When: Monthly on a predetermined Tuesday, see the schedule below for detailed dates and subjects

Time: Doors open for the event at 5 pm, allowing time for attendees to place any food or drink orders. The lecture begins at 5:30pm, and a question-and-answer open discussion begins at 6 pm.

Where: Bucci’s Italian Scratch Kitchen | 320 W. Center St.

Cost:

Description and Additional Dates and Subjects:

Tue., June 9, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – The Demography of Ohio’s Four Shaker Villages in 1850

Featured Speaker: Ohio State Marion Associate Professor of Geography Emeritus, Greg Rose

The presentation will explore the demography of residents in the four Shaker villages in Ohio in 1850: their numbers, ages, sex ratios, levels of schooling, occupations, birthplaces, and potential kinship/family links.  Each village’s characteristics differed, not only from each other but from the demography of their surrounding counties and from Shaker characteristics nationwide.  Also included will be a discussion of the basic beliefs of Shakers and a brief review of the development and demise of Ohio’s Shaker villages.  Except for Whitewater Village in Hamilton County, little physical evidence remains of the villages.

Tue., July 14, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – Growing Futures: Youth and Community Learning at Ohio State Marion

Featured Speaker: Ohio State Marion Director of Youth & Community Learning, Tiffiny Rye-McCurdy

Growing Futures: Youth and Community Learning at Ohio State Marion explores how a coordinated, multi-stage approach to youth engagement—from early curiosity to career exploration—can strengthen educational and workforce pathways. The core question asks: how can communities intentionally connect experiences to support long-term student success? This work is highly relevant to the Marion region as it addresses local talent development, access, and retention. The session will begin with a 20–30 minute overview of 2025–2026 youth programming, concluding with a vision for future growth. Participants will then be invited to share perspectives, reflect on local needs, and contribute ideas for expanding youth programming across the Marion region.

Tuesday, August 11, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – To the Gates of Richmond: The Civil War in Virginia

Featured Speaker:  Assistant Professor at Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society Briana Frakes
(https://chasecenter.osu.edu/user-profile/54 )

Virginia boasts the highest concentration of Civil War battlefields in the country. Considered the “gateway to the Confederacy” and home to the Confederate capital at Richmond, capturing Virginia or defending it was a paramount goal for both the Union and Confederate armies. The 1862 Peninsula Campaign marked the first significant action the Union Army took into Confederate heartland. Culminating in the Seven Days Battles, this campaign was the closest the Union Army came to capturing Richmond until the war’s end in 1865. Their inability to take the Confederate capital in 1862 forced Lincoln to recalibrate the Union’s military and political goals around emancipation, making this the most consequential campaign during the entire Civil War.

Tuesday, September 8, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – TBA

Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – Our Bodies as Monsters: Reflecting on Mortality

Featured Speaker:  Ohio State Professor of English, Sara Crosby

Professor Sara Crosby will lead an interactive conversation about monstrous depictions of illness and aging across literature and film, where our own bodies are a source of horror. From Frankenstein and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe to movies like The Substance and The Fly, we will consider how we’ve externalized our fear of death. This talk will be held in collaboration with Ohio State’s Urban Arts Space, a free gallery in downtown Columbus, coinciding with a group exhibition on death and dying—Spirit and Dust. The show will be on view at Urban Arts Space from October 13–November 14, 2026.

Tuesday, November 17, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – TBA

Tuesday, December 8, 2026, 5:30 p.m. – TBA

Tuesday, February 9, 2027, 5:30 p.m. – Virtue in The Federalist or Moderation and Debt in Pennsylvania’s Critical Period: William Findlay, Albert Gallatin, and Robert Morris. 

Lecturer at Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and SocietyDavid Little (https://chasecenter.osu.edu/user-profile/59)