Speaker to discuss archives, democracy

Professor Allen Weinstein, the ninth Archivist of the United States, will deliver the RBS Greenwich Capital Lecture, “Reflections on Archives and Democracy,” on April 2.

The talk will take place in the Konover Auditorium at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, beginning at 4 p.m.

Weinstein, a former history professor who has held positions at Boston University, Georgetown University, and Smith College, is the author of many essays and books, including The Story of America (2002); The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America – The Stalin Era (1999); Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case (1978 and 1997); and Freedom and Crisis: An American History (third edition, 1981).

From 1985 to 2003, he served as president of The Center for Democracy, a non-profit foundation based in Washington, D.C., that he created in 1985 to promote and strengthen the democratic process.

His international awards include the United Nations Peace Medal (1986); the Council of Europe’s Silver Medal (twice, in 1990 and 1996); and awards from the presidents of Nicaragua and Romania for assistance in their countries’ democratization processes.

His other awards and fellowships have included two Senior Fulbright Lectureships, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, the Commonwealth Fund Lectureship at the University of London, and a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Fellowship.