Sent on Behalf of the Monroe County Historical Museum: The Monroe County Museum System assembles national and local historians and invites all to our Online Speaker Series 2020-2021. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors came to the Monroe County Museum System (MCMS) to learn about the past. Now, the MCMS team is proud to deliver history to our community via this year’s Online Speaker Series.
From November through March, people anywhere can join Monroe citizens online on select evenings to experience in-person virtual presentations from cutting-edge historians across the U.S. The presenters will share pertinent topics and new scholarship that connect our county’s stories with bigger movements in American history.
“Realizing our mission in service to our community, while keeping everyone safe, presents challenges,” explained Museum Deputy Director JJ Przewozniak. “But in this case,” he continued, “we had two significant opportunities: we could host a more diverse and scholarly group than ever before, and we could really expand our audience. Now, people anywhere can participate with our community.” Featured in the series is Alex Kershaw, presenting on Thursday, November 19. Kershaw is an honorary colonel in the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division, and is the widely acclaimed and award-winning author of several New York Times best-selling books about WWII. He has an honorary doctorate in military history and is a director of the National WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. An adaptation of his 2012 book, The Liberator, will be released on Netflix November 11. Headlining the series is Peter Cozzens, presenting on Thursday January 21, 2021. He’ll be discussing Tecumseh and the Prophet (released October 2020), the first biography of the great Shawnee leader in more than twenty years, and the first to make clear that his misunderstood younger brother, Tenskwatawa, was an equal partner in the last great pan-Indian alliance against the United States. Cozzens is a celebrated author or editor of sixteen acclaimed books on the American Civil War and the Indian Wars of the American West, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Lincoln Prize. Kershaw and Cozzens are part of a group of ten speakers in total, including Ric Mixter, Theodore J. Karamanski (Loyola University Chicago), James E. Mueller (University of North Texas), and Craig Wilson (Mackinac State Historic Parks), among others. All featured books are available for checkout through the Monroe County Library System. Visit www.mymcls.com to reserve your copy. Please visit www.monroecountymuseum.com or our Facebook page for regularly updated info, including webinar links and speaker information. Mission Statement of the Monroe County Museum Charmaine Wawrzyniec Curator Lawrence A. Frost Collection of Custeriana Ellis Library and Reference Center 3700 South Custer Monroe, MI 48117 734-241-5277