America 250 Speaker Series
at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society

Wednesday, July 8 at 6:30pm – The Road to 1776 By Dr. Anita Gaul
Wednesday, July 15 at 2:00pm – Revolution in Their Words By Missy Hermes
Thursday, July 16 at 6:30pm – Declaration of Independence By Erin Makela

The Road to 1776
At the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Great Britain and the American colonies were on the best of terms. The war had strengthened their common identity and solidified the bonds of empire. Yet at the same time, the war also planted the seeds of mutual misunderstanding and suspicion. Just thirteen years later, in 1776, the American colonists declared their independence from Great Britain, signaling their intent to permanently break the political bonds between them. What caused the relationship between Great Britain and its American colonies to collapse so rapidly? In this presentation, Dr. Gaul explains the steps that led from the war that fused the bonds of empire to the war that broke them forever.

Here is a biographical blurb:
Dr. Anita Gaul currently teaches at Minnesota West Community & Technical College and whose work as an historian focuses on local and regional history. Her published works include The Women of Southwest Minnesota and the Great War (2018), Homely Girls and Pretty Babies: A History of the Murray County Fair (2013), and “Living in Perfect Harmony: A Multiethnic Catholic Parish on the Minnesota Prairie, 1881-1910” in the Journal of American Ethnic History (2010). She is the winner of the 2026 Minnesota Board of Trustees Educator of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Revolution in Their Words: Explore the revolutionary words of ordinary citizens in this presentation featuring documents and objects from the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, D.C. The manuscripts and artifacts in the DAR’s Americana and Museum collection examine the nation’s founding through the firsthand accounts of those who lived it.
Presented by Missy Hermes, Education Coordinator at the Otter Tail County Museum. Missy is a Correspondent Docent for the DAR Museum and a member of the Fergus Falls Chapter of the DAR.

Declaration of Independence: Everyone knows the line about “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” but what else do you know about the Declaration of Independence? Come and explore not only what the Declaration says and its continuing relevance today but look at it in the context of what was happening at Fort Ticonderoga through the words on Continental soldiers. Celebrate 250 years of independence with us!
Makela is an author and educator based in Worthington, MN. Erin published her first novel, Worthy of Trust, last year, and its sequel, Enterprising and Dangerous will be published this spring.