As the fourth appearance he will have made here at the mansion, Prof. Gary H. Darden will return to give a visual presentation on “Making Gotham Global: New York City from 1825 to 1929.” His lecture will be followed by a Victorian tea.
From the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 to the Stock Market Crash in 1929, New York City evolved from a regional port of little more than 100,000 people into the world’s largest urban area with nearly 8,000,000 people.
Central to its civic identity and economic power was the development of cultural and architectural assets befitting a global city of rank, one that emerged both through civic initiatives and the determination of its elites. This process radically reimagined the scale and scope of Gotham, from Central Park and its museum collections to its multitude of mansions and corporate skyscrapers.
In 2016, Darden lectured at Ventfort Hall on the decline of the British aristocracy leading up to World War I and a year later presented a talk on the architectural rivalries within the Vanderbilt family. Last year he covered the White House from presidential palace to the people’s palace.
Darden chairs the Department of Social Sciences & History at Fairleigh Dickinson, Becton College of Arts & Sciences, Madison, NJ. He was awarded Teacher of the Year at the college.
His scholarly work includes articles for journals, encyclopedias and the historical text for the book, The American Soldier: From the Civil War to the War in Iraq, A Photographic Tribute, which accompanied a major exhibit touring the US. Darden was also a moderator with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
Tickets for the Darden talk are $28 for advance reservations and $32 day of the event. Reservations are highly recommended as seating is limited. For reservations call us at 413-637-3206.
