Past seminars
Fall Seminar Topics and Faculty Fellows
A list of the Newberry Seminar topics for the fall semester since the program began in 1965.
2009: Placing Race: Investigating the History and Memory of Racial Pasts – Jane Rhodes (American Studies, Macalester) and Lynn Hudson (history, Macalester)
2008: Community and Memory: Texts, Images and Monuments – Ellen Joyce (history, Beloit) and Hannah Schell (religious studies, Monmouth)
2007: Words and Deeds: Speech and Action in Western Culture – Kevin Miles (philosophy, Earlham) and Robert Southard (history, Earlham)
2006: On the Road: Intercultural Encounters in Europe and the Americas – David George (foreign languages and literatures, Lake Forest) and Benjamin Goluboff (English, Lake Forest)
2005: The Problem of Slavery and Visions of Freedom in Western Culture – Robert Bennett (classics, Kenyon) and Glenn McNair (history, Kenyon)
2004: Encountering Worlds: Human Views of Nature – Carol Neel (history, Colorado) and John Horner (psychology, Colorado)
2003: Picturing the Past: Studies in the Visual Representation of History – Clay Steinman (communication studies, Macalester) and Paul Solon (history, Macalester)
2002: Confluence of Cultures: Histories and Fictions of the Americas – Gilberto Gómez-Ocampo (modern languages, Wabash) and James Fisher (theatre, Wabash)
2001: Religion and Secularism – David Spadafora (history, Lake Forest) and Richard Mallette (English, Lake Forest)
2000: Enlightenment Dreams/Enlightenment Realities – James Diedrick (English, Albion) and Deborah Kanter (history, Albion)
1999: Art and Culture – James Martin (music, Cornell) and Susan Wolverton (theater arts, Coe)
1998: Unmasking Gender – Carla Zecher (French, Coe) and Terry Heller (English, Coe)
1997: The Contested Past: Histories and Fictions of Human Conflict – Robert Warde (English, Macalester) and Paul Solon (history, Macalester)
1996: Landscape and Culture – Juliana Mulroy (biology, Denison) and William Nichols (English, Denison)
1995: The Paradox of Slavery and Freedom in the Western World – Harry M. Williams (history, Carleton) and Darrell LaLone (anthropology, DePauw)
1994: Frontiers of the Land, Frontiers of the Mind – Lance Factor (philosophy, Knox) and Laurel Carrington (history, St. Olaf)
1993: The Self in Context – James Cook (English, Albion) and James Diedrick (English, Albion)
1992: The Dialogue with Progress – (David Hopper (religion, Macalester) and James Fisher (theater, Wabash)
1991: Concepts of Freedom in the Modern Age – Paul Cohen (history, Lawrence) and Deborah VanBroekhoven (history, Ohio Wesleyan)
1990: Distant Encounters: Journeys and the Image of the Other – Kathleen Adams (anthropology, Beloit) and Charles Stoneburner (English, Denison)
1989: The Self in Context: Exploration of Selfhood in Western Culture – James Cook (English, Albion) and Peter Frederick (history, Wabash)
1988: Cultural Encounters in the New World – Pamela Jensen (political science, Kenyon) and Donald Irving (English/American studies, Grinnell)
1987: The Ruling Taste: Governmental Influence on European and American Culture – Debra Mancoff (art, Beloit) and Lyman Leathers (history, Ohio Wesleyan)
1986: Cultural Ideals and Realities in History and Literature – Steve Fineberg (classics, Knox) and Roy Wortman (history, Kenyon)
1985: Play and Society in Literature and History – Phyllis Gorfain (English, Oberlin) and Clark Halker (history, Albion)
1984: Crime and Justice in Literature and History: the 16th-20th Centuries – Joseph Musser (English, Ohio Wesleyan) and Charles Flynn (history, Denison)
1983: Love, Marriage and Family in Western History, 1100-1914 – Penny Gold (history, Knox) and Warren Rosenberg (English, Wabash)
1982: Literature and Politics – Catherine Zuckert (political science, Carleton) and Michael Zuckert (political science, Carleton)
1981: Cycles of Change: The Concept of Revolution in History, Politics, Art and Literature – Susan McCarthy (French, Hope) and Peter Weisensel (history, Macalester)
1980: Public vs. Private: the Dilemma of Liberalism in England and America – William Frame, (political science, Kenyon) and Randall Schrock (history, Earlham)
1979: Changing Concepts of Nature in the Western Tradition: Enlightenment in the Twentieth Century – John Riker (philosophy, Colorado) and Charles Miller (political science, Lake Forest)
1978: Individualism and Community: Studies in the Relationship of Self and Society, 1750-1900 – Robert Fogerty (history, Antioch) and Rosemary Jann (literature, Ripon)
1977: All Coherence Gone: the Modern World Emerging – Paul Solon (history, Macalester) and Lowell Johnson (English, St. Olaf)
1976: Art and Capital: the Creative Arts in a Commercial World – Robert Shimip (history, Ohio Wesleyan) and William Nichols (English, Denison)
1975: Myth and History: the Social Uses of the Imagined Past – E. Gordon Whatley (English, Lake Forest and Tom K. Barton (history, Colorado)
1974: The Machine in the Garden: the Impact of Industrialization on Society and Social Ideals – Richard Gamble (English, Coe) and George Tselos (history, Monmouth)
1973: Alienation & the Search for Community: Studies in Literature and Social History – Robert Hellenga (English, Knox) and Kirk Jeffrey (history, Carleton)
1972: Radicalism and the Radical Temperament: Studies in the American and English Traditions – Harley Henry (English, Macalester) and James Stewart (history, Macalester)
1971: Eighteenth Century Enlightenment – Jean Kern (English, Coe) and John Treon (history, St. Olaf)
1970: Origins of Anglo-American Culture, 1576-1688 – William Schutte (English, Lawrence) and Thomas Schlereth (history, Grinnell)
1969: Renaissance –- Focus on the Elizabethan Court – Milton Krieger (history, Cornell) and William Schutte (English, Lawrence)
1968: Nineteenth Century Studies – Michael Crowell (English, Knox) and Henry Fritz (history, St. Olaf)
1967: Eighteenth Century Studies – Thomas Gilmore (English, Cornell) and J. Lynn Osen (history, Beloit)
1966: Seventeenth Century Studies – Robert Irrmann (history, Beloit) and Sheldon Zittner (English, Grinnell)
1965: Renaissance Studies – John J. Murray (history, Coe) and Richard VanFossen (English, Cornell)