Professor Priscilla McMillan examines the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, physicist and director of the Manhattan Project. McMillan focuses particularly on his post-World-War-II opposition to development of the hydrogen bomb, the 1954 trial in which his security clearance was revoked, and the context of these events at the beginning of the USSR-U.S. arms race.
Biographer and journalist Richard Reeves compares and contrasts the presidencies and legacies of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.
Professor Philip F. Gura traces the intellectual genealogy of America's first group of public intellectuals, who profoundly shaped 19th-century American literature and social reform.
Audio and video options are available. The video can be viewed with or without captions.
Professor Eli C. Bortman describes the case and trials of Ferdinand Sacco (1891-1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), Italian-born anarchists charged with the armed robbery and murder of two Massachusetts payroll clerks in 1920. The case, which ended in Sacco and Vanzetti's execution in 1927, drew worldwide attention and criticism, for the alleged anti-immigrant, anti-Italian, and anti-anarchist sentiments that colored it and the uncertain guilt of the men. Bortman looks at the case from both sides—considering the men as both guilty and innocent.
Audio and video options are available.
Curator Sally Pierce and associate curator Catharina Slautterback review the history of the Boston Atheneaum's collections of prints and photographs, beginning with the Atheneaum's founding in 1807. They look at the contents of the collections; how the items were obtained, collected, and exhibited; and what they indicate about changes in tastes and available materials over time. The presentation includes slides.
The lecture's audio is also available for download.
Professor Robert J. Allison reviews the political and economic context surrounding the Boston Tea Party and the details of the event itself. The lecture occurs in the Old South Meeting House, where the meeting preceding the Tea Party took place.
Audio and video options are available. The video can be viewed with or without captions.
Biographer Charles Calhoun looks at the life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the society he encouraged and kept at his Craigie House, which included many major writers and intellectuals of the day.
The audio of this lecture is available independently as an mp3 file.
Author Bruce Watson describes the lives and trials of Ferdinand Sacco (1891-1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), Italian-born anarchists charged with the armed robbery and murder of two Massachusetts payroll clerks in 1920. The case, which ended in Sacco and Vanzetti's execution in 1927, drew worldwide attention and criticism, for the alleged anti-immigrant, anti-Italian, and anti-anarchist sentiments that colored it and the uncertain guilt of the men. The presentation includes slides.
Civil Rights Project co-founder and director Gary Orfield and director and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Theodore Shaw examine how researchers and legal advocates can further the aim of advancing civil rights in knowledge and policy. With a look back to the Civil Rights Project's original research agenda and its impact over the past ten years, this discussion considers how research on social equity and civil rights can be successfully extended to include the changing reality of a highly stratified multiracial society with a white minority.
The discussion audio is available as a downloadable mp3 file.
U.S. Booksellers for Free Expression president Christopher Finan looks at the importance of and struggle to defend freedom of speech and other civil liberties over the 20th century.
The lecture audio can be downloaded as an mp3.