2010 Programs and Speakers

April 11-14, 2010
Biltmore Spring House Party

"The Genius of Frederick Law Olmsted: Designer of Biltmore's Park."

When George Washington Vanderbilt built his great house at Biltmore, he commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted to design the Great Park in which it sits and to conserve the forest which surrounded it. Frederick Law Olmsted, in his lifetime and continuing through his sons' firm, Olmsted Brothers, has left a magnificent legacy of landscape design that includes the grounds of the U.S. Capitol; New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace and numerous other public parks across the country; more than 350 college and school campuses, and voluminous list of other projects, prominent among which is The Park at Biltmore Estate. So for this series of lectures we will actually be living in one of the great American landscapes created by Frederick Law Olmsted, with an opportunity to see "close up" the elements that comprise it and the maturity of Olmsted's vision as he had only imagined. We will review the designer's life story and the work which earned him primacy in the canon of great landscape designers, then turn to a consideration of one of his great masterpieces, the Biltmore Estate. 

Alan Banks will review Olmsted’s life and his national legacy. Mr. Banks has been responsible for the historic interpretation of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Mass. for more than twenty years. He is a student of landscape design history and in particular the work of Frederick Law Olmsted. Mr. Banks is a much sought after lecturer and consultant on the Olmsteds and their work, including an ongoing speaking relationship with Harvard University’s School of Design. Most important, however, he is an ardent admirer of Frederick Law Olmsted, with a mission to understand and interpret the man and his work to the world at large. 

Bill Alexander will focus on Olmsted’s work at Biltmore Estate, where he holds the position of Landscape and Forest Historian. He has been involved in the management and preservation of Biltmore’s landscape and forests for the past 31 years, with a passion and determination to conserve them according to the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted and George W. Vanderbilt. To that end, he is involved in an ongoing project to research and document Olmsted’s design and execution of the Biltmore Park and Forest, including the work of pioneer foresters Gifford Pinochet and Dr. Carl A. Schenck. His work guides the ongoing preservation, management and interpretation of the estate.

Alan Banks

Bill Alexander

August 1-5, 2010
Lake Logan

Christianity and the West

From the census of Caesar Augustus, which compelled Joseph to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem, to today’s contentious wrangling over the place of religion in an increasingly secular West, Christianity and Western Civilization have exerted an enormous influence on each other. Rome first persecuted Christianity, then established it under Constantine; Greek philosophy made Christianity explicable to the Gentiles; a common language, and Roman roads connecting a far flung empire facilitated the propagation of the Gospel; Christian theology transformed the western concept of the good life from Greek warrior to Christian saint. Life in the West – from music, art and literature to morals, religion and government – came to bear a decidedly Christian imprint, until Enlightenment philosophers planted seeds which seemed to stem the tide. And so it has gone through two millennia, a fascinating interplay which Dr. Noble will examine in this series of lectures.

Thomas F. X. Noble is Professor and Chairman of the Department of History at Notre Dame University, where he has taught since 2001. He is the immediate past Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame. Prior to his arrival in South Bend he taught for 20 years at the University of Virginia. Dr. Noble holds a B.A. from Ohio State University, an M.A. in History and Latin from Michigan State University as well as a Ph.D. in Medieval History. He has long specialized in the Carolingian world and in early medieval Rome and the papacy. Among his many honors are a Fulbright Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, and two grants from the American Philosophical Society. He has been a member and visitor of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton) and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (Wassenaar). In 2002 Noble was elected a Fellow of the Societa Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino (Florence) and in 2004, a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. Noble has been awarded Virginia's and Notre Dame's top teaching prizes. He is the author of numerous publications, scholarly papers, lectures and books, most notably The Republic of Peter (1984) and co-author of a Western Civilization textbook and a Humanities textbook. He was principal lecturer at the inaugural Retreat of The Appalachian Institution in 2008.

Dr. Thomas F. X. Noble

August 9-13, 2010
Lake Logan

The Rise and Fall of the Western 'isms': The Historical Influence of Ideas from Romanticism to Post-Modernism.  

This program will explore political and cultural ideas and movements (the 'isms') that have emerged in European and Western thought since the late 18th century and gained wide influence in modern societies. The discussion will focus on specific "isms" that have shaped public life, cultural debates, and artistic creativity over the last two centuries, including nationalism, conservatism, liberalism, socialism, romanticism, Darwinism, Freudianism, Impressionism, Modernism, Existentialism, Feminism, Structuralism, and Post-Modernism--all of which exemplify the ways that ideas evolve in specific historical contexts. The history of these “isms” shows how ideas help to shape the political, social, economic and cultural life of modern societies. How did these "isms" develop, who were the key figures in their early history, and how have they entered into modern history? Also, what has happened to these influential "isms" in recent times? These are the kinds of questions that we’ll discuss as we place contemporary political and cultural debates in historical perspective.

Lloyd S. Kramer has been a professor of history at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill since 1986, specializing in European Intellectual History and Modern Global History. He is the author of several books on European history and a past recipient of both the Johnston Teaching Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching award. Dr. Kramer earned his BA at Maryville College, MA at Boston College and Ph.D. at Cornell University.

Lloyd S. Kramer

August 16-20, 2010
Lake Logan

Financial Crisis, 2007-09 10?...

The financial crisis which began in 2007 (and has yet to definitively run its course) provides a relatively objective prism through which this program will consider how government policies can both help and harm a society. As prelude, the speaker will review the history, principles and philosophies on which our modern US economy is founded, the major successes and failures of US economic policy and performance as it emerged and became today's world economic power. For better, for worse--"the dismal science" will have an important effect on our lives in the years ahead.

Robert DeYoung is the Capitol Federal Distinguished Professor in Financial Markets and Institutions at the University of Kansas. In addition to his university duties, Bob is a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, serves as a research program coordinator at the FDIC, and is co-editor of the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. Bob has written extensively on the performance of financial institutions, markets, and public policy in leading academic journals, on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal and the American Banker; and in the economic reviews of the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Chicago, and Kansas City. Prior to joining the faculty at Kansas, Bob was an associate director of research at the FDIC (2005-2007); an economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (1998-2005); a senior financial economist at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (1992-1998); and a Joyce Foundation Teaching Fellow at Beloit College (1988-1992). Bob earned a B.A. from Rutgers University-Camden in 1983 and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1989.

Robert DeYoung

August 23-27, 2010
Lake Logan

Origin and Crisis of the Idea of Individual Liberty

In this colloquium we will consider the origin of the notion of individual liberty from Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence and its embodiment in American institutions and social practices. We will also look at the way in which this notion of liberty has been challenged in the American context by alternative visions of of social and political life that assign a different value to freedom versus justice, equality, prosperity, social mobility, and national greatness.

Michael Allen Gillespie graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1973 and earned his Ph.D. from The University of Chicago in 1981. He is currently the Jerry G. and Patricia Crawford Hubbard Professor of Political Science and Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. He is the author of Hegel, Heidegger and the Ground of History, Nihilism before Nietzsche, and The Theological Origins of Modernity. He has published numerous articles on the history of ideas, American political thought, and the relation of religion and politics. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, the Liberty Fund, and the Earhart Foundation among others. He is the Director of the Gerst Program in Political, Economic, and Humanistic Studies, and the co-director of the Duke Program in American Values and Institutions. He was principal lecturer for an Appalachian Institution Retreat in 2009.

Dr. Michael Allen Gillespie