Michael Vorenberg to Deliver J. Howard Wert Lecture From Historic Lectern
Dickinson arch.
Michael Vorenberg. Photo by Peter Goldberg.
First 50 Students Receive Signed Book
Noted historian Michael Vorenberg will deliver the sixth annual J. Howard Wert Lecture at Dickinson Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room. Vorenberg will deliver his talk on the struggles to end the Civil War from the lectern that was on the speaker’s platform when Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address in 1863, and the first 50 students to arrive will receive signed copies of Vorenberg’s recent book, Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War.
Vorenberg is a professor of history at Brown University and the author of Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment, which was a finalist for the Lincoln Prize and a key source for Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln. His other work includes The Emancipation Proclamation: A Brief History with Documents and numerous essays on slavery, emancipation and the U.S. Constitution. His writing has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Politico and The Washington Post.
Doors for the event will open at 6 p.m. so that early attendees can view the historic lectern as well as other rare artifacts that will be on hand, including an early printed copy of the Declaration of Independence.
The J. Howard Wert Lecture is an annual event that honors the memory of its namesake, an author, educator, Civil War veteran and collector. Wert was a young abolitionist and resident of Adams County, Pennsylvania, who was present when Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address in 1863. The House Divided Project launched this annual lecture series in 2019 in partnership with the J. Howard Wert Collection and its current owner and curator, G. Craig Caba.
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Published March 26, 2026