The Springfield Museums is launching a fall series of adult programs that explore a variety of topics in history and art. The programs are free with the price of museum admission.

The first program in the series will be held on Sunday, October 17, at 2 pm in the Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. Author Eric Jaffe will discuss his new book The King's Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road. The lecture will be followed by a free reception and book-signing.

During its evolution from Indian trails to modern interstates, the Boston Post Road, which passed through Springfield along what is now State Street, has carried not just travelers and mail but played a role in the growth of newspapers, stagecoach travel, textiles, bicycles, and automobiles.

From post riders bearing the alarms of revolution to railroads transporting Civil War soldiers, the Boston Post Road has been essential to the political, economic, and social development of the United States. Jaffe will discuss the evolution of the road through four centuries, from its earliest days as the King of England's “best highway” to the current era.

Jaffe is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and former editor of Smithsonian magazine’s website. The King’s Best Highway is his first book and has been reviewed in the New York Times.

The adult program series is sponsored by The Republican. Jaffe’s talk is co-presented with the Pioneer Valley History Network.

Future programs in the series are:
Oct. 20 – I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, by Dr. Charles Payne
Oct. 24 – Mary Cassatt and the Impressionists, by Robin Lane
Nov. 7 – The Puritan, Striding through Springfield, by Joyce K. Schiller
Nov. 14 – Freedom Summer, by Bruce Watson
Nov. 17 – Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre, by Heather Cox-Richardson