About the Jefferson Lecture

On May 10, 2006, Tom Wolfe will deliver the 35th Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at the Warner Theatre.

The Jefferson Lecture was established in 1972 as the highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual and public achievement in the humanities.

Past Jefferson Lecturers include Donald Kagan, Helen Vendler, David McCullough, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Arthur Miller, James McPherson, Caroline Walker Bynum, Bernard Bailyn, Stephen Toulmin, Toni Morrison, Vincent Scully, Gwendolyn Brooks, Bernard Knox, Walker Percy, Cleanth Brooks, Sydney Hook, Barbara Tuchman, Saul Bellow, John Hope Franklin, Robert Penn Warren, Erik Erikson, and Lionel Trilling.

The online version of Humanities magazine features interviews with and profiles of the following Jefferson Lecturers: Caroline Walker Bynum, Bernard Bailyn, and Stephen Toulmin. The text of the lectures given by Caroline Walker Bynum and Bernard Bailyn are also available. NEH's Web site offers features about the following Jefferson Lecturers: James McPherson, Arthur Miller, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., David McCullough, Helen Vendler, and Donald Kagan.