Lecture: "The Western Hero in Film"
Monday, February 6 - 7:00 p.m.
Majestic Theater Cinema, 25 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg

The American west of the 19th century is one of the most popular settings ever used in film. Idealized tales of the old west spawned decade's worth of big screen heroes both in the United States and around the world. Professor James Udden will discuss these great western genre films and show various clips to illustrate the most famous cowboy heroes. He will give particular focus to those stories where the hero is forced to become an outlaw, like the character of Davy Land in Peace Like a River.

Udden is the Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Gettysburg College and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is the first full time professor in film studies at the College.

Film: A Night on the Trail - Stagecoach
Wednesday, February 8 - 7:00 p.m.
Bowen Auditorium, 115 McCreary Hall, Gettysburg College

Join us to watch John Ford's archetypal Western film, Stagecoach. This is the movie that catapulted John Wayne from B-movie obscurity to the international reputation that he enjoys today. So mosey on over to Bowen Auditorium, grab some snacks (beef jerky, trail mix, anyone?), and enjoy this movie the way it was meant to be seen - on the big screen!

Lecture: "Miracles, Myths, and Religion in Peace Like a River"
Monday, February 13 - 7:00 p.m.
Joseph Theater, 201 Breidenbaugh Hall, Gettysburg College

Gettysburg College professor Charles "Buz" Myers will offer insights about the religious underpinnings of Peace Like a River. Refreshments follow the lecture.

Myers, an associate professor of religion and Presbyterian minister, earned his Ph.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary. His research and teaching included Biblical studies, New Testament literature and language, Pauline studies and the Bible and moral issues.

Lecture: "The Image of the West in Peace Like a River"
Thursday, February 16 - 7:00 p.m.
Joseph Theater, 201 Breidenbaugh Hall, Gettysburg College

Folklorist and scholar of the American West David Stanley will discuss the impact of popular images of the American West on the characters of the novel, with special attention to Swede's efforts to write a Western epic around the character of Sunny Sundown. Stanley is a professor of English at Westminster College in Salt Lake City where his teaching and publications include folklore studies, Native American literatures and cowboy poetry.

Please join us for a reception after Dr. Stanley's talk.

This program is supported in part by the Adams County Arts Council's STAR Grant Program, which is funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency, the Adams County Commissioners, and the Borough of Gettysburg.

Lecture: "Icons of the West: The Remington Bronzes"
Tuesday, February 21 - 7:00 p.m.
Bowen Auditorium, 115 McCreary Hall, Gettysburg College

Molly Hutton, director of the Schmucker Art Gallery, will talk about Frederic Remington (1861-1909) and his famous bronze sculptures of cowboys and America's Old West. Gettysburg College's collection of replicas is on display in Musselman Library.

Hutton received her Ph.D. in art history from Stanford University with a specialty in turn-of-the-century American art, studying under Remington expert Alexander Nemerov. Before coming to Gettysburg she served for four years as curator of The Anderson Collection, a noted private collection of Post-War and Contemporary American paintings, sculpture, and works on paper in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lecture: "The Murder of Dinah"
Wednesday, February 22 - 7:00 p.m.
Eisenhower Room, Gettysburg Library (140 Baltimore St., Gettysburg)

In Peace Like a River we see the effect of murder accusations on a town and how the media has a powerful influence on the trial. Dr. Bradley Hoch explores the effect of a murder and false newspaper accusations on Gettysburg when he discusses the allegations against Thaddeus Stevens in the unsolved murder of a young woman.

It was 1824 and a black servant girl, Dinah, was found dead from a blow to the head. She was pregnant and her fetus appeared to be white. The rumor spread that the baby’s father was the prominent abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens and that he had killed her. These accusations eventually ended up in the newspaper and Stevens sued the editor for libel.

Hoch is the author of several books including Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg: The Making of an Abolitionist (2005). This lecture is based on one of the chapters from that book. There will be a book signing following the lecture (copies of his book will be available for purchase).

Lecture: "Desperados of the American West"
Thursday, February 23 - 7:00 p.m.
Room 137, Harrisburg Area Community College - Gettysburg Campus (731 Old Harrisburg Rd, Gettysburg)

Learn about Butch Cassidy and Joaquin Murieta, real-life characters who appear in Leif Enger's novel Peace Like a River, as well as other desperados of the "Wild West" such as Black Bart, John Wesley Hardin, Clay Allison, Bill Doolin, Belle Starr, Pearl Hart and others. Whether you have read Peace Like a River or not, these stories and legends are fascinating and help to shed light on the story of the American West.

Terry Havel is currently a history instructor at the Gettysburg Campus of Harrisburg Area Community College and a Licensed Gettysburg Town Guide.

Merry Failures: Leif Enger discusses Peace Like a River
Wednesday, March 1 - 7:00 p.m.
Ballroom, College Union Building, Gettysburg College

This is it! The event you've been waiting for. Come hear Leif Enger talk about "the surprising freedom and reach that come from yielding, from giving up," and how these reached fruition in Peace Like a River. Free admission. Parking is available (see "Visitor Parking" on campus map).