Author Maura Jane Farrelly to Speak at UW’s American Heritage Center July 15

An author who explores the lives of three individuals from prominent East Coast families -- who relocated to Wyoming to start anew in the late 1800s -- will give a reading of her work Monday, July 15, in the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center (AHC).

Maura Jane Farrelly, an associate professor of American studies at Brandeis University, will read from "Compliments of Hamilton and Sargent: A Story of Mystery and Tragedy on the Gilded Age Frontier" at the AHC in the Centennial Complex, located at 2111 Willett Drive. The event is free and open to the public, and free parking is available. Refreshments will be available after Farrelly's presentation.

Her book delves into the history of the Gilded Age in the U.S. and focuses on Robert Ray Hamilton, John Dudley Sargent and Edith Drake Sargent. Hamilton was a state lawmaker from New York and the great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton. John Dudley Sargent came from a long line of Brahmin families in New England that included several colonial governors and the famous painter John Singer Sargent. Edith Drake Sargent was the eccentric and musical daughter of a New York banker.

Farrelly worked as a reporter in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York. Some of her research for the book was conducted at UW's AHC.

For more information, call the AHC at (307) 766-3756 or email Brie Blasi at [email protected].

About the American Heritage Center

The AHC is UW's repository of manuscript collections, rare books and university archives. The center supports UW's mission by making its holdings available for research, teaching and public programming.