New Hampshire Historical Society will present a six-part history course entitled Guys and Gals Who Made New Hampshire, examining the lives and contributions of six men and six women from New Hampshire's past. The course runs each Thursday evening, March 6 through April 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Society's library, 30 Park Street, Concord.
Each week, one man and one woman who played a key role in New Hampshire history will be compared and contrasted. The 12 figures from the past included in the course may no longer be household names, but nevertheless helped shape the state by their contributions, which span three centuries.
Among the characters discussed in the course will be William Loeb, long-time publisher of the Union Leader newspaper, and Elba Chase Nelson, a Communist Party candidate for governor in "Right Wing/Left Wing: The Press and Civil Liberties." Others included will be Susannah Johnson, Indian captive, and Robert Rogers, Indian fighter; Dr. Nathan Smith, physician, and Marilla Ricker, lawyer and suffragist; Sarah Parker Rice Goodwin, a Civil War era wife to a New Hampshire governor, and Daniel Marcy, a Portsmouth congressman and ship owner; artists John S. Blunt and Lotte Jacobi; and Marquis de Lafayette and Sarah Thompson (Countess Rumford).
Each course session and historical figure will be presented by a different expert from around the state and New England, including museum interpreters, authors, scholars, and a filmmaker. For a complete list of course topics, dates, and presenters visit
http://www.nhhistory.org/calendar.htmlRegistration for the six-part course is $60 for New Hampshire Historical Society members and $100 for nonmembers. Becoming a member at the time of registration will qualify the attendee for the reduced rate for the history course. To register or for more information contact Education Services Coordinator Chris MacLeod at 603/856-0604 or cmacleod@nhhistory.org.
Founded in 1823, the New Hampshire Historical Society is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving, preserving, and sharing New Hampshire history. The society serves thousands of children and adults each year through its Museum of New Hampshire History, research library, educational programs, publications, and outreach programs. The Society is not a state-funded agency. All of its programs and services are made possible by membership dues and contributions. For more information about the Society and the benefits of membership, visit
http://www.nhhistory.org or call 603/228-6688.
New Hampshire Historical Society
Guys and Gals Who Made New Hampshire
Six-part history course — Thursday evenings, March 6 through April 10, 2008
Complete Course List
March 6 — Indian Captive and Indian Fighter: A Multicultural World
SUSANNAH JOHNSON, an English captive among the Abenaki and French, by Marcia Schmidt Blaine, assistant professor of history, Plymouth State University; ROBERT ROGERS and his rangers' role in the French and Indian War by David Starbuck, archeologist and associate professor of anthropology, Plymouth State University
March 13 — Physician and Lawyer: Early Professionals in New Hampshire
DR. NATHAN SMITH, founder of Dartmouth Medical School, by Constance Putnam, independent scholar and coauthor of a biography of Nathan Smith; MARILLA RICKER, New Hampshire's first female attorney and leading suffragist, by Barbara A. White, professor emerita and former coordinator of the Women's Studies Program, University of New Hampshire
March 20 — Artists in Two Centuries: New Hampshire in a New Light
JOHN S. BLUNT, 19th-century Seacoast artist, by Deborah M. Child, independent art historian and author of The Sketchbooks of John Samuel Blunt; LOTTE JACOBI, 20th-century photographer, by Gary Samson, chair of the Photography Department, New Hampshire Institute of Art
March 27 — The Marquis and the Countess: A Foreign Exchange
LAFAYETTE and his visit to New Hampshire by Alan R. Hoffman, attorney and translator of the 1824–25 journal of Lafayette's private secretary; SARAH THOMPSON, COUNTESS RUMFORD, by Hilary Anderson Stelling, director of exhibitions and collections, National Heritage Museum, Lexington, Mass.
April 3 — The Civil War Governor's Wife and 'Copperhead' Congressman: A State Divided
SARAH PARKER RICE GOODWIN, wife of New Hampshire's first Civil War governor, by Margaret Whyte Kelly, interpreter at Strawbery Banke Museum and author of a biography of Sarah Goodwin; DANIEL MARCY, Portsmouth 'Copperhead' congressman and ship owner, by Lydia Breen, author and filmmaker who is writing a book about Daniel and Peter Marcy called Trading with the Enemy
April 10 — Right Wing/Left Wing: The Press and Civil Liberties
WILLIAM LOEB, publisher of the Union Leader, by John Gfroerer of Accompany, a documentary video producer in Concord, N.H.; ELBA CHASE NELSON, Communist Party candidate for governor, by Norah Chase, retired professor of English literature, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, N.Y.