2026 Talk of the Towns - Speaker Information
Kristina E. Poznan, PhD, Digital Historian, Michigan State University
Talk Description
Title: On Living in 1776
Using my time living adjacent to Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area as a jumping off point, this talk will explore what we can learn from daily life in the 1770s and during the American Revolution, bringing in related insights from my work as a historian and history educator. It will feature "colonists" driving cars, talking on cell phones, etc. and driving teenagers around to historic sites in vans.
Bio
Kristina E. Poznan, PhD is a Vassar- and William & Mary-trained historian currently working in digital publications at Matrix: Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences at Michigan State University (remotely). Her specializations include the history of immigration to the United States from Central/Eastern Europe and digital history, but she has taught every period in U.S. history from the founding of Jamestown to the present. Poznan previously taught history and public history at La Salle University and New Mexico State University, as well as at NIAHD, a field trip-based summer history program for high schoolers offered by William & Mary/Colonial Williamsburg.
~~~~~~
Brendan Rea, Jr., Durham, CT America 250 Committee, Vice Chairman
Talk Description
Title: Durham, Connecticut’s unique contributions to the American Revolution.
Durham punched above its weight during the American Revolution. For a small farming community, they produced two Generals in the Continental Army, contributed tonnes of supplies, quartered units of Washington’s army, expelled local Tories, and sent nearly 20% of all the town’s men to serve in one military capacity or another. Durham was a hot bed of patriot sentiment.
Bio
Brendan Rea, Jr. is a 2017 graduate of Coginchaug and a Lifelong resident of Durham, a US Army Veteran of The Afghanistan War, and a student of History at UConn.
~~~~~~
Diana Ross McCain, Independent Historian
Talk Description
Title: Middlefield Neighbor Against Neighbor: The American Revolution as a Civil War
The American Revolution was a civil war, pitting supporters of independence against those who remained loyal to the Crown. The experiences of two Middlefield testify to that division. Elihu Lyman enlisted in the Continental Army, was wounded in battle and taken prisoner by the British. After spending the first year of the war as an uncover agent for the King in Connecticut, Timothy Herlihy fled to New York and joined the British army.
Bio
Diana Ross McCain is an independent historian and author who lives in Durham. She has written six books, including "Thy Children's Children: A Historical Novel Based on the True Story of Five Generations of a New England Grassroots Dynasty," the Lyman family of Middlefield's Lyman Orchards. She hold's bachelor's and master's degrees in history and was on the staff of the Connecticut Historical Society for 25 years.
~~~~~~
John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Darnell, Egyptologists and University Professors
Talk Description
Title: Egyptian Revival Architecture in Connecticut
The stories and treasures discovered in Ancient Egypt have inspired builders and architects throughout the world, and Connecticut has some of the best examples of ancient Egyptian revival architecture in the United States. From cemetery gateways in New Haven and Farmington, to the designs of Fort Trumbull and a Baptist Church in Essex, motifs and imagery from ancient Egypt inspired Connecticut’s designers. Middlefield even has its own pyramid!
Bio
John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Darnell are a husband-and-wife Egyptologist team who live in Durham. They have presented on numerous documentaries, including National Geographic’s ‘Lost Treasures of Egypt,’ and their most recent jointly authored book is Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth. John is Professor of Egyptology at Yale University, Curator of Anthropology at the Yale Peabody Museum, and director of the Elkab Desert Survey Project in Egypt. and Colleen teaches at Naugatuck Valley Community College and offers Egyptology to people around the world through her popular live, remote classes.