Scholar Explores 'Life In Venetian Archives' In Rose O'Neill Literary House Talk

CHESTERTOWN – Benjamin Kohl, Professor Emeritus of History at Vassar College, will offer a presentation on “Life in the Venetian Archives” at Washington College’s Rose O’Neill Literary House on Thursday, January 28; tea and light refreshments will be served at 4 p.m., with Dr. Kohl’s talk beginning at 4:30 p.m.

From 1966 until his retirement in 1998, Dr. Kohl taught medieval and early modern history at Vassar, where he served as chair of the department for seven years.

Among his publications are the edited volumes The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists on Government and Society (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), Major Problems in the History of the Italian Renaissance (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1995), and an abridged translation of Johann Weyer’s De praestigiis daemonum (Asheville, N.C.: Pegasus Press, 1998); and books including Padua under the Carrara, 1318-1405 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) and a collection of 14 of his papers, published as Culture and Politics in Early Renaissance Padua (Aldershot, Eng.: Ashgate, 2001).

Kohl currently resides in Betterton, Maryland, where he is working on a book on the governance of late medieval Venice.
In addition to his work as a scholar, on the Eastern Shore Kohl teaches in the local Elderhostel, directs the Hedgelawn Foundation Inc. (a small charitable trust dedicated to the promotion of the humanities, historic preservation, and the visual and performing arts), serves as the Secretary of the Town of Betterton Planning Commission, and drives for Food Link.

Dr. Kohl’s presentation is part of the Rose O’Neill Literary House’s recently relaunched “Tea and Talk” series, which will continue through the spring with presentations by Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies Christine Wade and Assistant Professor of Drama Michele Volansky.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7899 or visit lithouse.washcoll.edu.

Scholar Explores Emerson, Photography in Rose O'Neill Literary House Talk

CHESTERTOWN – Sean Meehan, Assistant Professor of English at Washington College, will present “‘This is a Fragment of Me’: Emerson and the Poetics of Metonymy” at the Rose O’Neill Literary House on Tuesday, November 17, at 4 p.m.

Dr. Meehan began his scholarly focus on the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson with a dissertation on photography in 19th-century American autobiography, completed at the University of Iowa.

Dr. Meehan recently published a book based on that dissertation, Mediating American Autobiography: Photography in Emerson, Thoreau, Douglass, and Whitman. His upcoming lecture on Emerson and metonymy is part of his current work-in-progress, a study of Emerson’s engagement with the practice and theory of education and an exploration of Emersonian ways of learning both from the past and for the future.

Dr. Meehan was awarded the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association Fellowship for 2005-2006 from Houghton Library, Harvard University. He published an article based on research he did at Houghton in Emerson Society Papers (2006), “Living Learning: Lessons from Emerson’s School.”

In addition to teaching the courses “Emerson and Whitman” and “American Environmental Writing,” Dr. Meehan teaches “Literature and Composition” and is the Director of Writing for Washington College.

Dr. Meehan’s presentation is part of the Rose O’Neill Literary House’s recently relaunched “Tea and Talk” series, which highlights the work of authors and scholars on the faculty and staff of Washington College.

The series will continue in Spring 2010 with presentations by Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies Christine Wade, Assistant Professor of Drama Michele Volansky, and Vassar College Professor Emeritus of History (and Washington College Trustee) Benjamin Kohl.

Admission to “‘This is a Fragment of Me’: Emerson and the Poetics of Metonymy” is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7899 or visit lithouse.washcoll.edu.