Published in the April 24, 2017 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Wednesday, April 26, will see the final Sweetser Lecture in the 2017 Series.
Steve Puleo, author, historian, public speaker and communications professional, will speak at the Savings Bank Theater, in Wakefield Memorial High School, 60 Farm St., Wakefield. The lecture is at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door — $5 for students — and the venue is handicapped-accessible.
Puleo’s topic will be “American Treasures: Saving the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Gettysburg Address.”
During World War II American government leaders and historians thought it advisable to preserve original copies of those documents by hiding them away is a safe location. Puleo has written a book about the meaning of those documents and the efforts to preserve them.
Puleo has spoken several times before in the Sweetser Series about the subjects of several other of his books. He has written about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, the rise of Boston as a great American metropolis, the Boston Italians, the caning in the American Congress, and the story of the USS Eagle 56 in World War II.
The Sweetser Lecture Series is a Wakefield tradition going back to the 1880’s, made possible by a bequest in the will of Cornelius Sweetser, a wealthy shoe manufacturer. For the past several years the Lectures have been supported through generous grants from The Savings Bank of Wakefield.
Net proceeds from the Series are, in accordance with the provisions of Sweetser’s will, donated to local Charities, such as the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry and Wakefield efforts of the Salvation Army and Mystic Valley Elder Services.
