Preservation L.I. w/ The Winter Show, NYC: Polymaths of Early America | Panel Discussion, Jan 26, 2026

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Preservation Long Island to Present Panel Discussion

in Collaboration with The Winter Show in New York City

——————-

Polymaths of Early America: Art, Knowledge and the Preservation of History explores early American thinkers who shaped the nation across science, philosophy, politics, and faith. The panel will take place on January 26, 2026, at the Park Avenue Armory.

Images left to right: African American Revolutionary War Veteran and Minister Lemuel Haynes, 19th-century astronomer and mechanical engineer Ephraim Byram, Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

Cold Spring Harbor, New York—Preservation Long Island, the Cold Spring Harbor–based historic preservation nonprofit, is pleased to present a panel discussion, in collaboration with The Winter Show in New York City, that brings together scholars to explore early American thinkers who shaped the nation across science, philosophy, politics, and faith. Taking place on Monday, January 26, 2026, at the Park Avenue Armory, the event is part of The Winter Show’s special In Dialogue programming, which features leading experts from the global art and design community.

Panel Discussion Details

Presented in collaboration with The Winter Show, Polymaths of Early America: Art, Knowledge and the Preservation of History, explores early American figures whose intellectual range shaped the nation beyond a single discipline—from science and engineering to philosophy, politics, and faith. In examining figures such as Abraham Lincoln, and lesser-known individuals including Ephraim Byram, 19th century astronomer and mechanical engineer and Lemuel Haynes, African American revolutionary war veteran and minister, the discussion reveals how creative expression remains essential to how America understands and remembers its past. Through portraits, objects, and images, the panel considers how art in all its forms has preserved these lives and ideas, carrying knowledge, identity, and memory across generations.

———————–

Moderator:
Susan Fales-Hill, Screenwriter and Television Producer

Panelists:
James Basker, President, Gilder Lehrman Institute and Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University

Lauren Brincat, Chief Curator and Director of Collections at Preservation Long Island
Harold Holzer, Scholar and Director, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, Hunter College

Images from left to right: Susan Fales-Hill, James Basker, Lauren Brincat, Harold Holzer

Date and Time: Monday, January 26, 3PM – 4PM
Location: Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065
Tickets: A ticket to the Winter Show is required to attend the panel discussion.

Registration: https://www.thewintershow.org/programs

About the Panelists:

Susan Fales-Hill is an award-winning television writer, producer, and author. She has worked on The Cosby Show, Suddenly Susan, and A Different World, contributing to some of the most influential and enduring programs in American television.

Her writing career encompasses fiction, memoir, and journalism. She is the author of One Flight Up and, as well as the acclaimed memoir Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful. A contributing editor at Essence, Fales-Hill’s essays and cultural criticism have appeared in Vogue, Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, Architectural Digest, and other national publications.

Susan is a graduate of the Lycée Français de New York and Harvard University, where she earned an A.B. in literature and history. Susan lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Harold Holzer is a Scholar and the Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. He is one of the country’s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era.
A prolific writer, lecturer, and frequent television guest, Holzer has earned national recognition for his leadership and scholarship on Abraham Lincoln. He served for six years (2010–2016) as Chairman of The Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation. Previously, he was appointed by President Clinton to serve for 10 years as co-chair of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC). In 2008, President Bush awarded Holzer the National Humanities Medal. In 2013, Holzer wrote an essay on Lincoln for the official program at the re-inauguration of President Obama. In 2015, he was awarded the Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize. Harold is now chairman of The Lincoln Forum.

Lauren Brincat is Chief Curator and Director of Collections at Preservation Long Island, where she develops exhibitions and research initiatives centered on regional history, decorative arts, and material culture. Her scholarship has appeared in The Magazine Antiques and the PBS documentary series Treasures of New York. She is the author and editor of the award-winning publication Promoting Long Island: The Art of Edward Lange, 1870–1889, as well as the catalog for the forthcoming exhibition Wood and Water: Furniture on Long Island, 1660–1860. Previously, Lauren held positions in the education and curatorial departments at the Museum of the City of New York and The New York Historical. She holds an MA in American Material Culture from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware.

James G. Basker is the President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and a Professor at the Columbia University graduate school.
Professor Basker is a specialist in the eighteenth century whose interests span the fields of history and literature, including the Black Atlantic and the history of slavery and abolition, the life and works of Samuel Johnson, print culture, and women writers. His publications include Tobias Smollett, Critic and Journalist (1988, winner of a 1989 Choice Award); Tradition in Transition: Women Writers, Marginal Texts, and the Eighteenth-Century Canon, ed. with Alvaro Ribeiro, S.J. (1996); Samuel Johnson in the Mind of Thomas Jefferson (1999); a modern edition of The Critical Review, or Annals of Literature 1756-1763 (2002); Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery 1660-1810 (2002); American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation (2012), published by the Library of America; and a scholarly edition of Tobias Smollett’s The Adventures of Roderick Random (2012).

A former Rhodes Scholar and recipient of NEH grants, he has been awarded fellowships at the American Antiquarian Society, Yale University, and Cambridge University. He is on the Editorial Board of The Age of Johnson and is an elected fellow of the Pierpont Morgan Library and the Society of American Historians. He is currently working on a book about Johnson, Boswell, and the problem of slavery and editing a collection of African American writings from the period 1760-1826.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winter Show

The Winter Show is the longest-running art, antiques, and design fair in the United States. Since 1954, it has served as the annual benefit for East Side House Settlement, a community-based organization supporting the Bronx and Northern Manhattan. Beyond its fundraising mission, the Show is a centerpiece of New York City’s cultural and social calendar.

———————————–

Preservation Long Island

Preservation Long Island is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate and preserve Long Island’s diverse cultural and architectural heritage through advocacy, education, and the stewardship of historic sites and collections. http://preservationlongisland.org

Preservation Long Island also maintains and interprets four historic sites, including the collections housed within each:

Joseph Lloyd Manor, Lloyd Harbor

Custom House, Sag Harbor

Sherwood-Jayne Farm, Setauket

Old Methodist Church and Exhibition Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor

—————————

=========================================================