Reprinted and adapted from a historical feature shared by the Crichton Club of Columbus, Ohio, in anticipation of its November 19, 2026, lecture featuring Yale Professor David W. Blight.
Over the years, a number of distinguished Yale graduates and scholars have taken to the podium at Columbus's historic Crichton Club. As the Yale Club of Central Ohio prepares to join the Crichton Club for an evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David W. Blight, we celebrate some of the remarkable Yale connections in the organization's history.
Thornton Wilder ’20
Crichton Club Speaker, 1928
A three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright and novelist, Thornton Wilder attended Oberlin College before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1920.
Wilder addressed the Crichton Club in 1928, the same year he received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. He would go on to become one of America's most celebrated literary figures.
Anne Fadiman
Crichton Club Speaker, 2001
Anne Fadiman is an acclaimed nonfiction writer, educator, and recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award. She serves as the Francis Writer-in-Residence at Yale University, where she has received the Brodhead Prize for Teaching Excellence.
Fadiman addressed the Crichton Club in 2001, continuing a family connection to the organization. Her father, Clifton Fadiman, the celebrated author, intellectual, and radio and television personality, was among the Crichton Club's speakers during its 1936–1937 season.
Reinhold Niebuhr ’14 B.D., ’15 M.A.
Crichton Club Speaker, November 19, 1944
Reinhold Niebuhr was one of the twentieth century's most influential Protestant theologians, ethicists, and commentators on politics and public affairs.
Niebuhr studied at Yale Divinity School, earning a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1914 and a Master of Arts degree in 1915. He credited Yale with broadening his intellectual horizons beyond his German-American upbringing.
Niebuhr arrived in Columbus on November 19, 1944, to address the Crichton Club.
Exactly 82 years later, on November 19, 2026, another distinguished Yale scholar will take the Crichton Club podium.
David W. Blight, Ph.D.
Thursday, November 19, 2026
David W. Blight is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.
Professor Blight is the author or editor of numerous books, including Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which received the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History. His other works include American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era and Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory.
His many honors include the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize. He also served as president of the Organization of American Historians from 2024 to 2025.
The Yale Club of Central Ohio is pleased to join the Crichton Club in welcoming Professor Blight to Columbus and continuing this longstanding tradition of intellectual exchange.
Event Details
📅 Thursday, November 19, 2026
📍 Columbus Museum of Art, Pavilion Room
🖼️ Museum galleries open: 5:30 PM
🥂 Meet and Mingle: 6:45 PM
🎓 Lecture and Q&A: 7:30 PM
🍽️ Reception: 8:45 PM
🎟️ Tickets: $85 per person
Learn more and register: https://www.yalecolumbus.org/events-1/evening-with-yale-professor-david-blight
Source acknowledgment: Historical speaker information provided by the Crichton Club of Columbus and reprinted with adaptation by the Yale Club of Central Ohio. We thank the Crichton Club for sharing its history and for extending this special invitation to Yale alumni throughout Central Ohio.