Tea & Talk With Eastern Shore Playwright, Mary Wood, March 1

Chestertown, MD, February 22, 2005 — The spring 2005 season of Washington College's Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series continues Tuesday, March 1, with a talk by local playwright, Mary Wood, discussing her new work in progress, “Hunting Rights,” a play dramatizing the conflict between the pressure of development and environmental and historic preservation in an Eastern Shore community. The talk is free and open to the public and all are welcomed to enjoy tea, conviviality, and discussion in the comfortable surroundings of the O'Neill Literary House. Tea served at 4 p.m., talk begins at 4:30.

The Church Hill Theatre will also hold a free staged reading of “Hunting Rights” on Sunday, March 6, at 2 p.m.

Wood is a 1968 graduate and former Trustee of Washington College. Her love of poetry began in her childhood, but with the help of courses with Professor Robert Day through the College's creative writing program, she honed her craft as a poet and playwright with a particular focus of the culture, history, and environment of the Eastern Shore. Wood has published two books,The Balanced Moment: Selected Verse 1970-1995 (Literary House Press, 1997), and My Darling Alice: Based on Letters and Legends of an Eastern Shore Farm.

The Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series showcases the research, writing, and talent of Washington College's faculty, staff, and alumni, and is held in the College's O'Neill Literary House. Established in 1985, the Literary House was acquired and refurbished through a generous gift of alumna Betty Casey, Class of 1947, and her late husband Eugene, and named in memory of his late mother, Rose O'Neill Casey. Now in its 20th anniversary year, the O'Neill Literary House reflects the eclectic spirit of Washington College's creative writing and academic culture.

Before Seneca Falls: The History Of Women's Rights In The Early American Republic, Talk March 2

Chestertown, MD, February 22, 2005 — The Washington College's Department of History and the Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture Series present “Women's Rights Before Seneca Falls,” a lecture by Rosemarie Zagarri, Professor of History, George Mason University, Wednesday, March 2, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. Professor Zagarri's talk will be based on her book-in-progress, Petticoat Government: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic. The event is free and open to the public.

Professor Zagarri holds a Ph.D. for Yale University and has taught early American history at George Mason University since 1994. She is the author of two books, A Woman's Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution(Harlan-Davidson, 1995) and The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776-1850 (Cornell University Press, 1987). She also edited David Humphrey's “‘Life of General Washington' with George Washington's ‘Remarks'” (University of Georgia Press, 1991) and has published articles in The Journal of American History, The William and Mary Quarterly,American Quarterly, and Reviews in American History. In the spring of 1993, the Fulbright Commission appointed her Thomas Jefferson Chair in American Studies at the University of Amsterdam. In 1997-98, she received a research Fellowship for College Teachers from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

She is currently working on a project examining the role of gender and America's first political parties.

The Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1989 to honor the memory of the late history professor who taught at Washington College for 30 years. The intent of the endowed lecture series is to bring a distinguished historian to campus each year to lecture and to spend time with students in emulation of Dr. Goodfellow's vibrant teaching style.

Author Discusses Living With Bipolar Disorder, Talk March 2

Chestertown, MD, February 22, 2005 — Washington College's Department of Psychology, Daniel Z. Gibson/John A. Wagner Visitors Fund, and the Kent County Local Management Board present “My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D,” a talk by author and producer Lizzie Simon, Wednesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre, Smith Hall. As a person with bipolar disorder, Simon presents an inspirational, educational, and interactive program about her own experiences, her work as an advocate for people with mental health issues, and the stigma about mental illness pervading American life. This event is free and open to the public.

The author of Detour: My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D(Atria, 2002) and former creative producer at the Obie Award-winning Flea Theater, Simon has overcome the social stigma and personal hurdles that confront individuals with a devastating mental illness. Her personal insights into manic depression address a broad spectrum of topics, including the biological aspects of the disorder, the effects of bipolar disorder on interpersonal relationships and family, and the roles that they serve in the process of recovery. Simon grew up in Providence, RI, and earned a B.A. from Columbia University. Formerly a creative producer for the Flea Theater in the Tribeca section of Manhattan, she is now a freelance writer, producer, and frequent guest speaker. Simon's book Detour was made into a one-hour special for MTV, and she is working on a second special focusing on bipolar disorder for HBO.

Inaugural George Washington Book Prize To Be Awarded At Mount Vernon

Annual $50,000 Prize Among Largest in Literary Awards

Chestertown, MD, February 19, 2005 — The first annual George Washington Book Prize will be awarded at Mount Vernon on May 7 to the author of 2004's most important new book on the founding era. The black-tie event will celebrate the works of the three finalists, announced on February 19, which are Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom by Rhys Isaac, and The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon Wood. The winner will be revealed at the event and presented with a medal.

The award has attracted keen and immediate attention among historians, due in part to the lucrative stipend. The $50,000 prize is one of the largest book prizes in the United States and is far greater than those accompanying prestigious literary awards such as the Pulitzer Prize for History at $7,500, the National Book Award at $10,000, and the Bancroft Prize at $10,000.

Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City, and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association have joined forces to create the George Washington Book Prize.

A three-person jury of respected scholars screened scores of books on the founding era and accepted nominations from all interested parties. Don Higginbotham, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina; Philip D. Morgan, Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University; and Barbara Oberg, Senior Research Historian at Princeton University and General Editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, served as jurors for the initial award.

Washington College was founded in 1782, the first institution of higher learning established in the new republic. George Washington was not only a principal donor to the college, but also served on the governing board for many years. He received an honorary degree from the college in June 1789, two months after assuming the presidency. The George Washington Book Prize will be administered by the College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, an innovative center for the study of history, culture and politics.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in 1994 by two New York business and philanthropic leaders, Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman. The Institute sponsors a wide range of educational programs for both teachers and students, with a commitment to promoting “the study and the love of American history.” Headquartered in New York City, the Institute uses its impressive collection of rare historic documents to encourage history education and new scholarship through exhibitions, publications, and other outreach programs. The Institute has established similar prizes for scholarly books written about the Civil War era and African American history. The Lincoln Prize was created in 1990 in conjunction with the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, and the Frederick Douglass Prize in 1999 in cooperation with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University.

College Establishes Washington Fellowship At Boston Athenaeum, Home Of George Washington's Personal Library

Chestertown, MD, February 17, 2005 — Washington College, through the auspices of its C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, has established a Washington College Fellowship in Early American History at the Athenaeum Library of Boston, the institution announced this week in advance of Washington's Birthday. The Athenaeum is renowned for housing the personal library of George Washington, as well as numerous other documents relating the life and career of the nation's first president. Dr. Joachim Scholz, Provost and Dean of Washington College, visited the Athenaeum Library on January 21 to instate the yearly fellowship program.

“It is in keeping with Washington College's own tradition to enhance its collaborations with institutions with strong connections to the life and work of George Washington,” said Scholz. “By sponsoring the Washington Fellowship, the College hopes to make a contribution to continuing research into the life and legacy of the nation's founder, who was, at the same time, our College's founding patron. Such research, in turn, will inform and enhance the learning of our students.”

The Washington Fellowship provides a stipend of $1,500 for a month-long residency at the Athenaeum Library and supports the use of the Athenaeum's Washington collection and general collections for research, publication, curriculum and program development, or other creative projects.

The Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries in the United States, was founded in 1807 by members of Boston's Anthology Society to form “an establishment similar to that of the Athenaeum and Lyceum of Liverpool in Great Britain; combining the advantages of a public library [and] containing the great works of learning and science in all languages.” For nearly half a century the Athenaeum was the unchallenged center of intellectual life in Boston, and by 1851 had become one of the five largest libraries in the United States. Today its collections comprise more than half a million volumes, with particular strengths in Boston history, New England state and local history, biography, English and American literature, and the fine and decorative arts.

One of the Athenaeum's special collections is George Washington's personal library, kept at his former home at Mount Vernon until 1848, at which time a large portion of them were sold to Henry Stevens, American agent of the British Museum. A group of Bostonians who were determined to keep these books in the United States solicited subscriptions to acquire the library, and after the acquisition placed it permanently in the care of the Athenaeum. The subscribers also bought a number of books and pamphlets relating to Washington. Many of the books obtained from Henry Stevens contain Washington's signature, some his manuscript notes, and bookplate. Topics within the collection range from animal husbandry to military strategy, carpentry, poetry, and civil liberty.

Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts and sciences college located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college chartered in the new nation. The College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, and dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture.

Which George W. Would Americans Elect? Nation's First President Wins By 20 Points In New National Survey

Yet, Poll Shows Young Americans Know Very Little About Founding Father

Chestertown, MD, February 17, 2005 — If George Washington returned from the dead and attempted to recapture the presidency of the United States, he would beat an incumbent President George W. Bush by nearly 20 percentage points, according to a new national poll conducted for Washington College by the public affairs research firm of Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas, Inc. Asked to choose between George Washington and George W. Bush, Republicans in the survey supported Bush by a margin of more than 2 to 1, while Democrats and independents overwhelmingly favored Washington.

However, the survey—commissioned to honor the first president's birthday on February 22 and the inauguration of a major new history book prize co-sponsored by Washington College—found that by some measures, Washington's status as a national icon is slipping. Only 46 percent of the 800 adult Americans surveyed could identify him as the general who led the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War. When asked who they thought was America's greatest president, only 6 percent named George Washington, ranking him seventh, behind Abraham Lincoln (20 percent), Ronald Reagan (15 percent), Franklin D. Roosevelt (12 percent), John F. Kennedy (11 percent), Bill Clinton (10 percent), and George W. Bush (8 percent).

Is it too late to return the Father of Our Country to his pedestal? Perhaps not. On Saturday, February 19, a new prize will be unveiled at Washington College honoring the year's best book on George Washington, the American Revolution, or the early Republic. Sponsored jointly by the College, Mount Vernon, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, the George Washington Prize will offer the winner $50,000, making it one of the largest book prizes in the nation. (By comparison, the Pulitzer Prizes and National Book Awards bring $10,000 to each winner.)

“We undertook this survey to gauge just how much average Americans know about their first president, and we hope the George Washington Prize will be an important step in restoring his rightful place as a national hero,” said Ted Widmer, Director of Washington College's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. “As the results indicate, we have some way to go. While most Americans remember the myth of the cherry tree, fewer and fewer Americans under the age of 50 can identify any of the pertinent facts of his life. And let's face it, ‘First in war, first in peace, and seventh in the hearts of his countrymen,' doesn't sound very impressive.”

Indeed, the survey found that younger Americans are far less likely to know basic facts and legends about Washington and his era. Of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29, only 57 percent knew the tale of Washington and the cherry tree (compared to 91 percent of respondents over 50). Just 45 percent of them identified Martha Washington as our nation's first First Lady. A mere 4 percent knew that President Washington's first inauguration was held in New York City. And in response to a multiple choice question asking them to identify the name of Washington's residence, only 49 percent of young Americans picked Mount Vernon; 23 percent picked “Gettysburg,” 15 percent picked “Monticello,” 3 percent picked “Graceland,” and 2 percent picked “Neverland Ranch.”

The George Washington Prize/Washington College Poll was conducted by telephone February 7-10, 2005, among a random sample of 800 adults throughout America. The margin of error for the entire sample is approximately +/-4 percentage points. All interviewing was conducted by Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas, a full-service global strategy and research organization specializing in public policy and opinion surveys, whose clients include major financial institutions, news organizations, and Fortune 500 companies.

Washington College—a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore—was founded in 1782 and is the only institution of higher learning that the first president (who himself never attended college) patronized during his lifetime. Washington donated 50 Guineas to the newly founded school, gave his consent for it to be named in his honor, served on its Board of Visitors and Governors, and received an honorary degree in 1789.

Sandra Gilbert, Leading Scholar Of Feminist Literary Criticism, Examines The Poetry Of Sylvia Plath, February 22

Chestertown, MD, February 15, 2005 — Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee welcomes Sandra M. Gilbert, professor of English at the University of California-Davis, examining the works of the celebrated twentieth-century American poet, Sylvia Plath, Tuesday, February 22, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room, Miller Library. The event is free and open to the public.

A leading scholar in the field of feminist literary criticism, Gilbert is the coauthor, with Susan Gubar, of the groundbreaking work, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the 19th-Century Literary Imagination, and No Man's Land: The Place of the Woman Writer in the 20th Century, both from Yale University Press. In addition, she is coeditor of The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English and has published seven collections of her own poetry—most recently, Belongings—as well as a memoir, Wrongful Death. Her latest critical work, Death's Door: Modern Dying and the Ways We Grieve, will appear from W.W. Norton in January 2006.

The lecture is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee, which works to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, MD, whose generosity has done so much to enrich Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most “ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor” and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

Bias & Beyond: Reporter Looks At The New World Of Politicized Journalism, February 24

Chestertown, MD, February 11, 2005 — Has the idea of journalism as an objective presentation of facts and information become outmoded? Has today's news media become so ideologically-driven that the American public can no longer determine what is fact and what is opinion? Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs takes a deeper look at this issue with “Bias & Beyond: Liberals, Conservatives, and the New World of Political Journalism,” a talk by Stephen Hayes, staff writer for The Weekly Standard, Thursday, February 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

A graduate of DePauw University and Columbia University's School of Journalism, Hayes is a staff writer for The Weekly Standard and author of The Connection: How Al Qaeda's Cooperation with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America (Harper Collins, 2004). Before joining The Weekly Standard, Hayes was a senior writer for National Journal's Hotline and served for six years as Director of the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University.

Hayes has been a guest on numerous televised political roundtables—CNN's Crossfire andLate Edition with Wolf Blitzer, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Fox's Hannity and Colmes andThe O'Reilly Factor, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC's Meet the Press, and The McLaughlin Group—and has written for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Reason, Salon, and National Review. He is currently completing a master's degree in public policy and social philosophy at Georgetown University and lives outside Washington, DC.

The talk is sponsored by Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, established in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, a 1935 alumnus and Maryland's longest serving elected official. The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, travel and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders in public policy and the media.

WC Alum Wins National Award For Undergraduate Essay On Milton's Paradise Lost

Chestertown, MD, February 10, 2005 — Heidi Atwood, a 2004 graduate in English from Washington College, has received the Grand Prize in the 2004 Early English Books Online/EEBO-TCP Undergraduate Essay Competition. Atwood took the top award and received a $1,000 prize for her essay, “‘Thy leaden heels no golden wit doth show:' Physick, Alchemy, and the Body Corporeal in Milton's Paradise Lost,” written for the Milton Honors Seminar held in her senior year.

Judged by a panel of scholars and librarians in the field of English and early modern studies, the contest recognizes excellence in undergraduate essay writing and research using the primary texts and resources available through the EEBO database as well as the essay's potential to contribute to the field of early modern studies more generally.

“I am very proud of Heidi and her accomplishments,” said Kathryn Moncrief, assistant professor of English who taught the Milton seminar. “All previous winners of the contest have been from large research universities, so it is very exciting to see Washington College on top this year. It testifies to the quality of our English program and our students.”

Atwood is currently a graduate student at the University of Alabama in the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies.

Her winning essay can be read online at http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/edu/edu_win_04.html.

Black History Month Lecture: Poet Denise Low Discusses The Early Life Of Langston Hughes, February 17

Chestertown, MD, February 8, 2005 — In celebration of Black History Month, Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee presents “Langston Hughes's Early Life in the West,” a lecture by Denise Low, visiting poet in residence at the University of Richmond, Thursday, February 17, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room, Miller Library. The talk is free and the public is invited to attend.

Denise Low is the author, with her husband T. F. Pecore Weso, of Langston Hughes in Lawrence: Photographs and Biographical Resources, which examines the poet's boyhood life in Lawrence, Kansas. Although Hughes achieved fame as a poet during the Harlem Renaissance, those who label him “a Harlem Renaissance poet” restrict his fame to only one genre and one decade. In addition to his work as a poet, Hughes was a novelist, columnist, playwright, and essayist, and though he is most closely associated with Harlem, his life and experiences in the American West profoundly influenced his writing and impressions of race, community, and ethnicity.

Low grew up in the Flint Hills of Kansas, one of the largest remaining unplowed grasslands on the continent. She received a Ph.D. in English from University of Kansas and MFA in Creative Writing from Wichita State University, and has published ten books of poetry. Her poems and personal essays have appeared in Arts & Letters, North American Review, Connecticut Review, Midwest Quarterly, and others. She also reviews for the Kansas City Star and Midwest Quarterly.

The talk is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee, which works to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, MD, whose generosity has done so much to enrich Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most “ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor” and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

A New Look At An "Ok" President: Legacy Of Martin Van Buren Topic Of New Bio By C.V. Starr Center Director, Ted Widmer

Chestertown, MD, February 7, 2005 — Ted Widmer, Ph.D., Director of Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, has released a new book on the nation's eighth president, Martin Van Buren, as part of Times Books' American Presidents Series edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Though his presidential ambitions were cut short after one contentious term, the lessons of Van Buren's political career cast a long shadow over the history and development of the American two-party system.

“My book is an attempt to rescue one of the deader ex-presidents from obscurity, and, in the process, show how much he contributed to the rise of modern parties and bare-knuckles presidential campaigning,” said Widmer. “Van Buren is barely known to most of us, except for his ample sideburns and the word ‘OK'—short for his slogan, ‘Old Kinderhook.' But he was a huge political force in his day, invented the modern Democratic party, and left a long trail of defeated rivals behind him.”

Widmer explores the unknown breakthroughs as well as the discord that plagued Van Buren's political career from his beginnings in New York to his term in the White House. A native Dutch speaker, he was America's first ethnic president as well as the first New Yorker to hold the office, at a time when Manhattan was bursting with new arrivals. “The Little Magician” was a sharp political operator who established himself as a powerhouse in New York, becoming a U.S. senator, secretary of state, and vice president under Jackson, whose election he managed. A master of the political machine, his ascendancy to the Oval Office was virtually a foregone conclusion. But once he held the reins of presidential power, Van Buren found the road quite a bit rougher, Widmer notes.

His attempts to find a middle ground on the most pressing issues of his day, such as the growing conflict over slavery, eroded his effectiveness, and his inability to prevent the great banking panic of 1837 all but ensured his fall from grace. Still, his long career after the White House produced some fascinating moments, including his friendship with a young Abraham Lincoln, and his dramatic run on the Free Soil ticket in 1848.

“Oddly, Van Buren is dismissed as the first professional politician, as if that is a put-down,” said Widmer. “But the mark he left on the American scene has never been erased. For all his flaws, he deepened democracy and helped the United States live up to its founding ideals.”

Ted Widmer is the director of the C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, and dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. He is the author of Young America and the co-author, with Alan Brinkley, of Campaigns: A Century of Presidential Races. Widmer also served as a senior adviser to President Clinton and director of speechwriting at the National Security Council.

Tea & Talk Lecture Tackles Satire, Syphilis And France's War Of Religion, February 14

Chestertown, MD, February 3, 2005 — The spring 2005 season of Washington College's Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series begins with an excursion to 16th century France and the War of Religion. Katherine Maynard, assistant professor of French, will present “Of Satire and Syphilis: The Fighting Words of Pierre Ronsard and His Protestant Critics,” Monday, February 14. The talk is free and all are welcomed to enjoy tea, conviviality and discussion in the comfortable surroundings of the O'Neill Literary House. Tea served at 4 p.m., talk begins at 4:30.

“At the dawn of the first War of Religion in France, from 1562-63, the most famous poet of the royal court, Pierre de Ronsard, wrote a series of poems intended to defend Catholicism,” says Maynard. “This poetry prompted an angry response from Protestant pamphleteers, many of whom were former friends and associates of Ronsard. The heated exchange between the two sides included many audacious insults, but perhaps the most striking is the mention of syphilis, a disease introduced to France in 1498. My talk will consider the historical realities of syphilis as well as its metaphorical role in the war of words fought between Ronsard and his Protestant detractors.”

The Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series showcases the research, writing and talent of Washington College's faculty and is held in the College's O'Neill Literary House. Established in 1985, the Literary House was acquired and refurbished through a generous gift of alumna Betty Casey, Class of 1947, and her late husband Eugene, and named in memory of his late mother, Rose O'Neill Casey. Now in its 20th anniversary year, the O'Neill Literary House reflects the eclectic spirit of Washington College's creative writing and academic culture.

Washington's Birthday Convocation Honors C-Span's Brian Lamb In A Salute To WC's Faculty And Staff Authors, Feb. 19

College to Inaugurate Major Academic History Book Prize, Announce Start of New Scholarship Initiative for Local Students

Chestertown, MD, February 3, 2005 — Washington College's annual George Washington's Birthday Convocation welcomes C-SPAN founder, Brian Lamb, in a salute to the life of letters and to the College's faculty and staff authors, Saturday, February 19, at 2 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre. The event is free and the public is invited to attend. Lamb will receive an Honorary Doctor of Public Service from the College.

Lamb's visit will also mark the inauguration of a new annual academic book prize, instituted by Washington College to acknowledge scholarly achievement in the study of early American history and the founding era. In addition, the College will use the occasion to announce a new scholarship initiative that will provide full tuition, room, board, and book costs to a Kent County student on a yearly basis.

One of the founders of cable's 24/7/365 public affairs channel, C-SPAN—the non-profit Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network—Lamb has served at the network's chief executive since its beginning in 1979, but he is best known as the on-air host of C-SPAN's Booknotes, having taped nearly eight hundred author interviews and published four books on the series since its 1989 inception.

The concept of a public affairs network that provided in-depth coverage of national and international issues was a natural for Lamb, who has been both a journalist and a political press secretary. Interested in broadcasting since childhood, he worked at Indiana radio and TV stations while attending high school and college, spinning records, selling ads, and eventually hosting the locally popular “Dance Date” television program. After graduation from Purdue University, Lamb joined the Navy; his tour included White House duty in the Johnson administration and a stint in the Pentagon public affairs office during the Vietnam War. In 1967, he returned home to Indiana, but Washington beckoned and he soon found himself back in the nation's capital where he worked as a freelance reporter for UPI, a Senate press secretary, and a White House telecommunications policy staffer.

In 1974, Lamb began publishing a biweekly newsletter, The Media Report, and covered communications issues as Washington bureau chief for Cablevision magazine. It was from this vantage point that the idea of a public affairs network delivered by satellite took shape, and by 1977 Lamb had won the support of key cable industry executives for a channel that could deliver gavel-to-gavel coverage of the U.S. Congress. Organizing C-SPAN as a not-for-profit company, the group built one of D.C.'s first satellite uplinks—just in time to deliver the first televised session of the U.S. House of Representatives to 3.5 million cable households on March 19, 1979.

With cable industry support, C-SPAN grew rapidly and today employs 275 people and offers three 24-hour television networks—C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, and C-SPAN3— reaching more than 86 million households and providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate proceedings; coverage of daily political events from Washington, including congressional hearings, White House briefings, news conferences, policy seminars, and more; and on weekends, Book TV, 48 hours of non-fiction book programming and author interviews.

“We are delighted to honor Brian Lamb, especially as we share news of a new national book prize to bring attention to this nation's founding era and ideals, the very time and environment in which Washington College was conceived,” said Baird Tipson, President of the College.

Careers In Art: The Getty Museum's John Harris Discusses Editing Art History, February 28

Chestertown, MD, February 3, 2005 — Washington College's Department of Art presents John Harris, Senior Editor for the J. Paul Getty Museum, discussing “Editing Art History,” Monday, February 28, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum. Harris will share his insight, true stories, case histories, and survival tips for those who might consider pursuing this career. The talk is free and the public is invited to attend.

“Neither a science nor an art, the editing of art history texts requires an unusual set of skills,” says Harris. “Among other things, the editor must be a cheerleader, high school English teacher, graphologist, disciplinarian, computer tech, mind reader, and clinical psychologist.”

In his twenty-five years as an editor of art history books, Harris—a graduate of Middlebury College—has witnessed how a broad-based, liberal arts background can lead to this interesting vocation. Part-editor, part-writer, and part-collaborator, Harris has produced a variety of books for the academic and consumer markets, including exhibition and collection catalogues; handbooks and trade books; and best-selling gift and children's books. For adults, he has developed such titles as Robert Irwin: Getty Garden; Walker Evans: Florida(with an essay by novelist Robert Plunket); and Walker Evans: Cuba (with an essay by Andrei Codrescu). Harris also has created four best-selling children's books: A is for Artist: A Getty Museum Alphabet, Where's the Bear?, Going to the Getty, and Marguerite Makes a Book, one of the best-selling children's books in Southern California as recognized in The Los Angeles Times.

He also has two more children's books in the works: Pop-Up Aesop, with illustrations by Calef Brown, and Strong Stuff: The Labors of Herakles, with illustrations by artist and filmmaker Gary Baseman.

“In our continuing effort to provide models for our students that may lie outside the traditional areas of teaching and research, we look forward to welcoming someone with John Harris's credentials, experience and creative energy to campus,” said Donald McColl, Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art.