Upcoming Events

February Lunch and Learn
Father Eugene Patrick O'Grady:
A Baltimore Clergyman in World War II

Military historian Joseph Balkoski tells the story of Eugene Patrick O'Grady, who accompanied Maryland's soldiers as a chaplain throughout World War II. O'Grady was born in 1909 in West Baltimore, one of six children of Irish immigrants, and ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1935. When Maryland's National Guard, as part of the 29th Division was mobilized in February 1941, the division had no chaplains, so O'Grady volunteered for this duty. He remained with the division throughout its stateside training, its overseas movement to Britain, and landed with Maryland's 115th Infantry Regiment on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was a constant presence in the frontlines, and as one 29er noted, "he always beamed hope into our tormented souls." This is the story of Eugene Patrick O'Grady and his remarkable dedication to the welfare of all 29th Division soldiers.

Joseph Balkoski served for many years as Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard and the US Army's 29th Infantry Division. He is the author of eight widely acclaimed books on World War II history, including a two-volume series on American involvement in the D-Day invasion (Omaha Beach and Utah Beach) and a five-volume series, From Normandy to Victory, on the history of the 29th Infantry Division in World War II.

Balkoski was the founder and curator of the Maryland Museum of Military History at Maryland National Guard headquarters in Baltimore, which includes the 29th Infantry Division Archives, one of the finest collections of archival papers in the United States related to the service of a US Army division in wartime. He served on the Governor of Maryland's Commission on Military Monuments, and was recently awarded the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross and Maryland National Guard Meritorious Service Medal for his lifetime of service to veterans, the state of Maryland, and the Army National Guard. In 2023, he was awarded the Order of St. Maurice, which is issued by the US Army Chief of Infantry for a lifetime of service to US Army infantrymen.

March Lunch and Learn
The American Revolution and the Fate of the World: An electrifying global history of a not-so local war

When we think of the American Revolution, we often picture thirteen colonies squaring off against the British Crown in a spirited bid for independence. But this is only half the truth-and perhaps not even the most interesting half. In this riveting program, historian and author Richard Bell invites audiences to rediscover the Revolution as a world war that unleashed chaos, opportunity, and transformation across six continents. Participants will encounter a Native matriarch struggling to preserve a transatlantic military alliance, a Prussian officer reinventing himself in a foreign army, and a Boston schoolteacher shipwrecked thousands of miles from home. This is the American Revolution as you've never seen it before: complex, global, and astonishingly relevant to the modern world.

Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award and the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. His new book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, was published by Penguin in November 2025. He maintains a list of upcoming events at Richard-Bell.com.