An evening with Dustin Griffin at The Williams Bookstore

Dustin Griffin will present his new book Williamstown and Williams College. Nestled in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, Williamstown is home to one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the country, Williams College. In this engrossing and entertaining book, Dustin Griffin offers fourteen vignettes that detail the local history of this ideal New England college town. Each chapter focuses on the stories behind a single feature that visitors to present-day Williamstown and Williams College might encounter, including a Civil War statue on Main Street, town-wide holidays, a popular hiking trail, a stained-glass window in the college chapel, and a song that alumni sing at reunions. A book signing and reception will follow the talk.

Dustin Griffin taught English at Univ. of Calif., Berkeley and NYU. He is the author of a number of books on 17th- and 18th-century English literature, most recently Authorship in the Long Eighteenth Century. He served on the board of trustees of Williams College (1986-2001), on the board of the Williamstown Historical Museum, and the board of the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, where he is chair of the Trails Committee. For a  number of years has lectured on topics in local history in the Museum’s lecture series. He holds a B. A., Williams College, 1965; M. A. Oxford Univ., 1967; Ph. D. Yale Univ., 1969.