Kenneth Karmiole Annual Lecture on Religion in American Life at UCSB Library, featuring Dr. Randall Balmer
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Kenneth Karmiole Annual Lecture on Religion in American Life at UCSB Library, featuring Dr. Randall Balmer. This annual lecture highlights scholarship and public engagement on American religious history, drawing from the rich resources of UCSB Library’s American Religions Collection.
Randall Balmer is the John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College and a prize‑winning historian, bestselling author, and public commentator on American religious history. His New York Times–bestselling book, America’s Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State (2025), examines how the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom have fostered America’s religious diversity, and the challenges it faces today. Balmer’s scholarship combines rigorous historical research with insightful commentary on the intersections of religion, law, and society.
About the American Religions Collection
The American Religions Collection (ARC) was established by J. Gordon Melton in 1968 and is located in UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections. Religion or religious practice in ARC is defined very broadly, and includes such diverse interests as unexplained phenomena, spiritual technologies, and dietary practices. Under the curation of David Gartrell, the ARC now includes more than 35,000 volumes, 5,000 serials titles, and over 1,000 linear feet of archival and manuscript collections and is one of the most comprehensive collections of American religious history primary source materials in the US.
About the Series
The Kenneth Karmiole Annual Lecture Series on Religion in American Life is an endowed fund established by Kenneth Karmiole in support of an annual public lecture series related to the research, scholarship and collection materials within the UC Santa Barbara Library’s American Religions Collection (ARC).
