Laura M. Chmielewski is passionate about bringing the people and places of the past to life! A professor of History and Museum Studies at the State University of New York at Purchase, she is a noted expert on early American life and culture and Atlantic studies. Laura holds a PhD from the City University of New York and is the author of three books and numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews. Her teaching abilities include colonial and revolutionary America; Atlantic World cultures and diversity; religion in the Americas; explorers, mariners, and maritime industries; the American West; the American Civil War; Hollywood and American history; Americans’ encounters with the natural world; and public history/museum studies. Having enjoyed a career in historic site interpretation while in graduate school, Laura co-founded Purchase Museum Studies program and has served as the college’s liaison with Purchase’s senior auditor program. She is currently creating programs for Broadview, Purchase’s 400-unit lifelong learner community.

Laura lectures frequently for local and national organizations, including historic sites, civic groups, schools, houses of worship, and senior enrichment programs. In addition, she has lectured on C-SPAN, consulted with the National Endowment for the Humanities, and appeared as keynote speaker for the Society of the History of Discoveries.

Having cruised herself, Laura understands the line between teaching a course and enrichment activities in a relaxed vacation environment! A high-energy speaker, she speaks confidently without notes and enjoys exploring visual sources, facilitating conversations, and generating excitement for the subject matter.

East Coast:

1.The World of Henry Hudson
Uses the story of Henry Hudson’s travels as a portal to examine exploration of what is now New York.

2. Colonial “Frenemies”: The Curious Relationship Between New England and New France
American frontiers were regions of fascinating encounters between Native peoples and English and French settlers. Focus on human stories of these encounters.

3. American Revolution on Land and Sea
Close consideration of how the waterways of Boston, New York, and Canada were keys to conquest in the American Revolution.

4. Key to the Continent: Quebec and the French New World
The French set up an alternative New World, many Native American allies, with few settlers, and a keen focus on the fur trade and religion. All dimensions explored using rich visual sources.

5.Go Fish: Life and Times of Fishing Communities
Considers peoples, types of work, industry-specific architecture, and cross-cultural activities of fishing communities.

6. So You Want to Hunt Whales: Whaling Culture in New England
Examines whaling communities and the industry itself. Focus on exciting stories and colorful personalities.

7. The New England Town
Delves into the art, architecture, industries, and peoples who made up New England’s coastal communities. Close-up examinations of Newport, RI, Martha’s Vineyard, and Plymouth, MA.

Florida | Gulf of Mexico | Western Caribbean:

8. The Spanish New World
Explores the pre-Columbian world, early encounters between Native Americans and the western hemisphere’s earliest Spanish arrivals, and the surprising cultural outcomes.

9. Prior to Purchase: Louisiana before the United States
The peoples of Africa, Native America, France and Spain intermingled in this complex corner of North America creating unique societies that the neighboring United States struggled to understand!

10. Life of a Sugar Island
Looks at how this ultra-lucrative commodity defined landscapes, architecture, human relationships, and political movements. Special emphasis on Barbados.

11. Key West and the World
For more than a century this hard-to-reach island was Florida’s largest and most significant global city. This talk answers why by exploring Key West’s unique population and the island’s relationship to trade, the Atlantic and the Gulf, and its Caribbean and American neighbors.

12. LaSalle, Lafitte, Laveau
Explores New Orleans’ uniqueness through the lens of three lives – explorer René Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, privateer-pirate Jean Lafitte, and voodoo priestess Marie Laveau.

13. From Ponce de Leon to Henry Flagler: Florida’s Movers and Shakers
A biographical approach toward the visionaries and “fake it ‘til you make its” who had a profound impact on Florida’s development as America’s East Coast paradise.

West Coast and Alaska:

14. From Seward’s Folly to National Treasure: Alaska and the American Imagination
Explores the reasons behind the acquisition of Alaska, the persistence of the culture and folklore of its indigenous people, and the discovery and development of its resources.

15. Going for the Gold: The Life and Times of a Prospector
The tough lives of diggers and panners for gold, who came from diverse corners of the planet to score big in America’s gold fields. This also explores the colorful temporary communities that cropped up around the gold fields.

16. Hollywood’s West: Creating an American Hero
Looks at how western themes in Hollywood films shaped ideas about the people of the historical West. Special focus on John Ford’s work.

17. Weather and History
Explorers knew that their ability to read the seasons and weather systems could be a matter of life or death. This talk looks at the opportunities and tragic errors that shaped the settlement of America’s Far West.

18. Northwest Passages: Traveling of Marquette and Joliet, MacKenzie, Lewis and Clark
Biographical focus on three famed expeditions, as all sought to unlock the fabled “Key to the Continent” to connect East and West.

19. Women on the Westward Trails
19th century women’s work never gave way, even to the demands of the Oregon and California trails! In this talk we will look at what it was like for the first women who made these demanding journeys with families and all their possessions in tow.

20. A Whole New World: Encountering Nature in Early North America
The new United States was a place of remarkable natural treasures. Travel land and sea in the paths of those who explored, studied, and celebrate America as a place of unique natural wonder.

Maritime | Transatlantic:

21. Fighting at Sea: America’s Early Navy – Examines the development of an American Navy in the United States’s early years, including its great naval heroes, innovative vessels, and successful defenses of American borders and honor.

22. Early American Feasts and Festivals
Why did people eat so much preserved cod? Religious devotions and celebrations are the answer! A close look at how early North Americans celebrated religious holidays, the seasons, the wonders of nature, and their connections across the sea.

23. Eat Like a Sailor
From “pease” porridge to hardtack, a mariner’s food was unappealing! But it was wholesome, nourishing, and contributed to the success of the maritime world. A close consideration of what people did, and did not eat or could not eat, in the centuries before the bounty of the cruise ship buffet.

24. Cruising, 18th Century Style
Early American seafarers shared their temporary sailing home with livestock, strangers, and crew. It made for challenging circumstances, often with surprising outcomes. Explore the interiors of merchant vessels and how travelers adapted them to the demands of life at sea.

25. The Hunt for Pirate Treasure: The East Coast of North America is rife with suspected X’s marking the spot. What’s behind the craze for pirate treasure, and has it ever existed? A close look at the archaeology and history surrounding the quest for long-lost pirate booty.