Harvard University historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the only person ever to win a Pulitzer Prize in history for a work on women, will deliver two Carl Becker Lectures at Cornell University, Thursday, April 15, and Friday, April 16. The lectures are free and open to the public, and each will be delivered at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall.

• April 15: "The Age of Homespun: Wheels, Looms and Old Log Houses."
• April 16: "The Age of Homespun: A Revolutionary Rug."

Ulrich, the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History at Harvard, received the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in American history for her book A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on her Diary, 1785-1812. In the book, Ulrich used a midwife's seemingly mundane diary to explore many aspects of the lives of women on the Maine frontier during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A Midwife's Tale recently was made into an acclaimed public television documentary as part of the "American Experience" series.

Widely recognized for her scholarly achievements, Ulrich is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, among them the Bancroft Prize in American History (1991), the John S. Dunning Prize from the American Historical Association in 1990, a MacArthur Fellowship "genius award" from 1992 to 1997 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1991.

"Laurel Ulrich is one of the pre-eminent historians of women in the United States today, and we are every excited that she will be this year's lecturer," said Mary Beth Norton, Cornell's M.D. Alger Professor of American History. "She has a unique ability to find meaning in the homely objects of women's lives. Her current research on women and textiles brings together the history of women and material culture in innovative ways."

The Becker Lectures in History series is the most important event sponsored by the Department of History. Now in its third decade, the series brings distinguished historians from all areas of specialization to Cornell for a series of lectures each year. It is named for Carl Becker, who taught at Cornell from 1917 until 1941, when he became the university's official historian.