Lecture Series: Dr. Rowland Brucken - The Bretton Woods Conference
2025-06-24 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Wright Museum of World War II, 77 Center Street, Wolfeboro, NH, 03894, United States
Dr. Rowland Brucken – The Bretton Woods Conference

The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to regulate what would be the international order after the conclusion of World War II.
The conference was held from July 1 to 22, 1944. Agreements were signed, that, after legislative ratification by member governments, established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, later part of the World Bank group) and the International Money Fund (IMF). This led to what was called the Bretton Woods System for international commercial and financial relations.
Dr. Rowly Brucken is a Professor of History at Norwich University. He teaches courses on international human rights law, the Cold War, race and racism in the United States, and, when space allows, the history of baseball. He was Amnesty International USA’s Zimbabwe expert for 20 years, specializing in asylum advocacy and crisis response. He is a retired competitive ultramarathoner, has three grown kids, and loves to hike and bike with his wife Lisa.

Lecture Series: Col. Edna W. Cummings (Retired) - 6888th, Central Postal Directory Battalion
2025-07-01 19:00 - 20:00
Edna W. Cummings – 6888th, Central Postal Directory Battalion

The U.S. Army’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was the only all-minority, all-female Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit to serve overseas during World War II. The primary mission of the “Six Triple Eight,” as the unit was popularly known, was to sort the two- to three-year backlog of undelivered mail for U.S. service members in the European theater of war. The unit, organized on March 4, 1945 in Birmingham, England, contained about 850 officers and enlisted personnel who formed four companies. Whereas most Black units in the military contained white officers, every position in the 6888th was staffed by Black women.
Colonel Edna W. Cummings, U.S. Army (Retired) Six Triple Eight Advocate, Author, and Congressional Gold Medal Champion
Retired Army Colonel Edna W. Cummings is a true example of a social entrepreneur and change-maker. Her career path can be described with three words: service, leadership, and change. Col. Cummings was the first African American woman to receive a commission as an Army Officer from Appalachian State University in her home state of North Carolina. Afterwards, she served in key positions in the U.S. Army, and held leadership positions in multi-million dollar businesses, worked on national initiatives, and was able to bring recognition to the all-Black WWII Women’s Army Corps unit, Six Triple Eight. Col. Cummings championed the legislative effort to enact passage of the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021, signed by the President in March 2022. This is the nation’s highest civilian honor. Cummings, has been recognized as a national leader by bipartisan elected officials, and diverse social and business organizations.

Lecture Series: Robert O'Connor - The Jeep Show
2025-07-08 19:00 - 20:00
Robert O’Connor – The Jeep Show

In late 1944 the American military was advancing through Western Europe so fast that entertainment units could not keep up with them. Major Joshua Logan, then an officer in Special Services, noted that the advancing G.I.s were “never in one place long enough to see a show”. He was credited with coming up with the idea of small quick moving entertainment units to entertain at rapid notice called “jeep shows”.
The small troupe usually comprised a comedian, dancer/singer and musician. They traveled in a jeep with their musical instruments and other equipment carried in a quarter ton trailer that would be converted into a stage.
Before Victory in Europe Day the jeep shows played before 23,749 troops in eighty-one performances.
Rooney recalled his first show being between two Sherman tanks three miles from the front in Belgium for 60 soldiers. Rooney’s troupe sometimes put on seven shows a day and covered 150,000 miles in a year. Before Victory in Europe Day the jeep shows played before 23,749 troops in eighty-one performances

Lecture Series: Dr. Edward Gordon – Fireball in the Night: The Fire-Bombing of Japan and the Atomic Bomb Controversy
2025-07-22 19:00 - 20:00
Dr. Edward Gordon – Fireball in the Night: The Fire-Bombing of Japan and the Atomic Bomb Controversy

On April 18, 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel James H. Doolittle led a clandestine bombing raid of sixteen B-24 Mitchell bombers that flew from U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet to Tokyo, a distance of more than 650 miles. The damage inflicted was small, but it foreshadowed the mighty air raids to come.
This program on the bombing of Japan and the dropping of the atom bomb will chronicle the events that made U.S. airpower a decisive factor in the fall of Japan in 1945.
Biography of Edward E. Gordon
Edward E. Gordon is an internationally known historian, speaker, researcher, and author. He taught history at DePaul University, Chicago and was a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians for 10 years. He has presented hundreds of historical programs to museums, libraries, universities, and a wide variety of other organizations across the United States.
Ed Gordon is also the president and founder of Imperial Consulting Corporation. He is the author of 20 books and over 150 articles in the areas of history, business, and education. His latest book, Divided on D-Day: How Leadership Failures Threatened the Normandy Invasion, co-authored with David Ramsay, was published by Prometheus Books.
He has appeared on the CBS network’s “The Early Show,” CNN, the PBS News Hour, National Public Radio, and many other media venues.
Dr. Gordon earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in history at DePaul University, his Ph.D. at Loyola University Chicago, and pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago.

Lecture Series: Shannon McKenna Schmidt - The First Lady of World War II
2025-08-05 19:00 - 20:00
Shannon McKenna Schmidt – The First Lady of World War II
In August 1943, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt set out in secret for the Pacific on an arduous journey that was part goodwill tour, part fact-finding foray, and part informal diplomatic mission. She returned five weeks and 25,000 miles later, having trekked to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia, through the South Pacific and into territory still under enemy air attack.
Shannon McKenna Schmidt, the author of The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back, will discuss this unprecedented undertaking, described by a journalist at the time as “the most remarkable journey any president’s wife has ever made.” See Eleanor Roosevelt in a dramatic new light, as an adventurer and traveler, find out how travel was a key factor in her success as First Lady, and learn about the importance of her leadership during World War II.
Shannon is the co-author of two previous books, Novel Destinations and Writers Between the Covers, and has written for National Geographic Traveler, NPR.org and other publications and websites. She has appeared as a guest on television and radio programs, among them MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and has spoken at such venues as the FDR Presidential Library and Museum and the National World War II Museum. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Lecture Series: Arthur Krulewitz, MD CM - The Cuban Missile Crisis
2025-08-12 19:00 - 20:00
Arthur Krulewitz, MD CM – The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban missile crisis was a major confrontation in 1962 that brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to war over the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in Cuba. During a thirteen day period in October 1962 the world teetered on the verge of a nuclear holocaust as President Kennedy and premier Nikita Khrushchev engaged in high stakes political Brinkmanship.
Arthur is currently a docent at the museum and is a retired internal medicine/ critical care/ pulmonary physician most recently from South Hadley Massachusetts.

Lecture Series: Dr. Fred Johnson, III - Dentist Under Fire: The Heroism of Ben Salomon
2025-08-19 19:00 - 20:00
Dr. Fred Johnson, III – The Heroism of Ben Salomon
By law, only U.S. Service members who distinguish themselves “ through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” can receive the Medal of Honor – Captain Benjamin Louis Salomon was one of these brave men. Learn the story of how a simple man attempted to hold off the enemy while his patients attempted to clear an aid station. When his body was later found, 98 dead enemy soldiers were found in front of his position.
Dr. Fred L. Johnson III is Associate Professor of History at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Prior to his career in higher education, Dr. Johnson served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps as a Communications-Electronics Officer. He subsequently also served as an Infantry Officer in the Marine Reserves.
A graduate of Bowie State College (now University) Bowie, Maryland, Dr. Johnson earned his master’s and doctorate degrees at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.

Lecture Series: The Freese Brothers Big Band
2025-08-26 19:30 - 21:15
The Freese Brothers Big Band
Eighty years ago this summer, World War II came to an end. As members of the Greatest Generation began to return home, they and their families listened to the music that was the soundtrack of the war years. Join the Freese Brothers Big Band for an 80th anniversary salute to the Greatest Generation and the Home Front with tunes that brought solace and cheer to turbulent times and defined the generation.

Lecture Series: Dennis Vachon - Unfaltering Courage: The Diaries of TSGt. Raymond Vachon, a World War II Army Air Corps Flight Engineer
2025-09-02 19:00 - 20:00
Dennis Vachon – Unfaltering Courage: The Diaries of TSGt. Raymond Vachon, a World War II Army Air Corps Flight Engineer
The Diaries of TSgt. Raymond Vachon, a World War II Army Air Corps Flight Engineer and B-24 Top Turret Gunner in the Mediterranean Theater, tell the gripping story of surviving 50 bombing missions in the war-torn skies of Europe during World War II.
Dennis Vachon, Ray Vachon’s middle child, graduated from the University of New Hampshire, served in the Peace Corps in Senegal, and practiced law in New Hampshire for thirty years. He served ten years in the New Hampshire Legislature. A self-taught artist, Dennis has been painting since his mom bought him a Paint By Numbers set of religious icons when he was ten. He lives in Strafford, New Hampshire, with his wife Jane.

Lecture Series: Linda Matchett - The American WWII Home Front in 29 Objects
2025-09-09 19:00 - 20:00
Linda Matchett – The American Home Front in 29 Objects
Unlike its European allies during World War II, the American mainland escaped physical devastation, as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions. Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by the second “war to end all wars.”
Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for the Wolfeboro Public Library.

Lecture Series: Rev. David Lindsay - The Four Chaplains of WWII
2025-09-23 19:00 - 20:00
Rev. David Lindsay – The Four Chaplains of WWII
Nearly 9,000 Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Army chaplains served during the war; hundreds more served in the Navy. Although unarmed, many accompanied troops into combat. They offered spiritual and moral support for scared, battle-weary soldiers. Learn the incredible story of four Army chaplains, aboard the U.S. Army Transport Dorchester as she was struck by a German submarine. The Chaplains spread out among the soldiers, calming the frightened, tending the wounded and guiding the disoriented toward safety.

Lecture Series: Arthur Krulewitz - Relive the Turning Point: The Epic World War II Battle of Midway
2026-05-26 19:00 - 20:00
Arthur Krulewitz – Relive the Turning Point: The Epic World War II Battle of Midway

More than just a naval engagement, the Battle of Midway was a collision of leadership, technology, intelligence, and good fortune that reshaped the course of World War II. While you may know the ultimate outcome, the prelude to the combat is as intriguing as the battle itself—a narrative embodying arrogance, hubris, reticence and daring. Explore the human and strategic forces that shaped the battle.

Lecture Series: Ronald Janowski - Waking the Sleeping Giant
2026-06-02 19:00 - 20:00
Japan’s aggression in the Pacific began long before December 7, 1941. Extraordinary growth in the face of Western imperialism and Japan’s own perceived destiny as an imperial force in the Pacific led to the inevitable clash that changed history.

Lecture Series: Stephen Harden - G.I. G-Men
2026-06-09 19:00 - 20:00
Stephen Harden – G.I. G-Men

This program will be live streamed at the Museum over Zoom
They collaborated with Nazis and Fascists. Conspired against Allies in World War II. Committed unthinkable acts of treason. And triggered a secret manhunt as harrowing as any Hollywood cliff-hanger. The mission was part of the FBI’s “European Operation.” The targets were U.S. citizens plotting against their own country. The goal: to identify and capture these traitors hiding in the shadows of war-torn Europe. To accomplish this, a small group of federal agents assumed new identities to infiltrate underground networks, interrogate key suspects, and expose the enemies within the Allied ranks. It is one of the most fascinating spy stories of World War II—and one that’s never been fully told. Until now . . .
Using newly declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act—as well as exclusive interviews with family members of the FBI agents and unpublished accounts of American citizens accused of treason—this meticulously researched book provides shocking new details behind this crucial World War II operation. From J. Edgar Hoover’s attempt to expand FBI operations overseas to the agency’s covert ties to Britain’s MI5; from the shocking exposure of espionage activities in France and Italy to the final convictions of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials—this incredible saga of spy and counterspy is brought vividly to life by author Stephen Harding in what is destined to be a classic of World War II literature.

Lecture Series: Christopher Gorham - Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi-Occupied France
2026-06-16 19:00 - 20:00
Christopher Gorham – Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi-Occupied France
Matisse at War is a vivid portrayal of the advancement of fascism and war into French life and culture during World War II through the lens of one of the country’s most celebrated post-impressionists and his family.

Drawing on intimate letters and a multitude of other sources, Christopher C. Gorham illuminates this momentous stage of Matisse’s life as never before, revealing an artist on a journey of reinvention, wrenching meaning from the suffering of war, and holding up the light of human imagination against the torch of fascism to create some of the most exciting work of his career, of the 20th century, and in the history of art.

Lecture Series: Doug Most - Launching Liberty
2026-06-23 19:00 - 20:00
Doug Most – Launching Liberty

This enduring book tells the heroic, gripping, yet overlooked story of one of World War II’s monumental achievements—the building of America’s fleet of Liberty ships.
With the shadow of war looming large over American life in 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew it wasn’t a matter of if the United States would be pulled into battle, but when. He foresaw a “new kind of war,” one that would demand the nation be prepared in ways like never before. America’s most critical need in preparation was not drafting more soldiers or manufacturing more guns. It was building more ships that could carry enormous supplies of weapons, vehicles, medical gear, food, and clothing to US and allied troops around the world. One ship could feed three million men for a day—an entire fleet could sustain troops for years.

Lecture Series: Christine Kuehn - Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
2026-06-30 19:00 - 20:00
Christine Kuehn – Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal and the Secret History Behind Pearl HarborFamily of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
It began with a letter from a screenwriter, asking about a story. Your family. World War II. Nazi spies. Christine Kuehn was shocked and confused. When she asked her seventy-year-old father, Eberhard, what this could possibly be about, he stalled, deflected, demurred, and then wept. He knew this day would come.
The Kuehns, a prominent Berlin family, saw the rise of the Nazis as a way out of the hard times that had befallen them. When the daughter of the family, Eberhard’s sister, Ruth, met Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels at a party, the two hit it off, and they had an affair. But Ruth had a secret―she was half Jewish―and Goebbels found out. Rather than having Ruth killed, Goebbels instead sent the entire Kuehn family to Hawaii, to work as spies half a world away. There, Ruth and her parents established an intricate spy operation from their home, just a few miles down the road from Pearl Harbor, shielding Eberhard from the truth. They passed secrets to the Japanese, leading to the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. After Eberhard’s father was arrested and tried for his involvement in planning the assault, Eberhard learned the harsh truth about his family and faced a decision that would change the path of the Kuehn family forever.

Lecture Series: The Freese Brothers Big Band - Honor, Reflect, Remember: The tunes of the War Years
2026-07-07 19:30 - 20:30
The Freese Brothers Big Band – Honor, Reflect, Remember: The Tunes of the War Years

A special musical program to honor America’s 250th birthday.

Cost: Members $12, Non-Members $16

Lecture Series: Randy Otto as Winston Churchill
2026-07-14 19:00 - 20:00
Randy Otto as Winston Churchill

Renowned Churchill-ian Scholar, Randy Otto has carefully honed his humorous, poignant and astonishingly relevant tribute to Winston Churchill – who a Price Waterhouse Cooper CEO survey named The Most Admired Leader Ever.
Cost: Members $12, non-members $16

Lecture Series: The Story of the von Trapp Family presented by Bob Stafford
2026-07-21 19:00 - 20:00
The Story of the von Trapp Family presented by Bob Stafford
Stay tuned for updated information

Lecture Series: Alex Kershaw - Escape the Deep
2026-07-28 19:00 - 20:00
Alex Kershaw – Escape the Deep

In the early morning hours of October 24, 1944, the legendary U.S. Navy submarine Tang was hit by one of its own faulty torpedoes. The survivors of the explosion struggled to stay alive one hundred-eighty feet beneath the surface, while the Japanese dropped deadly depth charges. As the air ran out, some of the crew made a daring ascent through the escape hatch. In the end, just nine of the original eighty-man crew survived.
But the survivors were beginning a far greater ordeal. After being picked up by the Japanese, they were sent to an interrogation camp known as the “Torture Farm.” When they were liberated in 1945, they were close to death, but they had revealed nothing to the Japanese, including the greatest secret of World War II.
Cost: Members $12, non-members $16

Lecture Series: Beth Forrest - WWII & Society, A History of food during WWII and its influence on our Society
2026-08-04 19:00 - 20:00
Beth Forrest – WWII & Society, A History of food during WWII and its influence on our Society
Join us to learn the history of how the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) began in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut, where it was founded as a vocational institute for returning veterans of World War II. The lecture will also illustrate how WWII changed the way Americans (and the rest of the world) eat.
Beth Forrest, PhD is professor of Liberal Arts and Applied Food Studies at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. She is the former president of the Association of the Study of Food and Society and a principle investigator of an Andrew F. Mellon Foundation grant for the project “Food Studies, Race, and the Humanities.” She is co-editor of Food in Memory and Imagination: Place, Space and Taste (Bloomsbury, 2022) and a forthcoming book on sauce and identity (Oxford UP, 2023) and has published on a range of topics, from how Americans have imagined eating in hell, to how Americans have framed Spanish identity through “rancid” olive oil, to how eating chocolate in early modern Spain was tied to Catholic theology and sin. Forrest has been quoted widely in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes & Gardens, CNN.com, forbes.com, Chicago Tribune, and The Boston Globe, among others. (Hyde Park, NY)

Lecture Series: Laura Kroy - The Shopkeeper of Alsace
2026-08-11 19:00 - 20:00
Laura Kroy – The Shopkeeper of Alsace
When WWII comes for her family, Sarah thinks she’s read. She’s had training, after all, coming of Age during World War I.
The Shopkeeper of Alsace is an uplifting tale of family, love, resilience, and on unstoppable women.
Laura Knoy is an award-winning journalist. She founded New Hampshire’s most widely respected and recognized public radio program, “The Exchange,” which she hosted for 25 years. Laura also worked at the national level; newscasting, hosting and reporting for NPR.

Cruise In to the Wright
2026-08-15 10:00 - 14:00
The Wright Museum will welcome back dozens of classic cars, hot rods, and motorcycles for the 13th annual Cruise in to the Wright! Regular museum admission includes access to the car show.
The Bel-Airs will be on hand to supply live music, and food will be available to purchase from Good Eatz 603 food truck. Come rain or shine for this annual summer event!
Learn more here.

Lecture Series: Cheryl Thomas - Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen
2026-08-18 19:00 - 20:00
Cheryl Thomas – Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen
Forgotten Souls examines the lives of the 27 pilots who went missing while battling the enemy abroad – and honors their lives, their sacrifices and their legacy. This book serves as long overdue closure for the pilots who gave their lives.
Cheryl Thompson is an award -winning investigative correspondent for National Public Radio, and an associate professor of journalism at George Washington University.

Lecture Series: Jonathan Rose - The Federal Reserve's Role During WWII
2026-08-25 19:00 - 20:00
Jonathan Rose – The Federal Reserve’s Role During WWII

The Federal Reserve supported the war effort in several ways: it helped finance wartime spending, fund our allies, embargo our enemies, stabilize the economy, and plan the return to peacetime activities.
Jonathan Rose serves as a historian for the Federal Reserve System and is a senior economist and economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Lecture Series: Peter May - The Open Question, Ben Hogan and Golf's Most Enduring Controversy
2026-09-01 19:00 - 20:00
Peter May – The Open Question, Ben Hogan and Golf’s Most Enduring Controversy

In The Open Question, Peter May turns his attention to this controversial, colorful Hale-America National Open of 1942. Set against the backdrop of World War II, May also tells the stories of other professional golfers in the tournament and the impact of the war on all their lives.
The USGA has never recognized the Hale-America Tournament as an official US Open and remains firm in its stance. It was a decision that bothered Ben Hogan for the rest of his life. The Open Question shows how dominant Ben Hogan was against some of the biggest names in golf, and reveals why he deserves to be recognized as a five-time US Open winner.
Peter May has spent the last four decades covering sports for the Boston Glod, the New York Times, ESPN, and the Hartford Courant. He has spent the last eight years teaching in the journalism program at Brandeis University.

Lecture Series: James M. Scott - Empire of Ashes
2026-09-08 19:00 - 20:00
James M. Scott – Empire of Ashes

Over three days in August 1945, a nation once morally opposed to the bombing of civilians killed 120,000 men, women, and children; doomed tens of thousands more to agonizing death in the weeks and months ahead; and annihilated two cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Empire of Ashes explores the final brutal months of the war in the Pacific, featuring the voices of never-before-heard victims of the atomic bombs. Through interviews with survivors and accounts gleaned from Japanese sources, New York Times best-selling author James M. Scott combines the attacks’ heart-wrenching details with their causes and consequences, from debates within the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, Oakridge, and Hanford to the fallout that would alter decades of life in Japan.
James M. Scott is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller author
