Charles Ingrao

Charlie Ingrao, a popular Smithsonian Journeys Expert, is professor emeritus of history at Purdue University, where he has taught a wide range of courses on the European World. He has published thirteen books and given public lectures to academic, governmental, and military audiences across North America and central Europe. Charles has also been a regular commentator for print, radio, and television media, including The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS).  In addition, Charles' family history has inspired a lifelong fascination with the western Mediterranean and the Spanish and Portuguese empires.

Gail Cornell

Gail Cornell is an architectural historian, whose research and lectures on the history of architecture have taken her to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, and North Africa numerous times. A graduate of Harvard University's graduate School of Design, Gail has led many tours to Europe for Smithsonian Journeys over the past 20 years. She is an Adjunct Faculty member of New York University and a lecturer on architecture, design and art at NYC's Museum of Modern Art.  As a resident of New York City, Gail volunteers her time as an architectural historian at New York City's historic City Hall.

Franklin Knight

Franklin W. Knight is Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor Emeritus of history and currently is a member of the Johns Hopkins Academy of Scholars. He has academic degrees from the University of the West Indies- London (B.A. Hons. 1964) and from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (M.A. 1965; Ph.D. 1969).  He joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University in 1973. For more than 50 years he has conducted academic research dealing with the Spanish and Portuguese imperial worlds in various archives throughout Spain and Portugal.  

In addition to numerous publications on Iberian, Latin American and Caribbean history, Knight served as an academic consultant to the well- received PBS documentary television series, Columbus and the Age of Discovery (1992), and The Crucible of Empire: The Spanish American War of 1898 (1999).  He was elected president of the Latin American Studies Association (1998-2000) and elected president of the Historical Society  (USA), (2004-2006). He has lectured in several universities throughout Spain and in Madeira and served on doctoral dissertation defense committees in universities in Valencia, Sevilla and Huelva.