Women’s Lecture Series 2025
Tuesday and Thursday evenings in July and August we will host a remarkable presenter who will speak on an interesting topic that is historic, interesting and relevant. Come early and enjoy a delicious healthy meal. Dinner is served at 6:00pm followed by our lecture at 7:00 pm. Price to attend the dinner and lecture is $40.00 and must be paid upon reservation. Lectures can be attended for $20.00.
Men may attend if accompanied by a woman in July and August. Please call 518-668-9690 to make a reservation or make an online reservation by clicking the links below. *If you are unable to attend the lecture your payment will be a donation to our historic 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The Art of The Art Song
July 8th, 2025
7:00pm-8:30pm
With Eileen Egan Mack and Michael Clement
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $35.
Eileen will be joined by pianist Michael Clement for a musical evening entitled: "The Art of the Art Song: Music for Voice and Piano."With selections from 19th and 20th century composers such as Katrina Trask, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, Sergei Rachmaninoff and VIctor Herbert, the night will be filled with the sound of music.
Eileen Egan Mack is a vocalist whose repertoire is ever broadening, from jazz standards and pop songs, to the world of classical music, especially art songs. She has a lifelong love of music and a lifelong practice of music performance including as a lead singer in rock bands, big bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as musical theatre roles.
Michael Clement, pianist, has studied at the Eastman School of Music, the Chautauqua Institute, the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California. He was pianist for the Tucson Symphony, Assistant Conductor for the Long Beach Opera and director of the Opera Workshop at California State University at Long Beach and has served on the staff of Florentine Opera at Milwaukee. Locally, Michael has served as the Music Director for Opera Excelsior, and staff accompanist for Skidmore College and the College of St. Rose.
Georgia O'Keeffe: Her Art and Her Home
July 16th, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Presenter: Kate Dudding
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
Come listen to award winning storyteller Kate Dudding share three stories about Georgia O'Keeffe:
Did you ever wonder why Georgia O’Keeffe painted those huge flowers and the bones in the desert? Kate shows 25 photographs of Georgia’s paintings while sharing Georgia’s own words about them – a virtual tour by the artist herself.
From Clifton Park, NY, Kate Dudding specializes in true stories about people who made a difference. She has told stories at many venues in the Northeastern US. Many of her five CDS have received national storytelling awards. In 2010, she won the story slam (competition) at the National Storytelling Conference in Los Angeles. Visit her web site www.KateDudding.com to watch her tell some of her stories.
Georgia O'Keeffe Portrayed by Claire Nolan
July 14th, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Presenter: Claire Nolan
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
Claire Nolan is an educator and a storyteller. She has combined those two passions in her portrayals of important historical figures from US and world history. What are First Person Portrayals of Historic Characters? What can you expect during a performance? During a “first person” performance, the actor takes on the role of the historical figure. She dresses in period costume and may portray herself as a person who has no idea how things have changed since her historical period.
During her presentation Claire also hopes to provide a springboard for discussion of the historical character and her time and place. Claire’s repertoire includes Mary Harris (Mother) Jones, Rachel Carson, Georgia O’Keeffe and Marie Curie. She welcomes suggestions for other important women from history to add to her repertoire. Claire’s portrayals are especially appropriate for Middle School, High School and Adult audiences.
Musical Evening with Red Canna Trio
July 17th, 2025
7:00pm-8:30pm
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $35.
Red Canna Trio is a chamber jazz group playing the original compositions and arrangements of pianist/composer Elizabeth Woodbury Kasius and a selection of other modern composers, including Astor Piazzolla, T.S. Monk and Hermeto Pascoal. The group features the stunning Mitsuko Suzuki of the Albany Symphony on violin and heralded jazz mainstay Bobby Kendall on upright bass, as well as the genre-bending Woodbury Kasius on piano. Dynamic vocalist Shari Seidman Parslow is a frequent special guest addition to the trio. Lush, modern and infused with inspirations from the natural world, Red Canna is at once reflective and rife with joy.
Ghost Fleet Awakened–Lake George's Sunken Bateaux of 1758 By Joseph W. Zarzynski, Maritime Archaeologist
July 23rd, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
Wilton, NY maritime archaeologist Joseph W. Zarzynski will present a PowerPoint talk on his book, Ghost Fleet Awakened–Lake George’s Sunken Bateaux of 1758 (SUNY Press, 2019, 284 pages, $24.95).
The talk and book tell the story of a little-recognized sunken fleet of Lake George warships--bateaux--from the French & Indian War (1755–1763). From 1987 to 2011, Zarzynski was executive director of Bateaux Below, the nonprofit organization that studied colonial bateau-class shipwrecks in Lake George. The story begins more than 250 years ago, when bateaux (bateau in the singular) first plied the waters of Lake George. Though the word--bateau--is French, these boats were used in America by the colonial Dutch, French, and English.
American Archaeology magazine's Winter 2019–20 issue published a review of Zarzynski book, Ghost Fleet Awakened, and noted: "Zarzynski describes the various initiatives developed by him and his colleagues under the auspices of Bateaux Below. Much of this work was groundbreaking for maritime archaeology, and the story provides important precedents for marine preservation everywhere...This volume...is thus a major contribution to the entire field."
Those Scandalous Victorians!
July 29th, 2025
7:00pm-8:30pm
Presenter: Catherine Golden
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the
lecture for just $35.
Incriminating suicide notes, grave robbing, adultery, and bigamy—these sensational acts may seem ripped from today’s social media, but, in fact, they are all things that everyday Victorians committed. We didn’t invent scandals nor just delight in them. We might like to imagine proper Victorians spending their days sipping tea from bone china teacups, but they lived in a world overflowing with scandal—disreputable events and circumstances bringing discredit and notoriety. In this talk, we will explore the lives of noted Victorians who committed scandalous acts out of despair, grief, love, and anger. Topics include, among others, the secret liaison between married artist George Cruikshank and a former servant turned mistress who bore him many illegitimate children; George Eliot’s move to the continent to live as a wedded couple with her already married lover; and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s exhumation of his dead wife’s grave to retrieve the only copy of his poems. Oh, those scandalous Victorians!
Catherine J. Golden is professor of English and the Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters at Skidmore College (2017-22), Saratoga Springs, NY. She is author of Serials to Graphic Novels: The Evolution of the Victorian Illustrated Book (2017), Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing (2009), and Images of the Woman Reader in Victorian British and American Fiction (2003).She contributes regularly to The Victorian Web and Illustration Magazine, a British arts journal. She has lectured widely.
A Musical Evening with Ray and Zane Agnew
July 30th, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Ray Agnew
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
Ray is a singer/songwriter and performer living and working in New York’s North Country. His original music has been heard from the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, to television and radio commercials, to corporate soundtracks for Sky Chefs and the United Way. Most recently Ray composed the theme and soundtrack for “My Native Air,” a documentary on the life of Charles Evans Hughes. He is a graduate of the Crane School of Music, a member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and a proud dad to two amazing kids. In addition to his original music, Ray has a repertoire that includes Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Billy Joel,
Richard Thompson, Simon and Garfunkle, The Moody Blues, and many others. Ray is also director of music ministry at Bay Road Church in Lake George and serves as a vice president at Glens Falls Hospital. You can listen to Ray’s music at www.rayagnewsongs.com.
Laughing Matters: Tales to Tickle your Funny Bone with Kate Dudding
August 11th, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
Children laugh 40 times more per day than adults -- that's just not right! Come help improve your laughing average as Kate Dudding shares personal stories, folk tales and maybe even a tall tale or two.
Since 1995, award-winning storyteller Kate Dudding has created entertaining, heartwarming and memorable stories. She specializes in stories about real people who made a difference. Kate tells at venues in the Northeastern USA, including The Clearwater Festival, First Night Saratoga, and the Albany Institute of History & Art. Many of her five CDs received national awards. Visit her web site www.KateDudding.com to watch her tell some of her stories.
Eleanor Roosevelt performed by Sheryl Faye
August 13th, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Just the lecture is $20,
get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
After suffering through an unhappy childhood, and losing her parents and one of her brothers., he figured out where she fit in and could make a difference. She grew up and became an American politician. The longest-serving First Lady of the United States. She was the first presidential spouse to hold press conferences, write a syndicated newspaper column, and speak at a national convention.
She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. She became one of the first delegates to The United Nations. One of the top ten most admired people of the 20th century. “…as individuals we live cooperatively, and, to the best of our ability, serve the community in which we live…our own success, to be real, must contribute.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Discovering George Foster Peabody
August 21st, 2026
7:00pm-8:30pm
Just the lecture is $20, get dinner and the lecture for just $40.
Over the past eight years, Underwood has meticulously researched and documented Peabody’s friendships with Edward Morse Shepard, Spencer and Katrina Trask, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adolph Ochs, and John Howard Melish, among others. His work also explores Peabody’s role in regional projects such as Prospect Mountain, Shepard Park, Diamond Island, the Wiawaka Center for Women, the Lake George Association, the Caldwell-Lake George Library, the Saratoga Reservation Commission, Saratoga Spa State Park, the New York State Forest Tree Nursery, and Yaddo.
The culmination of this research is Underwood’s 500+ page book, Discovering George Foster Peabody, a comprehensive work that brings together archival research, correspondence, and rare photographs to reintroduce one of New York’s most quietly influential figures to modern readers.
Glenn Underwood is an artist, author, and historian from Upstate New York whose family operates Twin Birches Cottages in Lake George, a property that stands on the former grounds of Abenia, the summer estate of banker and philanthropist George Foster Peabody.