2026 Fall Speaker Series | The Will of the People

T. H. Breen, professor of American History at the University of Vermont, spotlights a crucial missing piece in the stories we tell about the American Revolution. Across the thirteen colonies, it was ordinary people who became the face of resistance. Without them the Revolution would have failed. Everyday men and women negotiated the revolutionary experience, accepting huge personal sacrifice, setting up daring experiments in self-government, and going to extraordinary lengths to preserve the rule of law.

About T.H. Breen

T.H. Breen is a professor of American History at the University of Vermont and an Early American historian interested in the history of political thought, material culture, and cultural anthropology. A Guggenheim fellow, he has held appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study and the National Humanities Center as well as the Pitt Professorship of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University and the Harmsworth Professorship at Oxford University. He has won several awards for distinguished teaching, including one from the Northwestern Alumni Society. His publications include five monographs, portions of the highly successful undergraduate text, America: Past and Present, and books including Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People, George Washington’s Journey: The President Forges a New Nation, and The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America. Breen has also served as a special consultant for Colonial Williamsburg. In 2017 he was appointed the John Kluge Professor of American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress. Breen is the founding director of the Chabraja Center for Historical Studies, and has a Ph.D. from Yale.

About the 2026 Fall Speaker Series – Reflecting at 250

Join the Fairfield Museum for a series exploring how American history is interpreted and retold today now that the United States has marked the milestone of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Prominent historians will examine how storytelling shapes our understanding of history, highlight whose voices are amplified versus whose are marginalized, and offer contemporary perspectives on our nation’s past. Together, we will discover how the choices about what to remember—and what to overlook—shape national identity and ongoing debates about the American past and future.

Additional Lectures in the Series:

September 20 | Stories of Connecticut’s Black Patriots | John Mills

October 18 | From Liberty to Legacy: Exploring American Ideals in the Musicals 1776 and Hamilton | Michael Langlois

November 8 | Nobody Men: Neutrality and Loyalties in the American Revolution | Travis Glasson

Light refreshments provided.

Registration is required. $15 for Members; $20 for Non-Members; $75 for the series; $60 for Members.

Ticketing Policy

• No refunds will be given unless the program is cancelled by the Fairfield Museum.
• We do not pro-rate fees for missed days of the series.