About the Lectures
This free lecture series brings renowned biographers, a number of them Pulitzer Prize winners, to the Mary Washington campus to explore the diverse lives and achievements of remarkable people.
Video recordings of the lectures will be uploaded to the UMW Great Lives Lectures website and will be available in the weeks following the live lectures.
Coming Soon: Interested in learning more? We're gathering lists of supplementary materials for each lecture, including books and movies you can check out from the library.
Lecture Schedule
Lectures are always held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, January through March, in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. Typically, they include question-and-answer sessions and book-signings.
January 20: Paul Revere, Revolutionary Rider
January 22: Aimee Semple McPherson, Pioneering Televangelist
January 27: John Williams, Movie Music Master
January 29: Barbara Jordan, The South’s First Black Congresswoman
February 3: Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live
February 5: Judy Blume, Children's Author
February 10: Robert Crumb, Counterculture Cartoonist
February 12: Jerry West, Basketball’s “Mr. Logo”
February 17: The Brothers Grimm, Fathers of Folklore
February 19: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, & Count Basie, Jazz Music Giants
February 24: Elizabeth Packard, Champion of Women’s Rights
February 26: Jemima Boone, Captive Colonial Child
March 10: Desi Arnaz, Actor & Husband to Lucille Ball
March 12: Gertrude Bell, Adventurer
March 17: John Hancock, Revolutionary Ringmaster
March 19: Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday, Cowboys of the West
Paul Revere
Tuesday, January 20
Aimee Semple McPherson
Thursday, January 22
John Williams
Tuesday, January 27
Barbara Jordan
Thursday, January 29
The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America
Speaker: Author, Kostya Kennedy
Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson
Speaker: Author, Claire Hoffman
John Williams: A Composer’s Life
Speaker: Author, Tim Greiving
She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan’s Life and Legacy in Black Politics
Speaker: Author, Mary Ellen Curtin
Lorne Michaels
Tuesday, February 3
Judy Blume
Thursday, February 5
Robert Crumb
Tuesday, February 10
Jerry West
Thursday, February 12
Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live
Speaker: Author, Susan Morrison
The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us
Speaker: Author, Rachelle Bergstein
Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life
Speaker: Author Dan Nadal
West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life
Speaker: Author, Jonathan Coleman
The Brothers Grimm
Tuesday, February 17
Jazz Giants
Thursday, February 19
Elizabeth Packard
Tuesday, February 24
Jemima Boone
Thursday, February 26
The Brothers Grimm: A Biography
Speaker: Author, Ann Schmiesing
The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America
Speaker: Author, Larry Tye
The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America
Speaker: Author, Matthew Pearl
Desi Arnaz
Tuesday, March 10
Gertrude Bell
Thursday, March 12
John Hancock
Tuesday, March 17
Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday
Thursday, March 19
Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television
Speaker: Author, Todd S. Purdum
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
Speaker: Author, Janet Wallach, in conversation with Nabil Al-Tikriti
John Hancock: First to Sign, First to Invest in America's Independence
Speaker: Author, Willard Sterne Randall
Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone
Speaker: Author, Mark Lee Gardner