Colloquium Series

Fall 2024 Schedule 

The Story of Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner

Dr. Natalie Dykstra
Wednesday, September 11
5:30–7 p.m., Winants Auditorium

RSVP for the September 11 Event

Bad Christians and Hanging Toads: Witch Trials in Early Modern Spain

Dr. Rochelle Rojas
Thursday, October 24
4:30 p.m., Bultman Student Center Auditorium

Belief in witchcraft not only emerged in moments of mass panic but was woven into the fabric of village life. Some villagers believed witches sickened crops and cows with poisonous powders, others thought they engaged in diabolism and perverted sex, and still others believed they lovingly raised toads used to commit evil deeds. Most villagers, however, simply saw witches as those with reputations of being mala cristianas — bad Christians. Rochelle Rojas illuminates the social webs of accusations and the pathways of village gossip that created the conditions for the witch beliefs and trials of the period.

View poster here

The Contradictions of the Roaring Twenties

Dr. Jeanne Petit
Monday, October 28
7 p.m., location TBD

This colloquium is part of the Big Read kickoff for The Great Gatsby

Race, Religion and the USO during World War II

Carolyn Thornbury and Ingrid Oslund (Hope history majors)
Thursday, November 7
7–8:30 p.m., the Holland Museum (31 W. 10th St)

In 1941, five religious organizations representing Protestants, Catholics and Jews came together to form the United Service Organizations, or USO. Hope history majors Carolyn Thornbury and Ingrid Oslund will share how the USO faced cultural, religious and racial challenges and sought to build a more inclusive nation.

This colloquium is part of the museum’s “Tales from the Archives” series.

Register here