This is a continuation of a study group that is planned to continue through successive Spring and Fall sessions. We will be looking in depth at the Civil War and Reconstruction from a military, political, societal, and economic perspective. These continuing sessions will include many stand-alone topics covering people; political and moral viewpoints; foreign affairs; life on the home front; military life; tactics and many more aspects of this period in American history. The military events of the conflict will be covered in considerable detail. We will be using lecture, discussion and audio/visual throughout this study group. Participants are encouraged to suggest topics for discussion and make short presentations if so inclined.

Coordinator: Tom Gavigan

Just who were the first migrants to the lands we now call the Americas? When did they come? Where did they originate? How did they get here? Current scholarship, sometimes controversial, sometimes conflicting, sometimes competitive, is pointing in directions other than what we may have believed or what we may have been taught. Did you know a current claim for the oldest human settlement in the Americas lies in South Carolina, dating back 15,000 years?

This study group will explore some of the new findings and paradigm shifts coming from the fields of archaeology, anthropology and genetics. We will also explore some of their descendants. The data is not “settled science” but it is thought provoking and provides interesting and disparate hypotheses about the ancient immigrants to the land.

Coordinator: Joan Reisen

The Renaissance is commonly known for beautiful and impressive works of art. Less known, however, are the political and social foundations that made much of this Renaissance possible. This session will review the Italian city states during the Renaissance, the political giants of Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples and Rome, their politics, and the formation of the personal dynasties on the Italian peninsula. From the beginning of the Renaissance to the Peace of Lodi, we will review the thinkers and doers of the Renaissance who balanced the world and destiny for decades.

Coordinator: Jean Ciura