Claremont McKenna College

The High Admiral Christopher Columbus

GREGORY MONAHAN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1991

Gregory Monahan first created the character of Christopher Columbus for a course in Latin American history in the spring of 1988 and has since brought the admiral to life several times. Most recently, he has agreed to perform as Columbus for the "Heirs of Columbus" Chautauqua program sponsored by the Oregon and California Councils of the Humanities, which will tour both states in the summer of 1992. Mr. Monahan has immersed himself in the historical and contemporary literature about the admiral and has even travelled to Spain and Central America to enrich his characterization.

Mr. Monahan studied European history from 1971 to 1975 at the University of Iowa where he received his bachelor's degree. He continued his historical studies from 1975 through 1985 at the University of North Carolina and West Virginia University, earning his master's and doctorate. From 1982 to 1983, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Paris. He is now associate professor of history at Eastern Oregon State College in La Grande.

Mr. Monahan enclosed a letter to the Athenaeum from Don Cristobal Colon regarding the intended topics for his presentation. "I will discuss quite honestly, as God hath commanded of all his servants, the challenges and difficulties of my voyages, my efforts to bring God's Word and the guidance of His Holy Church to the poor savages whom I found living without grace in the Indies, and my own errors as an inexperienced and sometimes too trusting governor."

Don't miss this opportunity to dine with the man who discovered the New World. Return the enclosed reservation slip if you wish to journey with us into the past. Dinner will begin at 6:00 and the presentation will follow at 7:00.