Special Collections supporters will be pleased to know we have a full week of programming coming up during the first week of March! They include the following events and presentations:

March 2, 2026: Exhibit Opening Reception

Reading the Revolution: Print Culture in 18th Century America

February 2026 – December 2026

Special Collections & Archives, ZSR Library Room 625

Curated by Megan Mulder

In 2026 the U.S. will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. ZSR Library Special Collections and Archives marks this semiquincentennial year with an exhibit of materials from our collection of Revolutionary War-era publications.

March 3-4, 2026 (Wake Forest Historical Museum/ZSR Library)

Historian and Samuel T. Gladding Fellow Craig Thompson Friend to Speak on “Becoming Lunsford Lane” in Two-Day Lecture Series, March 3–4, 2026

The Wake Forest Historical Museum and Wake Forest University’s Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections & Archives are proud to co-host a two-day lecture series with Dr. Craig Thompson Friend, Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of History and Public History at North Carolina State University, and author of Becoming Lunsford Lane (University of North Carolina Press).

The series, held March 3–4, 2026, will explore the life and legacy of Lunsford Lane, a North Carolina-born entrepreneur, self-emancipated man, and abolitionist whose 1842 narrative remains one of the most compelling personal accounts of slavery and freedom in the antebellum South.

March 3, 6:00 PM – “Lunsford Lane in Wake County”

Wake Forest Historical Museum (414 N. Main Street, Wake Forest, NC)

Dr. Friend will discuss Lane’s early life and experiences in Wake County, examining the local contexts that shaped his path to self-purchase and freedom. Copies of Becoming Lunsford Lane will be available for purchase and signing at the Wake

This presentation will be livestreamed on YouTube

March 4, 4:00 PM – “Becoming Lunsford Lane: Rewriting a Life”

Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Special Collections & Archives, Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC)

This campus lecture will broaden the conversation, exploring how Friend’s research and writing process challenged earlier interpretations of Lane’s life and legacy.

This presentation will be livestreamed on YouTube

All events are free and open to the public.

“Lunsford Lane’s story is one of courage, ingenuity, and the struggle for self-definition in a society built to deny it,” said Dr. Friend. “By reexamining his life, we gain a deeper understanding not only of Lane himself but of the history North Carolinians share.”

For more information, please contact archives@wfu.edu.