BRATTLEBORO — Biographer Harold Holzer, a recipient of the National Humanities Medal, will speak on the life of Daniel Chester French, creator of the Lincoln Memorial, in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St. in Brattleboro on Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m.
His talk, “Lincoln Memorial Sculptor Daniel Chester French: The Making of an Icon,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series and is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible.
Note that this First Wednesdays talk is on a Tuesday.
Holzer will tell the story of how Daniel Chester French became one of the great sculptors of the 19th century - creator of the Lincoln Memorial, “The Minute Man” of Concord, Mass., and the “Spirit of Life,” which was created for Brattleboro's park, stolen, recovered, and now resides at Brooks Memorial Library.
Monument Man, Holzer's recently-published biography of Daniel Chester French, will be available for sale and signing at the event.
Holzer is an authority on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era.
A prolific writer and lecturer, and frequent guest on television, he served for nine years as co-chairman of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 2000. President George W. Bush, in turn, awarded Holzer the National Humanities Medal in 2008.
Holzer has written hundreds of articles for both popular magazines and scholarly journals, and his television appearances include C-SPAN, The History Channel, PBS, The Today Show, CNN, and others.
He has delivered lectures for Civil War and Lincoln groups and at museums, colleges, and history conferences throughout the country, and is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including the coveted Lincoln Prize. He has authored, co-authored, and edited 40 books.