October lectures

The winter library lecture series has begun! October's lectures kicked off with Merritt Helfferich on Wednesday, October 8, speaking on the Berlin Blockade of 1948–1949, and the "Raisin Bombers" who dropped small parachutes of candy and dried fruit to the children at the end of the runway in Berlin during the Blockade. This was the first time an event like this was held at the Clausen Cabin, and the eleven guests were comfortable, but we were lucky more didn't come! Helfferich gave a slide show and illuminating talk.

Berliners in the ruins at the end of the runway watching the planes.

Our next lecture is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7 pm, Hartung Hall, and will be given by Paolo Greer. "A Revised History of Machu Picchu" is about Greer's personal research on Machu Picchu, the most famous archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere, and what he discovered about the history of its looting. He will describe the purposes the most important building in Machu Picchu serve, something about which the ‘experts’ are very vague. Also, Greer will tell where the lost statue of the God-Inca (Pachacútec) stood in the city, where it might be now, where Pachacútec’s mummy may be now, and a little about ‘Plateriayoc,’ the sister city of Machu Picchu.

Left: Greer on the cover of South American Explorer, issue 25, in 1984.
Right: Geer in 2013, guiding a group of guides to Machu Picchu (in the background).