Classic Architecture of Oakwood

We will survey architectural styles prevalent in the early 1900's from Craftsman and English Tudor to rare styles such as Beaux Arts and International. We will view a PowerPoint presentation, utilizing Oakwood's well-preserved housing stock, to explore the origins and architectural details of these homes. Where applicable, brief histories of the homes and/or their famous occupants will be included.

Saturday, April 13
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at McGinnis Center
Seminar Limit: 30

Mark W. Risley is a retired airline flight operations coordinator and an architectural preservation advocate. He is past president of The Oakwood Historical Society, former co-chair of The Oakwood Preservation Trust and has served on the steering committee for the commemoration of Dayton’s Great Flood of 1913.

Clement Vallandigham

NEW. Now largely forgotten because he was on the wrong side of history, this Civil War congressman from Dayton led an extraordinarily colorful, newsworthy, even cinematic life. He was perhaps the leading Copperhead, the North's most anti-Lincoln faction. Banished for anti-war speeches, he made an historic run for governor in 1863 (as the Democratic nominee) from exile in Canada. From his rousing speeches, to his arrest downtown, to his trial, to a disastrous role at the 1864 Democratic convention, to one of the great American death scenes, he was in the spotlight then as much as the shadows now.

Saturday, April 13
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at River Campus
Seminar Limit: 36

Martin Gottlieb retired after 27 years as a writer for the Dayton News editorial page. Focused on political coverage all my life, I have probably been most associated with Allan Lichtman’s “13 Keys to the Presidency,” for accurately predicting presidential election outcomes long in advance.  I’m now researching a book on Clement Vallandigham, having found him to be a largely unknown figure even in Ohio, despite his having had a national career with great reverberations for today’s hyper-polarized politics.

Lincoln and the Law

This seminar will cover Lincoln's 23-year law practice with a focus on several important cases, one of which was tried in Cincinnati. We will also explore how President Lincoln handled important constitutional issues: the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, including the case of Dayton Congressman Clement Vallandigham; the admission of West Virginia as a state; and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Saturday, April 20
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in Sears Recital Hall, (Jesse Philips Humanities Building)

Dennis Langer, JD, has been a General Division Judge with the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court since 1995. He received his bachelor of arts degree from John Carroll University in 1973 and his juris doctorate from the Boston University School of Law in 1976. In 1994, he was named Ohio’s Outstanding Assistant Prosecuting Attorney by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. He has had a lifelong admiration of Abraham Lincoln, has read extensively about him, and has visited numerous Lincoln historical sites.

Lincoln's Path to Emancipation and a Bi-Racial America

NEW. January 1, 2013 is the 150^th anniversary of President Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. This PowerPoint lecture explores the evolution of Lincoln's beliefs - before and during his presidency - regarding slavery, the colonization of blacks to another country, the emancipation of slaves, and the rights of citizenship of the freed slaves in a post-slavery America.

Saturday, April 27
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at Sears Recital Hall (Jesse Philips Humanities Building)

Dennis Langer, JD, has been a General Division Judge with the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court since 1995. He received his bachelor of arts degree from John Carroll University in 1973 and his juris doctorate from the Boston University School of Law in 1976. In 1994, he was named Ohio’s Outstanding Assistant Prosecuting Attorney by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. He has had a lifelong admiration of Abraham Lincoln, has read extensively about him, and has visited numerous Lincoln historical sites.