From the last years of the 19th century throughout much of the following one, Los Angeles evolved from a destination for health seekers and winter vacations to a dynamic center of industry and the leading port of the Western United States. Bill Keene draws on booster literature, magazine articles, and scholarly and informal histories to examine how LA’s vision of itself became a reality.
Join volcanologist Kirt Kempter as he focuses on the geologic origins of Copper Canyon and the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Hummingbirds have captured our imaginations with their unsurpassed jewel-like plumage, acrobatic flight, and ethereal presence. Nature writer Jon Dunn recalls his adventures following hummingbirds from Alaska to the tip of South America.
In 1932 Frank Lloyd Wright published The Disappearing City, a polemic about the evils of urban centers. He envisioned a better future centered on the automobile, telephone and radio, and mass production, integrated to bring mobility, freedom, and choice to the individual. In a richly illustrated program, Bill Keene examines the apparent contradictions between Wright’s essentially anti-city views and his ongoing fascination with work to enhance urban life. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Food markets and food halls are a hot culinary trend right now, but Baltimore is home to the nation’s oldest continuously operating public market system, one that draws on the harvest of Marlyand farms and the Chesapeake Bay. Christine Rai explores each of the city’s markets, delving into their history, architecture, and evolution, as well as stories of the city’s traditional produce vendors, the arabbers and their iconic horse-drawn carts.
The Barnes is often considered the greatest post-impressionist and early-modern art collection in the world. Join Barnes Foundation educator Penny Hansen as she covers its history and uses unique high-definition Deep Zoom technology to offer closeup looks masterpiece that reveal their surfaces and details in ways that bring the art and the artists to vivid life. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Join geologist Kirt Kempter for an exploration of the splendid scenery and geology of the northern Rocky Mountains that straddle the border between the United States and Canada. From the emerald Lake Louise near Banff to the majestic views along Going-to-the-Sun Road at Glacier, a deep geologic history created these spectacular park landscapes, which are now designated as World Heritage Sites.
Learn about Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, located along the Appalachian flyway in eastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1934 as the world’s first sanctuary for raptors, Hawk Mountain’s 2,500 acres of land are dedicated to conservation and connected to an important migratory pathway that thousands of birds pass through daily in peak fall migration.
Something about Baltimore clearly nurtures the literary impulse, but what is it, exactly? Arts journalist and Charm City resident Richard Selden explores the reasons as he takes a look at the sites and works closely connected with the most famous writers who lived there.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s residence for Buffalo businessman Darwin D. Martin is one of the most substantial and highly developed of his Prairie-style houses and among the architect’s most significant early commissions. Mary Roberts, executive director of the Martin House, leads a live virtual tour through sections of the main house, the open-air pergola, and conservatory as she shares the fascinating history of the site.
From the Woman Suffrage Procession along Pennsylvania Avenue in 1913 to the massive Million Man March in 1995, Washington, D.C. was the setting for many of the most historic social and political American protests of the 20th century. Enjoy a fall walk with lecturer Dave Price and discover the stories behind the most significant of these protests.
Springtime in Washington is legendary, but what about that other fabulous season, fall? Join author and tree expert Melanie Choukas-Bradley on a virtual tour through autumn in the capital and see why its beauty should be as celebrated as spring’s cherry blossoms.
Regional historian Hayden Mathews explores the rich heritage of this lovely Eastern Shore town, focusing on both land and sea. The day includes a cruise on a replica of an 18th-century vessel, as well as a historic-district walking tour guided by Chestertown’s mayor.
Environmental historian Hayden Mathews brings the heritage of one of the most storied rivers in North American to life in a three-part series that focuses on how the Potomac has shaped the lives of the those who settled along its banks from their arrival after the last Ice Age to the present day and how those lives have had an impact on the river.
The Patagonia region of South America has long attracted naturalists and explorers to unravel the mysteries of its dramatic landscape. Join geologist Kirt Kempter on a virtual tour of the region including highlights such as national parks, glaciers, and several picturesque volcanoes of the southern Andes.
Albert Barnes amassed 181 works by Pierre-August Renoir—the world’s largest collection. Barnes Foundation educator Penny Hansen uses high-definition Deep Zoom technology to offer remarkable close-up views of his paintings as she examines his stylistic changes over the years, and discusses Barnes’ great affinity for Renoir, especially his late works. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Spend a fall morning exploring the verdant wooded trails of Rock Creek Park with naturalist and author Melanie Choukas-Bradley. She surveys the botanically diverse native trees of Rock Creek Park’s floodplain forest and upland woods and covers the history of D.C.’s woodland gem, the oldest urban national park in the country.
Follow the writer’s footsteps through the capital’s downtown as historian Garrett Peck examines the urban backdrop against which Whitman carved out a role as a nurse to Civil War soldiers; met the love of his life; worked as a federal clerk; and built a community through his literary circle.
