The annual Casper was inaugurated by the History Department in 1993 to honor Rev. Henry W. Casper, S. J., a long-time member of the history departments at Creighton University in Omaha and at Marquette University (he retired as Professor Emeritus from Marquette in 1974). He was an expert in nineteenth century European History and in American church history; his most important work was a three-volume history of the Catholic Church in Nebraska. The Casper Lecture, as well as several programs for graduate students in history, is funded by an endowment from Dr. and Mrs. Wayne L. Ryan of Omaha. Dr. Ryan was a student of Father Casper’s at Creighton.
2011-2012
Anthony F. Aveni, Colgate University
Watch Prof. Aveni's lecture by clicking here.
Please note: You will need Apple QuickTime player to play these files.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
(Choose the QuickTime only download) You do not need to give an e-mail address to download. (Unclick the two check boxes, and leave the e-mail line blank)
2010-2011
Raymond Mentzer, University of Iowa
Watch Prof. Mentzer deliver the 2011 Casper Lecture: Standing for Mass, Seated for Sermon by clicking here.
2009-2010
Judith Bennett, University of Southern California
Watch Prof. Bennett's lecture by clicking here; the most recent version of Quicktime is available here.
Title: "Death and the Maiden in Chaucer’s England"
2008-2009
Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago
Title: "North Korea: Still in the axis of evil?"
2007-2008
Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona
"Where Elites Meet: Harem Visits, Sea-Bathing, and Sociabilities in Tunisia, c. 1830-1881"
2006-2007
Marianne Elliott, University of Liverpool
"Irish Protestantism and the Specter of Popery"
2005-2006
Jonathan Spence, Yale University
"Thinking it Through: Chinese and Catholics in the Seventeenth Century"
2004-2005
Susan Desan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"The Politics of Love: Marriage, Divorce, and Gender Relations during the French Revolution"
2003-2004
Paul Cobb, University of Notre Dame
"There Goes the Neighborhood: The World of a Muslim Family in an Age of Crusades"
2002-2003
John Merriman, Yale University
"Collaboration and Resistance in Vichy France."
