Returning to Erie and the Jefferson Educational Society stage by popular demand, renowned historian Dr. Robert Garland will begin his second weeklong summer residency July 7 to 11. He will present “A Day in History,” a five-day series that explores what a difference a day makes.
“After Dr. Garland’s dynamic and insightful event at the Global Summit in 2023, the JES team welcomed the chance to try something new in 2024: Host a Global Summit presenter for the first-of-its-kind week-long residency,” said Dr. Ferki Ferati, JES President. “Our team was encouraged to see the excitement last summer, and we received such positive feedback – including ‘bring him back!’ When we knew we could – and could focus on new material – we didn’t hesitate, since it is such an honor to have a scholar of Dr. Garland’s caliber in Erie for an entire week of events.”
There are days in history stretching back 2,500 years that we can reconstruct almost on an hour-by-hour basis – days, too, when history turned on a dime and momentous events happened. Each lecture in the series highlights a specific day when the world altered course and brought civilization to where it is today.
Each lecture also raises the tantalizing question: What if? What if the Greeks had lost the battle of Salamis and the Persians had gone on to conquer all of Greece? Would western civilization have gone under? What if the Archduke Francis Ferdinand’s driver hadn’t taken a wrong turn and his assassin hadn’t been sitting in a café and hadn’t seen this happening, after a previous failed attempt the same day to assassinate him? Would World War I have been averted?
The series will explore The Battle of Salamis: Sept. 28, 480 BC; The Ides of March: March 15, 44 BC; The Gunpowder Plot: Nov. 5, 1605; The Assassination of Francis Ferdinand: June 28, 1914; and The Bombing of Hiroshima: Aug. 6, 1945.
Garland, the Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Emeritus Professor of the Classics at Colgate University, first presented at the JES during 2023’s Global Summit. He returned in July 2024 for the JES’s first-ever week-long summer residency.
Garland is also the author of many books including but not limited to: “The Greek Way of Death,” “The Eye of the Beholder,” “Athens Burning: The Persian Invasion of Greece and the Evacuation of Attica (Witness to Ancient History),” and the recently released “What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife,” which will be available for purchase before and during his 2025 residency.
For more information about the programs, memberships, or to make reservations, call 814.459.8000 or visit JESErie.org.
Media coverage of all events is welcomed; a JES spokesperson and the presenters will be available for comments at all term events.
For comments in advance, please contact:
Ben Speggen,
Vice President
Jefferson Educational Society
814.459.8000
speggen@jeserie.org
