Clay Jenkinson is one of the most sought-after
humanities scholars in the United States

A cultural commentator who has devoted most of his professional career to public humanities programs, Clay Jenkinson has been honored by two presidents for his work. On November 6, 1989, he received from President George Bush one of the first five Charles Frankel Prizes, the National Endowment for the Humanities highest award (now called the National Humanities Medal), at the nomination of the NEH Chair, Lynne Cheney. On April 11, 1994, he was the first public humanities scholar to present a program at a White House-sponsored event when he presented Thomas Jefferson for a gathering hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton. When award-winning humanities documentary producer Ken Burns turned his attention to Thomas Jefferson, he asked Clay Jenkinson to be the major humanities commentator. Since his first work with the North Dakota Humanities Council in the late 1970s, including a pioneering first-person interpretation of Meriwether Lewis, Clay Jenkinson has made thousands of presentations throughout the United States and its territories, including Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Clay is also widely sought after as a commencement speaker (he has several honorary doctorates); as a facilitator of teacher institutes on Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Classical Culture, the Millennium, and other topics;  as a lecturer on topics ranging from the “Unresolved Issues of the Millennium,” to the “Character of Meriwether Lewis”; as a  consultant to a range of humanities programs, chiefly first person historical interpretation (Chautauqua).

Best known for his award-winning historical impersonations of Thomas Jefferson, Clay Jenkinson also impersonates other characters, including Meriwether Lewis, John Wesley Powell, Robert Oppenheimer, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Jonathan Swift.

The rates for Clay Jenkinson's professional public humanities presentations are determined after a careful review of the services expected and the time required away from his research and writing projects. Because his standard fees may be more than some organizations can afford,  he does, from time to time, make special arrangements with groups whose causes he espouses, nonprofit organizations, state  humanities councils, public broadcasting, and anything that has to do with the most Jeffersonian state in America, North Dakota.

It is best to book Clay Jenkinson long in advance.

Clay Jenkinson can:

• Serve as a cultural commentator on a range of topics
• Serve as a consultant in the creation and development of public humanities programs
• Conduct humanities institutes and cultural tours
• Impersonate historical characters

Clay Jenkinson's production company, Dakota Sky Education, is administrated by Nancy Franke  from her office in Seattle, Washington. If you want to book Clay Jenkinson for an event,  contact him for any professionally-related reason, or simply get more information, please call Nancy at 1 888 828 2853.