March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 46 F

Historic Annapolis continues popular lecture series

Historic Annapolis continues its line up of educational, engaging, and fun virtual lectures through December. Each lecture gives guests the opportunity to get comfortable on the couch, grab a beverage, and invite the presenter into their living rooms via Zoom. With just one exception, each lecture is held on Thursdays from 7 pm – 8 pm. Unless otherwise stated, each lecture costs $10 for Historic Annapolis Members and $15 for the General Public.  Registration is required and can be made at www.annapolis.org.

If guests can not join the live presentation, but wish to see the lecture, they should still register and they will be emailed the link to the video recording the following day. Recordings are available to view up to two weeks following the lecture.

Upcoming Virtual Lectures include:

Collecting American Elections
A Smithsonian Affiliations Lecture

Tuesday, October 27, 2020
There is no bigger moment in the life of the American democracy than when voters head to the polls to exercise their rights as citizens to appoint a new leader. For curators at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, there is no clearer mandate than the presidential elections every four years to collect and document, to record and preserve the objects that capture the times.

Smithsonian Affiliations and the National Museum of American History present a roundtable discussion of scholars discussing the hard choices and years of experience that they bring to collecting objects and documents from presidential campaigns for the nation’s collection. Lisa Kathleen Graddy, Jon Grinspan, and Claire Jerry from the Division of Political and Military History will share their favorite campaign artifacts from the Smithsonian’s collection, and will bring a diverse perspective to how Americans elect leaders and what messages the objects of campaigns convey about their times. .
Time: 8 pm
Cost: FREE

Rolling Down the River: Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet, and the Fate of the French New World
Thursday, October 29, 2020
In 1673, France and England were locked in a power struggle over the future of North America. In this virtual presentation, Laura Chmielewski explores the dynamics of French and English colonization at a time when the continent’s future was in transition. Hear the tale of the brief, yet epic, adventure of explorers Marquette and Jolliet – that nearly changed the course of a continent.
Time: 7 pm
Cost: $15 General Admission per household; $10 for HA Members and Volunteers per household

“Ordering from the Director”: Studies in Colonial Period American Furniture
Join presenter Tony Zecca for an overview of Colonial Period American furniture. He will show what a wealthy patron should expect when ordering furniture from a cabinetmaker’s shop. You will look at the different Directors, or design books, that would have been used in the period and compare examples that appear in the book and in current collections. Tony enthusiastically shares his experiences as a collector, and education volunteer at Mount Vernon.
Time: 7 pm
Cost: $15 General Admission per household; $10 for HA Members and Volunteers per household

Gardens and Gardening in Early Annapolis
Thursday, November 12, 2020
The William Paca House is famous for its reconstructed eighteenth-century garden. A place for leisure, experimentation, artistry, and the production of food and medicine, William Paca’s garden—and gardens elsewhere in Annapolis and the British Atlantic World—were integral to everyday life. Join Bethany McGlyn as she explores several eighteenth-century Annapolis gardens, their construction and design, and the stories of the enslaved and servant gardeners whose expertise maintained them.
Time: 7 pm
Cost: $15 General Admission per household; $10 for HA Members and Volunteers per household

Lotions, Potions, Pills, and Magic: Health Care in Early America, with a focus on Dr. Alexander Hamilton of Annapolis
Thursday, November 19, 2020

Join Dr. Elaine Breslaw for an analysis of the trends in American health care by both professional and folk practitioners from the initial settlements to the mid-nineteenth century. She will discuss treatment of disease, epidemic crises, food habits, childbirth practices, the attitude toward the insane, wartime problems, and public health issues, with revelations about how and why the medical profession declined in importance during those years.

Learn about Dr Alexander Hamilton, a highly educated doctor from Scotland who migrated to colonial Maryland in 1737. He’s best known for his 1744 trip through the colonies. He had a thriving medical practice, was involved in local politics, and married a daughter of one of the richest men in the colony.

Time: 7 pm
Cost: $15 General Admission per household; $10 for HA Members and Volunteers per household

Eliza Hamilton: Patriot, Wife, Widow, Warrior
Thursday, December 3, 2020

“I was someone before I met Alexander Hamilton.” So begins the novel My Dear Hamilton, the only book in fiction – or non-fiction – to recount the untold story of the entirety of the life of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton and a Founding Mother, who was a patriot in her own right and a little-known warrior in her husband’s quest to form a more perfect union. New York Times bestselling author Laura Kamoie will discuss the history behind and writing of her novel.
Time: 7 pm
Cost: $15 General Admission per household; $10 for HA Members and Volunteers per household

The Reverse Underground Railroad: Stolen, Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Guest speaker Richard Bell discusses his research and story behind his new book, Stolen, which covers the grim story of human trafficking and slave traders who ”stole” away thousands of legally free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery’s rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War. His newest book tells of the odyssey of five free black boys kidnapped from Philadelphia in 1825 who were coffled to Mississippi for sale as slaves, only to escape, return and lead a manhunt to bring their former captors to justice.
Time: 7 pm
Cost: $15 General Admission per household; $10 for HA Members and Volunteers per household

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