McBride is an author, screenwriter, and musician; his memoir, The Color of Water, was a New York Times bestseller for two years and has sold millions of copies worldwide. His novel Miracle at St. Anna recently became a film, written by McBride and directed by Spike Lee.
Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1
History on the Waterfront: a Journey Into Chestertown’s Past
Cosponsored by Sultana Projects, Inc., as part of the 2009 Downrigging Weekend
The Custom House, 101 South Water Street
Audio-guided tours available throughout the afternoon, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. each day
During Downrigging Weekend, the Starr Center’s new multimedia tour of Chestertown’s colonial waterfront will be open for extended hours Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday, November 1
Captains' Forum: Interviews with the Tall Ship Captains
Cosponsored by Sultana Projects, Inc., as part of the 2009 Downrigging Weekend
The Custom House, 101 South Water Street
Interviews throughout the afternoon, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Each fall, historic tall ships converge on Chestertown as part of the popular Downrigging Festival. This year, the Starr Center's Michael Buckley, host of the radio show “Voices of the Chesapeake Bay,” will moderate an informal forum with several of the visiting captains. The public is invited to attend, ask questions, and learn about what it’s like to command a tall ship in the 21st century.
Tuesday, November 3
Charles E. Cobb, Jr.
From Freedom Summer to Barack Obama
Cosponsored by the Black Studies Program and the Office of Multicultural Affairs
Casey Academic Center Forum, 7:30 p.m.
A renowned activist in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, Charles Cobb created
the "Freedom School" program that became a crucial part of the famous 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer. He later launched a career as a journalist, reporting for National Public Radio, PBS's Frontline, and National Geographic. Cobb, a Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, is author of On the
Road to Freedom: a Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail.
Monday, November 9
Bruce Cole
My Provenance: From Aunt Gertrude to Sydney Freedberg
Co-sponsored by The Friends of the Miller Library, the Department of Art and Art History, and the Washington College Academy of Lifelong Learning
Casey Academic Center Forum, 5:00 p.m.
Bruce Cole is a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and current President and CEO of the American Revolution Center at Valley Forge. He is a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal and has written 14 books, including Art of the Western World: from Ancient Greece to Post Modernism, The Renaissance Artist at Work, and The Informed Eye: Understanding Masterpieces of Western Art.
Chestertown History Tours
Beginning October 10, visitors are invited to experience the Starr Center’s new multimedia tour of the Chestertown waterfront. The audio-guided tour, “History on the Waterfront: a Journey Into Chestertown’s Past,”will be available Friday afternoons from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..
Reservations to take the tour at other times may be made by calling 410-810-7161. Tours begin at the Custom House, 101 S. Water St. in Chestertown.
