Historian Nell Irvin Painter to Speak at Final Wooster Forum Lecture

Presentation to be held Nov. 8 in The College of Wooster’s McGaw Chapel

WOOSTER, Ohio — Nell Irvin Painter, one of the United States’ leading historians, will explore the origins of American identity on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at the final Wooster Forum event of 2011. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in McGaw Chapel (340 E. University St.).

Painter was the Edwards Professor of American History Emerita at Princeton University until her retirement from teaching. While at Princeton, she was also the director of Princeton’s program in African American Studies from 1997-2000. She received her Ph.D. in American history from Harvard University and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Wesleyan, Dartmouth, SUNY-New Paltz, and Yale. She is also an artist, having received her BFA (2009) from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers and her MFA (2011) from the Rhode Island School of Design. In addition, she is the author of several books including, The History of White People, Creating Black Americans, Southern History Across the Color Line, and Standing at Armageddon: The United States 1877-1919.

Painter has received a number of honors, including her selection as a fellow for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Antiquarian Society, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She was also selected as president for the Organization of American Historians and the Southern Historical Association.

Additional information about the Wooster Forum is available online, by phone (330-263-2132), and via e-mail.