Brief History of the NCS
It started in 1998 in Seattle, Washington, when Alan Rawn (Ph.D., Classics) taught an informal Homeric Greek class in the Continental Cafe Greek restaurant in the University District in Seattle. In time, Marc Bateman, CPA, latched on to the idea of a better forum for informal classes, and on the spot outlined how we could work the logistics and finances of a not-for-profit, amateur society of like-minded, working folk looking for intellectual excitement. Later, Rawn, Bateman and now Deborah Knapp (a Biblical Literature and Archaeology devotee), brought this Society into formal existence. We settled on our corporate name (originally the somewhat cumbersome "Northwest Society for Classical Studies," which had been chosen in order to avoid an over-close association with the limited academic discipline of the "Classics"), filed papers with the authorities, obtained non-profit status from the IRS, and published a newsletter. Later, having established a clear corporate identity, we changed the name five years after incorporation to the more elegant one we enjoy today.Our next major task after our founding was to get members. We asked everyone we knew to join. We planned to sponsor events. Let’s show movies on a classical theme. Let’s have an open house. Let’s arrange for lectures. Let’s offer classes. Let’s form reading circles. Let’s organize field trips. Let’s party.
Our first year in existence surpassed everyone's expectations. The board grew with the additions of Stephan Fjelstad, Robin Reid, and Ana Waisman. Fjelstad made the contact to Robert Drews at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, and persuaded him to fly to Seattle and give us a lecture. Robert Drews is perhaps the leading authority on the Late Bronze Age, and the unexplained and spectacular end to this most magnificent age in human history.
One can imagine that we, and all our fellow travelers, were excited.But not satisfied with that, we also arranged for local talent, Carol Thomas (UW History Professor), and Steven Broocks (Director of Education, Frye Museum), to round out our lecture series on the Bronze Age. In addition, Ryan Layne Whitney gave us an enormously successful benefit piano concert.In the following years Alan Rawn gave a fascinating series of lectures about Love and Death in the Ancient World in conjunction with the Seattle Public Libraries. Deborah Knapp’s slide show talks at our annual Holiday parties about her experiences digging in Israel were a total pleasure. We heard lectures from Rob Cousland and Anthony Barrett (both from the University of British Columbia) about (respectively) an early synagogue in Dura-Europus, and Caligula. Christina Zubelli spoke for us on the topic of Sanskrit literature. And this was all within the first two years.
Until 2007 we published each year 10-issue volume of the Armchair Classicist. In each issue we have one or two essays, written by members and others. This ongoing publication is perhaps the crown jewel of the Society. The Armchair Classicist is a forum wherein non academics can find a voice. In these pages one can find a place to share with others thoughts and reactions to all things, or anything, classics and classics related. Locked in and pent up passions have burst forth on these pages, sometimes in poetry and more often in prose. The variety and scope has been remarkable. It is a home for creative writers as well as sober historians.The NCS has always been a place where the Classics are read and history studied for the sheer pleasure if it. We believe that the Classics (and related studies) do not belong only in the domain of the professionals. In the NCS we pursue as many areas of interest as we have members. With approaches ranging from the quirky to the solemn, from the intense to the comical, the NCS provides a forum for investigation of civilization.
Currently the NCS is focusing on on-line publication and information. But the NCS still offers real/live classes 4 times (or more) a year.
