Monadnock Summer Lyceum

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Monadnock Summer Lyceum

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Inform. Engage. Inspire. Free Sunday mornings of music, lectures & performances in Peterborough, NH. July–August | 57th season

09/04/2026

Scenes from our village. 🌿

Our 57th season has come to a close, and what a season it was. We heard from Robert Beck on foreign policy, Tom Weiner and Dr. Amilcar Shabazz on the abolitionists, the voices of Village Harmony, Michael Brownstein on creating social change, three ConVal graduates in Hadley Bates, Ava Cronin, and Clara Wilsher on growing up today, Laura Knoy on her transition from NHPR host to novelist, Alex Green on disability history, and Louis P. Masur closing us out with leadership lessons from Lincoln.

None of it happens without our sponsors, Season Sponsor Microspec Corporation, our Speaker Sponsors, and our Community Sponsors, or without our generous individual donors and hardworking committee. As Marybeth Hallinan, PUUC’s music director and one of this season’s moderators, put it: “It takes a village, and we are that village.”

Thank you for being part of ours. Planning for our 58th season is already underway, watch this space.

To inform, to engage, to inspire

08/19/2026

This Sunday, August 23, the Monadnock Summer Lyceum closes its 2026 season with Louis P. Masur, who will discuss the qualities of Abraham Lincoln’s leadership style that have led him to be ranked, typically, as the United States’ foremost president.

While it’s widely understood that Lincoln’s leadership helped win the Civil War and preserve the nation, Masur will describe the specific elements of his style that accounted for his success, from his use of humor and storytelling to his willingness to change his mind, and what studying Lincoln reveals about what it means to be a leader.

Masur is the Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University, and the author of several books including “Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion” (Oxford University Press, 2015) and, most recently, “A Journey North: Jefferson, Madison and the Forging of a Friendship” (Oxford University Press, 2025). He has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and Slate.

Moderated by Dr. Mary Kelly, Professor of History at Franklin Pierce University and author of “Ireland’s Great Famine in Irish American History” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).

Live music at 10:30 am by Wendy Keith and Walden Whitman.

Program begins at 11:00 am.

Following the program, join us for a reception with light refreshments, and a chance to purchase books and meet Louis Masur to close out the 2026 season together.

A parking note: please avoid parking at Centertown Plaza (Monadnock Eats) on Sunday mornings, so their customers and catering deliveries have access. Thank you for your understanding.

Free and open to the public. Streamed at monadnocklyceum.org.

https://www.monadnocklyceum.org/speaker/louis-p-masur

This program is sponsored by Runyon Law Office, PLLC, with support from our 2026 Season Sponsor, Microspec Corporation.

08/14/2026

This Sunday, August 16, the Monadnock Summer Lyceum welcomes Alex Green to Peterborough for “What Do We Do When We Discover We’ve Been Wrong?”

He will describe how the early 20th century’s leading figure on intellectual and developmental disabilities, Dr. Walter E. Fernald, discovered that he had made a series of fundamental, terrible mistakes that were harming the very people he had sought to serve. Dr. Fernald spent the rest of his life advocating for new and better approaches.

Green, a writer, scholar, and author of “A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled” (Bellevue Literary Press, 2025), will explain how he uncovered details of Dr. Fernald’s life and why it matters. The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography earlier this year.

Green developed the first graduate course on disability policy at the University of Massachusetts and worked on legislation to create a disability-led human rights commission to investigate Massachusetts institutions for disabled persons. His work led to reform, including the unsealing of millions of documents on the state’s history of institutionalizing disabled individuals.

Moderated by Elizabeth Goodhue, author of “The Truth About Down Syndrome: Lessons Learned from Raising a Son with Trisomy-21.”

Live music at 10:30 am by pianist Virginia Eskin.

Program begins at 11:00 am. Reception with light refreshments, including pastries from Cranberry Meadow Farm, to follow.

Free and open to the public. Streamed at monadnocklyceum.org.

This program is sponsored by Monadnock Community Hospital, with support from 2026 Season Sponsor Microspec Corporation.

08/06/2026

This Sunday, the Monadnock Summer Lyceum welcomes back a familiar voice to Peterborough. Laura Knoy, founding host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “The Exchange,” will share her journey since leaving the show after 25 years on the air. What led her to walk away from a program listeners loved, and what has she learned about building an encore career?

Knoy hosted “The Exchange” from its founding in 1995 until she stepped down in 2021. Today she’s an in-demand interviewer, moderator, and narrator, and serves as Director of Community Engagement at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. In her encore career, she’s published her debut historical novel, “The Shopkeeper of Alsace” (Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company, 2025).

Moderating the conversation will be Mel Allen, longtime editor of Dublin-based Yankee magazine and author of “Here in New England: Unforgettable Stories of People, Places, and Memories That Connect Us All” (Earth, Sky, + Water, 2025).

Sunday, August 9

Music at 10:30 am with Volkert Volkersz, Ezra Landis, and Owen Landis

Program at 11:00 am

Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, 25 Main Street

💻 Streamed at monadnocklyceum.org

A reception with light refreshments follows, with a chance to meet Laura Knoy and purchase a copy of her book.📕

08/03/2026

What a morning!

On Sunday, August 2, three recent ConVal graduates, Hadley Bates, Ava Cronin, and Clara Wilsher, gave a packed house at the Monadnock Summer Lyceum a candid, thoughtful look at what it means to be an adolescent in 2026. They spoke on technology and social media’s pull, the pressure of academics and college costs, mental health and burnout, political engagement, and the hope they still hold for their generation’s future.

During the Q&A, moderated by Eric Bowman, longtime ConVal social studies teacher and founder of the Revolution Ethics Project, the panel fielded questions on everything from the effects of Conval’s cell phone policy to advice for grandparents navigating the digital divide with their grandkids, and even shared honest reflections on gender bias they’ve faced.

The morning opened with a beautiful performance from Emily and Melissa Goodrich, twin sisters and seniors at Mascenic Regional High School, playing piano, organ, and violin.

Missed it? You can watch the full presentation at monadnocklyceum.org, with a link to our YouTube channel.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in person and online, and to our sponsors RBC Wealth Management and Microspec Corporation for making the morning possible.

Join us Sunday, August 9, when we welcome former NHPR host and author, Laura Knoy, moderated by Mel Allen, with music from Volkert Volkersz, Ezra Landis and Owen Landis.

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07/30/2026

This Sunday, August 2, join us for Hadley Bates, Ava Cronin, and Clara Wilsher presenting “On Growing Up Today” at the Monadnock Summer Lyceum. Three recent ConVal graduates share what it’s really like to be an adolescent in 2026, from social media’s pull to how they see politics, offering a rare chance for generations to hear directly from the ones so often spoken for and rarely asked.

Live music at 10:30 AM features Emily and Melissa Goodrich, twin sisters and seniors at Mascenic Regional High School, with the program starting at 11:00 AM at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, 25 Main Street.

Moderated by longtime ConVal teacher Eric Bowman. A reception with light refreshments follows. Childcare is available.

Sponsored by RBC Wealth Management and our season sponsor, Microspec Corporation.

Free and open to the public, also streaming at monadnocklyceum.org.

07/22/2026

This Sunday, July 26, join us for Michael Brownstein presenting "Somebody Should Do Something" at the Monadnock Summer Lyceum. Professor and Chair of Philosophy at John Jay College, Brownstein tackles "wicked" problems like misinformation, climate change, and the erosion of democracy, offering new ways to think about creating social change -- drawn from his newest book with Alex Madva and Daniel Kelly (MIT Press, 2025).

Live music at 10:30 AM features Eric Blackmer and the Grove Street Band, with the program starting at 11:00 AM at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, 25 Main Street.

Moderated by Dr. Lundy Lewis. A reception with light refreshments follows, with a chance to meet Brownstein and purchase a copy of his book.

Sponsored by Belletetes, Inc. and our season sponsor, Microspec Corporation.

Free and open to the public, also streaming at monadnocklyceum.org.

07/16/2026

🎶 Village Harmony is coming to the Monadnock Summer Lyceum in Peterborough, NH on Sunday, July 19!!
harmony Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church

Join us this Sunday for an unforgettable morning of music from around the world, performed by the remarkable young singers of Village Harmony.

Village Harmony, a Vermont non-profit, promotes the study and performance of ethnic singing traditions from around the world. For more than 30 years it has organized teen ensembles each summer in New England. In foreign countries it has organized ensembles for mixed-age and adult singers. Each ensemble develops its own unique sound with a different team of leaders

Sunday | Music begins at 10:30 a.m.
Free and open to all.
Childcare available
Streamed on https://www.monadnocklyceum.org
Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church

Address

25 Main Street
Peterborough, NH
03458

Opening Hours

9am - 5pm

Website

https://monadnocklyceum.org/

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