2008
Betsy K. McCreight Lecture in the Humanities

Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith will present “Lincoln at 200: The Measure of All Presidents” at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 30, as the annual McCreight Lecture in the Humanities. The lecture at the Norman L. Fagan Theater of the Cultural Center located at the State Capitol Complex kicks off Humanities Council programs observing the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. It is free and open to the public.

Smith was the founding executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois and has served as director of four other presidential libraries. He is presidential historian for ABC News and also a familiar face to viewers of C-SPAN and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

In the fall of 2007 he was the historian for the C-SPAN television series, “Presidential Libraries: History Uncovered,” with host Brian Lamb. He has authored several biographies including books about George Washington, Thomas E. Dewey, and Herbert Hoover. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Smith is currently on the faculty of George Mason University as a Scholar in Residence.

The board of directors of the Humanities Council of West Virginia established the annual McCreight Lecture in honor of founding board of directors member Betsy Keadle McCreight, who passed away in 1985.

This program is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.