Events

Christmas in America has a much richer and stranger history than the cozy images we know today. This festive ESU Happy Hour explores why early New Englanders outlawed Christmas, how rowdy wassailing gangs once filled the streets, and how German, Dutch, and English traditions eventually blended into the modern Santa. We’ll trace the journey from medieval St. Nicholas and Alpine mischief-makers to Thomas Nast’s German-American illustrations, the Civil War era’s sentimental reinvention of the holiday, and the 20th-century rise of Rudolph, department-store Santas, Coca-Cola branding, and iconic Christmas foods. With a pint in hand, you’ll learn how a mix of immigrant customs, reform movements, and cultural trends brought today’s version of American Christmas into being.

Do you love a good mystery? For five decades, Agatha Christie’s primary obsession was murder, but her interest in houses was a close second, particularly the English country house. Taken together, some of her most popular works offer a keen look at the changing fortunes of English country houses in the 20th century. Beloved by readers worldwide, Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.

Jane Austen’s (1775-1817) reputation as a mild, quaint, sheltered “prim and proper” spinster is a Victorian-era myth and is undeserved. Generations of admirers and critics have tried to convince those not yet ready or willing to acknowledge her wild side. In this illustrated lecture, guest speaker Prof. Devoney Looser will look closely at signal moments in Austen’s writings, life, and afterlife to make the case for how the great novelist became and stayed wild in her own lifetime and across the 250+ years since her birth.

From Final Chapter to Immortal Memory
With Author and Lecturer Flora Fraser