History   

The Cornish Colony began taking shape after the arrival in Cornish, New Hampshire of renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1885. Saint-Gaudens and his wife Augusta lived here seasonally starting in 1885, and year-round beginning in 1900 until the sculptor died in 1907. Saint-Gaudens' presence and the beautiful landscapes of New Hampshire and Vermont attracted artists and other intellectuals to Cornish. For 35 years over 80 painters, sculptors, illustrators, musicians, actors, writers, architects, and landscape designers lived and worked in this rural town and in nearby Plainfield, N.H., mostly in the summer months. Learn about Saint-Gaudens, artists Stephen and Maxfield Parrish, best-selling novelist Winston Churchill, sculptor Paul Manship, and other fascinating “Cornish colonists” and about the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park. This beautiful facility encompasses Saint-Gaudens' home, his studio, art galleries, and gardens. Versions of several of his most famous sculptures adorn the grounds, including the moving Robert Gould Shaw Memorial that honors the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, a unit of black soldiers who fought in the Civil War, and two outstanding depictions of Abraham Lincoln.

A century ago, the covered bridge was a ubiquitous part of New Hampshire's landscape. Fire, flood and progress have destroyed 90% of them so that only slightly over 50 remain. Take a virtual tour of some of the state's past and present covered bridges while learning about their designs, the craftsmen who built them, how the bridges met their demise, and the efforts to preserve those which remain.

In this course we will examine the history and development of China from the Qin Dynasty, which started the Chinese Empire, to the end of the Mao era. We will look at four significant dynasties, the development of Chinese culture and values including the four main philosophies, China's interactions with other Eastern countries and the West, the end of the dynastic era and the rise of Republican China, China at war with Japan, the Chinese Civil War and the triumph of Mao, and China under Mao. (Please note that this is not a course on contemporary China under Xi Jin Ping.)

Few parts of the United States Constitution are more controversial today than the Second Amendment guaranteeing the right to bear arms. This lecture will introduce audiences to the origins of the Second Amendment, including the role of the militia in revolutionary America and what the right to bear arms did and did not mean. Although the focus will be on the amendment's early history, it will conclude with some remarks about how its meaning has evolved in the two centuries since it was ratified.