Each spring, the Friends of the University of Delaware Library sponsors a dinner to gather and celebrate shared interest in the humanities. All members, students, faculty, staff and the community-at-large are invited to this event, which features a prominent keynote speaker, historian or author. In the past, speakers have included Wil Haygood, Margaret MacMillan, Rick Steves, Jennet Conant and Judith “Miss Manners” Martin to name a few.
Past Annual Dinners
Frederick Douglass and the Problem with American Democracy (Keynote by David W. Blight) – April 4, 2024
The Power of the Written Word (Keynote by Sara Paretsky) – April 26, 2023
The Scientist and the Soul Man: What Humanists and Empiricists Need to Learn From Each Other (Keynote by Adam Gopnik) – April 25, 2022
A Writer Tell Stories of Freedom (Keynote by Wil Haygood) – April 29, 2019
The Meaning of the First World War for Today (Keynote by Margaret MacMillan) – March 28, 2018
An Evening with Maureen Corrigan and The Great Gatsby (Keynote by Maureen Corrigan) – April 12, 2017
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Keynote by Erik Larson) – April 6, 2016
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (Keynote by Daniel Okrent) – April 15, 2015
The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family (Keynote by Oscar Andrew Hammerstein III) – April 10, 2014
Catherine the Great: A Woman as Well as an Empress (Keynote by Robert K. Massie) – April 17, 2013
A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS (Keynote by Jennet Conant) – April 18, 2012
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Keynote by T.J. Stiles) – April 12, 2011
Travel as a Political Act (Keynote by Rick Steves) – March 25, 2010