By Kyle Warmack
For The West Virginia Humanities Council
Charleston – This year, the West Virginia Humanities Council is looking back to American basics for inspiration during the nation’s 250th birthday. The organization’s annual Little Lectures series and Betsy K. McCreight Lecture in the Humanities all focus on founding principles and stories.
“For 25 years, our Little Lectures series has invited West Virginians to our historic headquarters for thoughtful conversation,” says Executive Director Eric Waggoner. “This year’s program marks the nation’s 250th anniversary by exploring ideas that shaped the United States.”
The 2026 Little Lectures series takes place at 2:00 p.m. on the following dates at the Council’s historic MacFarland-Hubbard House headquarters at 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E. in Charleston. Further information is available at www.wvhumanities.org:
- March 29 – James F. Slaughter – Disarming the Disaffected: The Disarming of American Civilians by the Patriots During the American War of Independence
- April 26 – Beth White – “Inherent and Invaluable”: The Forgotten History of Trial by Jury and the American Revolution
- May 17 – David Ervin – “Raised to the Westward”: The 13th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line
- June 21 – Neema Avashia – Appalachian Boston: A West Virginian Reflects on “The Cradle of the Revolution”
Acting as a capstone to the series, the annual Betsy K. McCreight Lecture in the Humanities will follow on October 15 in Charleston.
“We are thrilled to welcome historian Rick Atkinson as our McCreight speaker this year,” says Waggoner. “As always, this event is an opportunity for West Virginians to engage with leading voices in the humanities.”
Atkinson is one of the most frequently featured guests on filmmaker Ken Burns’ latest documentary series, The American Revolution, and with good reason: The first two books of Atkinson’s “Revolution Trilogy”—The British Are Coming and The Fate of the Day—are bestsellers that have won widespread acclaim. Of the latter volume, Ken Burns has written, “Rick Atkinson takes his place among the greatest of all historians.”
The success of Atkinson’s latest work follows two Pulitzer Prizes in journalism (1982 and 1999) and one for the first book of his bestselling trilogy on the World War II liberation of Europe, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-43 (2003). A preeminent military historian who has served on the faculty of the U.S. Army War College, Atkinson has written eight books covering five of America’s wars.
The McCreight Lecture in the Humanities will take place at Capitol Theater, 123 Summers St., Charleston, on October 15 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.wvhumanities.org.
The West Virginia Humanities Council, an independent nonpartisan nonprofit, is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Council is supported by the NEH, the State of West Virginia, and contributions from the private sector. The purposes of the West Virginia Humanities Council are educational, and its mission is to support a vigorous program in the humanities statewide in West Virginia.
