Archaeology, History, Art History - Keep Scrolling Down!


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Ridgefield Archaeology and History


The Nine Deeds and Four Tracts of Land That Created Ridgefield
In a culture of land deals, land speculation, and border changes among the Dutch, English, and Native Americans; the Proprietors of Ridgefield made nine purchases of land from the Native Americans. The Ridgefield of today is the result of four tracts of land they purchased in those nine deeds. The heads of three Native communities, Catonah, Takora, and Jacob Turkey sold this land that makes up our modern Ridgefield to the Proprietors. Instructor Lynn-Marie Wieland is a lithic (stone tools) archaeologist specializing in southern New England prehistory focusing on the Indians of the Ridgefield area. She minored in Meso American Archaeology and has traveled extensively in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

2 Sessions $ 54 (Ridgefield Sr./Disab. $ 46)
Wed., 10/23 and 30 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the Annex + Zoom (hybrid)


Middle Eastern History


The Arab Near East from the Great War to the Present
The break-up of the Ottoman Empire after World War I transformed the map of the Near East and resulted in the modern state system that survives largely unchanged to this day. This course will cover the Arab Awakening in the early years of the 20th century, the Arab Revolt, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the Balfour Declaration, the mandates resulting from the Treaty of Versailles, the conflicts between Hashemites and Saudis, independence movements in Egypt and elsewhere, the creation of Israel and the Arab- Israel conflict, the rise and ultimate failure of Nasser and Arab secular nationalism, the development of political Islamism, the Arab Spring and the current Arab Winter, and the rapid transformation of the Gulf States.

Instructor John Lamb majored in Near Eastern history at Amherst College. Recipient of a Carnegie Foundation fellowship, he spent his junior year studying Arabic language and Near Eastern history and sociology at Princeton and Islamic Theology at Princeton Theological. Later he studied Syrian colloquial Arabic at Columbia and the U.K. Foreign Office’s Middle East Center for Arabic Studies in Lebanon. After a year studying Islamic Art History and Arabic epigraphy in Paris, Mr. Lamb won a 2-year scholarship to study Islamic Art History and Arabic at the American University in Cairo. Later, as a law student at Columbia, he received an NDEA grant to serve as a teaching assistant in Arabic and also did research in Islamic legal texts. As a young lawyer at the international law firm of Shearman & Sterling, he was seconded to work in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Planning in Riyadh for 2 years. Having recently retired from a distinguished career as a corporate lawyer, he continues to follow closely political trends and developments in the Arab World.

5 Sessions $ 98 (Ridgefield Sr./Disab. $ 64)
Wed., 10/16, 23, 30; 11/6, 13 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Annex (66 Prospect St.).


European History


Catherine the Great
From a German princess to Empress of Russia!  Bright, ambitious, and imbued with ideas of the Enlightenment, Catherine rose to power through her wits and wiles, not to mention intrigue and the convenient elimination of her husband.  Her correspondence with the great minds of the day is legendary.  She had grand plans for Russia, and, encouraged by her lover Potemkin, set about the expansion, modernization, and education of the country.  Although her reign also saw the violently dangerous Pugachev rebellion, Catherine’s accomplishments and devotion to Russia have earned her a place among history’s Enlightened Despots. Instructor: Nancy Maxwell. Scroll down for her bio.

1 Session $ 29 (Ridgefield Sr./Disab. $ 25)
Mon., 10/28 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Zoom.


The Crimean War
Queen Victoria was securely on her throne; Czar Nicholas I was securely on his.  How did an issue over a church in Palestine end up causing these empires, as well as France and the Ottomans, to go to war against each other?   Territorial ambition, religion, and folly combined to ignite the disastrous Crimean War, epitomized by the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade. Instructor: Nancy Maxwell. Scroll down for her bio.

1 Session $ 29 (Ridgefield Sr./Disab. $ 25)
Mon., 11/18 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Zoom.


The Russian Revolution
Like the German and Austrian empires, the Russian empire too was a casualty of the First World War.  Had war not broken out, would the tsars have been able to maintain autocratic control of the country?  Had Lenin not returned via a sealed train, would the moderate politicians have prevailed?  This course will examine the state of Russia and its government in the early twentieth century and then follow the chain of events that toppled Nicholas II, destroyed the Romanov dynasty, and brought Lenin to power after the outbreak of war. Instructor: Nancy Maxwell. Scroll down for her bio.

2 Sessions $ 41 (Ridgefield Sr./Disab. $ 35)
Mon., 11/25 and 12/2 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Zoom.


Alva Vanderbilt Bemont – Slave to Ambition or Champion of Freedom?
Alva was seen by many – including her own family – as a ruthless, domineering social climber who would stop at nothing to reach the top. Her carefully orchestrated plans for dominance, including the forced marriage of her daughter, have become legendary.  Yet there was more to Alva than snobbery: she forged an independent path that astonished both her contemporaries and posterity. Instructor: Nancy Maxwell. Scroll down for her bio.

1 Session $ 29 (Ridgefield Sr./Disab. $ 25)
Mon., 12/9 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Zoom.


Nancy Maxwell - Instructor Bio:

As a student at Cornell, Ms. Maxwell was encouraged to major in Psychology, but her interest in the humanities was always paramount, and her reading of History has taken pride of place.

As a teacher and counselor in an international school in Switzerland for more than twenty years, she had the opportunity to familiarize herself with the palaces and cathedrals of European cities, to savor the extraordinary wealth of artistic treasure that they contain, and to walk in the very footsteps of historical figures.

Her understanding of European history has been enriched as much by exhausting days walking the corridors and grounds of the Palace of Versailles as by descending to the dismal, tragic halls of the Conciergerie. It has similarly been her privilege to tramp the Parisian streets from the site of the Bastille by way of the Louvre and the Tuileries gardens to the Place de la Concorde and thence along the Champs Elyses to Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe. These experiences have provided both a mental and physical context in which people who lived centuries ago regain their humanity and tell their stories. It is her delight to share those stories with students.