Slide Shows
Since 1985 David Kruh has been presenting slide shows on various subjects of local interest to historical societies, libraries, civic groups, and other organizations, including the Boston Public Library, Carleton-Williard Village in Bedford, Concord Historical Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Dedham Historical Society, Dorchester Historical Society, Lynn Public library, Melrose Historical Society, Newburyport Public Library, Old South Meeting House in Boston, Society of Colonial Wars in Boston, and the Sweetster Lecture Series in Wakefield, among many others.
David answers questions after a 2003 show in Burlington
on the then much-in-force Curse of the Bambino.
Read more about all of David's slide show/PowerPoint lectures below, and then Email David to book him.
GREAT BOSTON FIRES
A look at the devastating fires and their
impact on Boston,
from the many "great" fires of the 17th, 18th, and 19th
centuries (including
the truly Great Fire of 1872,) the Cocoanut Grove tragedy of
1942 (which
killed 492,) and the Hotel Vendome fire of 1972 (which
resulted in the
deaths of eight fire fighters.) How did these fires
happen? What
was learned from these events? What, if anything, was
done to try
and prevent similar catastrophes? David's newest slide
show, filled
with images from these events, answers these and other
questions.
RETURN TO SCOLLAY SQUARE
In 2004 Arcadia Publishing released David's
fourth book,
which, like his first, is all about Scollay Square.
The new Scollay
Square book features dozens and dozens of never-before-seen
or published
photographs (some taken backstage at the Old Howard) along
with playbills,
postcards, theater programs – even loan shark
receipts! To celebrate
this new Scollay Square book, David has put together a brand
new Scollay
Square slide show which, like the book, also contains new
images of the
Square to go along with brand new stories and tales about
the performers,
politicians, inventors, and activists who made Scollay
Square such an exciting
place.
SCOLLAY SQUARE
Based on David's first book on Scollay Square
(Always
Something Doing) this slide show describes the
evolution of the part
of Boston where everyone went - but few admitted it! From
John Winthrop,
(who settled here in 1630) to Sally Keith (who entertained
here in the
1940s and 1950s) to Government Center today, this show will
surprise you
with tales of Revolutionary War heroism, scientific
breakthroughs, and
Civil War courage - all in the same place where a hot dog
stand and a burlesque
theater made truants of all New England. (Jack Thomas
of the Boston
Globe wrote that David has a "...a fascinating slide
show...full of splendid
anecdotes...")
BUILDING ROUTE 128
This slide show is based on David's 2003 book,
Building
Route 128, which he co-wrote with author and speaker Yanni
Tsipis. In this
45-minute show David will present the complete story of
Route 128, from
its beginning in the 1920s as an ad hoc collection of
two-lane roads that
formed a rough arc 15 miles from Boston through the
construction of the
divided highway in the 1950s, and then how one man’s vision
became the
catalyst for the fantastic growth around the highway.
Building Route
128 will appeal not only to those with an interest in Route
128 itself
but also to those curious about the history of Boston’s
suburbs and the
fundamental changes Route 128 brought to the region over the
past four
decades. Email
David here.
NO MORE CURSE!
David will take your audience back 100 years
to the roots
of Boston baseball, when the team (just like today) captured
the heart
and soul of its citizens and was also (like today)
inexorably intertwined
with politics and politicians. Then we'll see and hear
the real story
behind Harry Frazee, his purchase of the Red Sox, and later
of a young
Babe Ruth. Then we'll learn the differing reasons why,
in 1920, the
Babe was sold to the New York Yankees. You'll be
surprised at the
answer. As with all of David's shows, your audience will not
need any previous
knowledge of the subject to enjoy the program. Of
course, baseball
fans will certainly derive extra pleasure (or agony) out of
reliving the
saga of the Boston Red Sox and their - ultimately successful
- struggle
for a World Series championship since 1918, but the Curse of
the Bambino
is performed so that even those who don't know the
difference between
a home run and pop fly will enjoy the story.
WHO WROTE SHAKESPEARE?
The doubts have been around for over 300
years. How could
William Shakespeare - a man who never sailed - have written
with such accuracy
about sailing in The Tempest? Or how - without studying law
- written with
such insight about lawyers, courts and legal issues in plays
such as Henry
IV? Or how - without ever serving in the military - written
so splendidly
of the rigors and technical aspects of war as he did in
Hamlet? In fact,
some ask how Shakespeare could have written at all without
ever having
attended school! The answer, they say, is that he couldn't
and didn't. It is a fascinating concept that has
amused many, tantalized
others, and consumed the lives of a few, including a Boston
man who, in
1916, went to court to prove that someone other than
Shakespeare wrote
all those great works. Before you laugh… he won the
case. In this
slide presentation historian and author David Kruh presents
the story of
one man's search for the "real" author of the works
attributed to William
Shakespeare and how - in a stunning piece of historical
irony - that search
played a role in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor!
THE PONZI SCHEME
Everyone knows the name Bernie Madoff, but not
many know
of Charles Ponzi - the man who engineered perhaps the
greatest pyramid
scheme of them all, one that was so great that from that
time forward it
bore his name. And he did it here in Boston, right under the
noses of suspicious
Yankees and normally inquisitive newspapermen. Relive the
days of Boston's
most outrageous rogue in this slide show lecture.
PRESIDENTIAL LANDMARKS
IN NEW ENGLAND
Based on David's book, which was co-written
with his
father Louis.
Do you know where in New England...?
• The oath of office was taken by a President
of the United
States?
• A plaque commemorates a Presidential visit
to a bar?
• You can see a coconut that saved a
President's life?
• A former President, accused of being a
traitor, was
almost lynched?
In this slide show, audiences will take a
50-minute trip
through 200 years of the U.S. Presidency, focusing on the
native New Englanders
who called the White House home. Together, we will visit
most of the sites
in New England dedicated to the United States Presidents,
including birthplaces,
homes, libraries, and yes, even bars. Its a great
combination history and
travelogue will be of interest to both the historically
minded and tourist
alike.
BOSTON'S WEST END
The West End of Boston began as an isolated
Federalist
enclave, but slowly evolved into a neighborhood teeming with
immigrants
from all over the world. By the end of the 19th century it
was the most
crowded part of the city, and was the perfect studying
ground for sociologists
and urban planners. Although the home of one of Boston's
most powerful
"ward bosses," Martin Lomasney, after his death the
neighborhood was unable
to maintain its political clout, and in the 1950s and 1960s
was bulldozed
to make way for an urban renewal project that still evokes
outrage today.
Whether you are a former resident looking to relive a memory
of a forgotten
street corner or a student who wants to know how 17,000
people could be
thrown out of the homes they loved, this is a fascinating
45-minute slide
show. (Look closely at this picture and you'll see
former West End
resident Leonard "Spock" Nimoy!)
Construction on the Big Dig may be over, but the controversy
isn't. In this illustrated slide show talk David, a former
Big Dig spokesperson,
will show how Boston has changed over the past 400 years,
from the reduction
of Beacon Hill, through the filling in of the Back Bay,
ending with the
country's most expensive construction job - the Big
Dig. You'll go
deep inside the project's tunnels and soar high above the
towers of Boston's
stunning new bridge over the Charles River. You'll also
learn about the
amazing technological advances that were used to build this
monstrous project
in a working city, and how the price climbed to a reported
$22 billion!!!
Whether you're interested in Boston history, a fan of
technology, or just
an angry taxpayer who wants to see the actual hole into
which the government
dumped your money, this is a must-see show.
UPCOMING PUBLIC SHOWS
March 15, 2012 Dedham Historical Society 7:30 pm
