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Bicentennial celebration, "Giants of 1809: The Legacy of Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln and Edgar Allen Poe" will be held Nov. 11-12. The interdisciplinary symposium will examine the impact of these three pivotal figures of the early 19th century, all of whom were born in 1809 - the year of Miami's founding.
The symposium, free and open to the public, includes keynote talks by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel Walker Howe and Darwin scholar Shelia Ann Dean; panel discussions; “Re:Design,” a play by Craig Baxter based on the correspondence between Darwin and Asa Gray; exhibitions and other events.
“A number of faculty from various departments and programs at Miami have been working since last year on this symposium to celebrate not only Miami's Bicentennial but also the birth of three great men who have left lasting impressions on science, society and culture,” said Nancy Solomon, professor of zoology.
Solomon, Cecilia Berg, senior project director at the Hefner Zoology Museum, and Andrew Cayton, Distinguished Professor of History, are organizers of the symposium, along with a group of other faculty from across disciplines.
“We hope participants come away with a new and integrated understanding of these three pivotal figures and the social milieu that influenced them,” Berg said.
Keynote speaker Daniel Walker Howe is Rhodes Professor of American History emeritus at Oxford University in England and professor of history emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his book What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (2007). He is also author of Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. He was president of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic in 2001 and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Darwin scholar Shelia Ann Dean, visiting scholar in the department of science and technology studies at Cornell University, is an editor of the Darwin Correspondence Project and author of ,em>Charles Darwin: After the ‘Origin’ (2009). The Darwin project, jointly managed by the American Council of Learned Societies and Cambridge University Library, aims to prepare the massive correspondence to and from Darwin for publication. Volume 13, covering the year 1865, was recently published. Editors estimate the complete set will contain 32 volumes and be completed in 2024.
“Re:Design,” a play written by Craig Baxter in collaboration with the Darwin Correspondence Project, is a dramatization of the 30 years of correspondence between Charles Darwin and Asa Gray. Gray, a contemporary of Darwin’s, was a botanist and professor of natural history at Harvard University. Luke Utter, professor emeritus of communication, and Howard Blanning, assistant professor of theatre, perform the roles of Darwin and Gray.
A special display on Darwin, Lincoln and Poe – including an original letter written by Lincoln, works written by Poe, and original Darwin publications – will be held at the King Library Special Collections, Nov. 9-13 (closed Veteran’s Day). An exhibition on Darwin continues at the Hefner Zoology Museum in Upham Hall through Dec. 12, and the exhibition “Darwin’s Firsts” continues at the Miami University Art Museum through Dec. 12.
The symposium schedule follows:
Wednesday, Nov. 11
- 10:30 a.m., Miami University Art Museum, “An Interview with Emma Darwin” (portrayed by Muriel Blaisdell)
- 1 p.m., Leonard Theatre, Peabody Hall, Daniel Walker Howe, keynote address, “Lincoln, Darwin and Poe: Media, Progress and Society in Mid-19th Century America”
- 2:30-4 p.m., Peabody Hall, Panel discussions, “Wonder,” “Time” and “Conflict”
- 8 p.m., Art Museum, “Re:Design,” by Craig Baxter, a play about the life and ideas of Charles Darwin
Thursday, Nov. 12
- 9-10:30 a.m., Peabody Hall, panel discussions, “Wonder,” “Time” and “Conflict”
- 11 a.m., Leonard Theatre, Peabody Hall, Shelia Ann Dean, keynote address, “After the Origin, and Before the Descent”
- 12:15 p.m., 120 Peabody Hall, reception
- 4 p.m., Art Museum, “Re:Design,” by Craig Baxter, a play about the life and ideas of Charles Darwin (also at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13).
The symposium is sponsored by the Bicentennial Committee, Miami University Art Museum, the Graduate School, Hefner Zoology Museum, the honors program, Humanities Center, the Institute for Retirement in Learning, King Library Special Collections, the American studies program and the departments of anthropology, botany, geology, history, microbiology and zoology.
For more information, contact Nancy Solomon at solomong@muohio.edu.
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