A University of North Texas professor planned to give the world’s longest history lecture Friday and Saturday with the goal of earning a Guinness World Record and raising money for an online Texas history archive.
Andrew Torget, an associate professor in the history department, told public radio's Texas Standard there isn't a record for the world's longest history lesson yet, but in order to establish a marathon record, he'll have to teach at least 24 hours. He planned to teach from 9 a.m. Friday until Saturday afternoon.
(Update: Torget ended up lecturing for more than 27 hours.)
Torget said he's been planning for over a year. He's prepared about 1,600 PowerPoint slides that create a narrative arc of Texas' geological evolution and how it set the stage for other historical developments in North America. But in order to fill the time, Torget says he'll start before human history began.
“I’m actually going all the way back to dinosaurs,” he said.
Torget is taking on the record in part to raise money for the Portal To Texas History, a free online archive of historical documents related to Texas. Donations can be made on the portal's website.
Stream Torget's lecture
Torget began teaching at 9 a.m. Friday.
