People from the Old World crossed the Atlantic for a myriad of reasons ranging from a desire for wealth to religious freedom. For most, it was a chance to start anew and improve their lives including having more and better food. For many, this was a difficult undertaking. It is evident that early settlers' lives revolved around procuring, preparing or consuming food as well as using food for barter and trade. This presentation will focus on one of these foods – Cod – that not only changed the lives of the settlers but perhaps the world.

One of the greatest contributors to the 20th century American conservation movement has also been one of the most overlooked. Howard Zahniser’s active role in the protection of both New York's Adirondack State Park and Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument were notable achievements, but his successful effort to protect nearly 100 million acres of American wilderness is enduringly inspirational. Featuring the perspective of “Zahnie’s” son, Edward, presenter Jeff Ryan’s 35-minute documentary film captures the humbleness and grace of a man who believed that, “The true wilderness experience is one, not of escaping, but of finding one’s self by seeking the wilderness.” After presenting his film, Jeff will field questions about both Howard Zahniser and the development of the film.

Have you ever been on a night flight stuck in the middle seat as a thunderstorm flashes outside your window, rattling your tray and spilling your drink, while babies cry like fisher cats and you think: "Just how DO the pilots know how to get to the airport?" Learn how an upside-down airplane and a 1.6 million dollar postage stamp helped create America's (and the world's) air navigation system from bonfires to satellites in this history of the vanished Transcontinental Lighted Airway. This non-technical talk about the origins of the US Post Office's Air Mail service uses the uncovering of New England’s last existing artifact of the Airway navigation system in Bethany, CT as a jumping off point. The talk covers early attempts to speed delivery of mail from Pony Express times to overnight trains to daylight flight to overnight air-only modalities. Prominent players and key events are examined.

1820s in America - a time when the face of New England was changing. The development and rapid rise of the textile industry occurred in river towns where water power could be harnessed. Young women were recruited from farm life to come into the growing urban areas and work in the mills. This class will focus on the mill girls of Lowell, Mass - the excitement of living on their own and the challenges and hazards they faced working in the mills.

It was perhaps one of the greatest adventures in American military history: the Berlin airlift of 1948/49! When Soviet troops closed all access routes to West-Berlin by land, sea and rail, thus threatening the lives of 2.5 million people and provoking the first major international crisis of the Cold War, American General Lucius D. Clay did not hesitate and proceeded to build a bold and fantastic bridge across the sky, involving 700 planes and 250 000 flights over a period of 14 months! Join German Historian, Anette Isaacs, for a fascinating discussion of this exciting time in her country’s postwar history.

Take a virtual walk through the cobblestone lined streets of Portland's most historic neighborhood, the Old Port. We will discuss the first inhabitants of the region, the First Peoples who lived on the peninsula for thousands of years. We will discuss the "virgin soil" epidemics that killed large numbers of the Wabanaki and the French and Indian Wars in the region. Portland's abolition movement and Portland's role as a hub on the Underground Railroad will be explored followed by a look at the Abyssinian Meeting House which was built in 1828 and is the US's third oldest African American meeting house. We will also look at Portland's relationship to sugar, Cuba and The Atlantic World Slave Economy in the 19th century.

An exploration into how the Holocaust is remembered in the context of national memory. How do we interpret the past, navigate the trauma, and how does it inform us in the present? We will explore the writings of Elie Wiesel, France Under Occupation, the Story of Danish Rescue, Auschwitz, 70 Years after Liberation and The Human Problem of Genocide. What is required to recognize, deter and prevent crimes of mass atrocity? This is designed as a follow up to The Rise of the Nazis and the Holocaust course.