UMW Announces the 2026 Great Lives Lecture Series
From Paul Revere to Judy Blume, John Hancock to John Williams, and more.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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This winter or early spring, the 400th lecture in the University of Mary Washington’s Great Lives series will be delivered.
Now in its third decade, the annual free, public lecture series is “the largest and longest-running community event” at the university, director Scott Harris said—and the 2026 season, just announced last week, aims to both keep the institution going and broaden its appeal.
The series’ official name is “Great Lives: Biographical Approaches to History and Culture.” Since 2004, it has brought authors to the University of Mary Washington campus to speak about figures—real as well as fictional, and even some non-humans—who have significantly influenced the world.
Tying in to the America 250 celebration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, three lectures in the 2026 Great Lives series will examine characters from the colonial and Revolutionary War periods—Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Jemima Boone (the daughter of Daniel Boone, who was taken prisoner by Native Americans along with two other teenage girls in July of 1776 and rescued by Boone three days later).
The 2026 William B. Crawley Lecture Series will also take a closer look at authors and folklorists such as Judy Blume and the Brothers Grimm; television luminaries such as Lorne Michaels, the longtime producer of Saturday Night Live, and Desi Arnaz of I Love Lucy fame; musicians such as John Williams and the “Jazz Giants” Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong; athletes like basketball player Jerry West; politicians such as Barbara Jordan, the south’s first Black Congresswoman; and more.
“We’re always looking for a mix of gender, race, time period, and thematic content,” said Harris, who became director of the lecture series last year, taking over from founder and namesake William Crawley, longtime professor of history at UMW.
Putting together the lecture series involves “an interesting mix of knowledge gathering and intuition,” Harris said. The series has name recognition among the biographical community and some former speakers have gone on to win Pulitzer prizes and other awards for their work.
Great Lives got its start as an academic course offered by the history department each spring semester. Certain lectures were opened up to the general public and were so popular that the program had to be moved out of the lecture hall and into the 1,200-seat Dodd Auditorium.
The academic course, “Biography as History,” hasn’t been offered in at least five years, Harris said, but it’s been revived for spring of 2026 and will be taught by Nabil Al-Tikriti, professor of Middle Eastern history. Students will read many of the featured books and will attend all of the lectures.
“The course is as much about the approach to biography-writing as it is about the history,” Harris said.
By offering the course and diversifying the subject matter, the organizers hope to continue making Great Lives interesting and accessible to younger and family audiences.
The series is privately funded by individuals and groups, and each lecture has a different sponsor.
“We’re always looking for new sponsors,” Harris said.
The lectures are held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from January 20 through March 19. The 2026 season schedule is below:
Jan. 20: Paul Revere by Kostya Kennedy
Jan. 22: Aimee Semple McPherson by Claire Hoffman
Jan. 27: John Williams by Tim Greiving
Jan. 29: Barbara Jordan by Mary Ellen Curtin
Feb. 3: Lorne Michaels by Susan Morrison
Feb. 5: Judy Blume by Rachelle Bergstein
Feb. 10: Robert Crumb by Dan Nadel
Feb. 12: Jerry West by Jonathan Coleman
Feb. 17: The Brothers Grimm by Ann Schmiesing
Feb. 19: Ellington, Armstrong, and Basie by Larry Tye
Feb. 24: Elizabeth Packard by Kate Moore
Feb. 26: Jemima Boone by Matthew Pearl
Mar. 10: Desi Arnaz by Todd S. Purdum
Mar. 12: Gertrude Bell by Janet Wallach, in conversation with Nabil Al-Tikriti
Mar. 17: John Hancock by Willard Sterne Randall
Mar. 19: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday by Mark Lee Gardner
Editor’s note: This story was corrected on November 19 to state that Great Lives is the longest-running community event “at the university.”
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