Ewing Lecture Series

As Historians look into their field by examining past events, so do the students and professors at Lycoming College. Each year, the professors of history at Lycoming look to recognize one of their colleagues and friends by presenting the Robert H. Ewing Lecture Series.

The Ewing Lecture Series was established in 1973 when Robert H. Ewing, of whom the Series is named, retired after 27 years at Lycoming College. A revered teacher and friend of the college, his life was characterized by a deep religious faith, a passion for history and a strong devotion to a liberal arts education. These qualities touched the lives of all who came in contact with him and led his many friends to contribute to the Ewing Fund to establish this Series.

Past lecturers include:

  • 2011 — Dr. David Witwer
    "The Acid Attack on Victor Riesel and the Racketeer Menace in Cold War America"
  • 2010 — Professor Barbara A. Hanawalt
    "The Detection of Fraud in the Victualing Trade in Medieval London"
  • 2009 — Dr. Antulio Echevarria, II
    "An American Way of War or Way of Battle?"
  • 2008 — Dr. Kevin Boyle
    "Arc of Justice: The Sweet Case and the Course of Civil Rights"
  • 2007 — Dr. James H. Merrell
    "Revisiting and Revising the Colonial American Frontier"
  • 2006 — John J. Contreni
    "What Should We Know about the Crusades?"
  • 2005 — Dr. Gabor Boritt
    "The Most Important Election in American History?"
  • 2004 — Dr. David Nasaw
    "Andrew Carnegie: Marking Sense of Making Millions"
  • 2003 — Dr. Mark E. Neely Jr.
    "The American Civil War: Foretaste of Terror?"
  • 2002 — Dr. William H. Flayhart III '66
    "Perils of the Atlantic: Ship Disasters of the 19th Century"
  • 2001 — Professor Robert H. Zieger
    "Race and Labor in 20th Century America"
  • 2000 — Professor Ira Berlin
    "The Role of Memory in Writing the History of Slavery"
  • 1999 — Professor John Lewis Gaddis
    "We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History in light of Recent Revelations from Soviet Archives"
  • 1998 — Professor James T. Patterson
    "America's Grand Expectations After World War II"
  • 1997 — Professor Michael Burlingame
    "Emphatically the Black Man's President: Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass"
  • 1996 — Professor Henry Friedlander
    "The Origins of Nazi Genocide"
  • 1995 — Professor Joan Hoff
    "Women and the Constitution"
  • 1994 — Professor Barbara Sicherman
    "The Education of Jane Addams"
  • 1993 — Professor Mary Beth Norton
    "The Curious Incident of the Gossiping Ladies of New Haven: Gender and Society in Seventeenth-Century America"
  • 1992 — Professor Roland G. Foerster
    "Defense and Sovereignty: Ten Theses on German Rearmament after the Second World War, 1945-1950"
  • 1991 — Professor Martin E. Marty
    "The Twentieth Century American Religious Scene: Important Conflicts/Few Dead Bodies"
  • 1990 — Professor John M. Murrin
    "Baseball, Football and Nineteenth Century American Political Culture"
  • 1989 — Professor John Wilson
    "Original Intent and the Church State Problem"
  • 1988 — Professor Peter Paret
    "The History of War as Part of General History"
  • 1987 — Professor Edward Pessen
    "George Washington Against the Cold War"
  • 1986 — Professor James H. Smylie
    "Jefferson's Statue for Religious Liberty: Historical, Social, and Constitutional Contexts"
  • 1985 — Professor Michael Vlahos
    "Strategy and National Culture"
  • 1984 — Professor Carl E. Prince
    "The Great Riot Year: Jacksonian Democracy and Patterns of American Violence in 1834"
  • 1983 — Professor Robert T. Handy
    "Common Themes in the Diverse History of Religious Groups in America"
  • 1982 — Professor Harold E. Deutsch
    "The Influence of Ultra in World War II"
  • 1981 — Professor Edmund S. Morgan
    "The Invincible Yeoman Farmer"
  • 1980 — Professor Hans Hillerbrand
    "The Reformation and the Peasants' War: Reflections on Social History"
  • 1979 — Professor Thomas Barnes
    "Legal History: Does It Have a Past? Does It Have a Future?"
  • 1978 — Professor Michael Kammen
    "The American Revolution and the Historical Imagination"
  • 1977 — Professor Oron Hale
    "Administration of Occupied Territories After World War II"
  • 1976 — Professor Willie Lee Rose
    "Domesticating Domestic Slavery"
  • 1975 — Professor John Shy
    "Hearts and Minds in the American Revolution: The Social Impact of the Revolutionary War"
  • 1974 — Professor Roland Bainton
    "Erasmus and the Reformation"