A Date With History: Mike Olmert

This illustrated talk will cover Easton’s own Neale house (1804-10), Scots painter Henry Raeburn’s “The Skating Minister” (1795), and an 1819 poem by John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1819). The talk will be based on Olmert’s forthcoming book, which is to do with intention, interpretation, and meaning in writing, painting, and buildings. The book will have ten chapters, each covering one building, one book or poem, and one painting.

Prof. Olmert has been teaching Shakespeare and drama at the University of Maryland English Department for 36 years. He spoke at THS last September on “The Invention of Colonial Williamsburg.” He also wrote The Smithsonian Book of Books (1992), Milton’s Teeth & Ovid’s Umbrella (1996), and Kitchens, Smokehouses, & Privies (2009). His TV writing has won three Primetime Emmys. He’s written 80 television documentaries, as well as 4 books, 7 plays, 3 feature films, an IMAX film, and 200 articles, essays, and reviews. In 2005, he was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame.