Stan Deaton, the Georgia Historical Society’s senior historian, will deliver the 2016 Georgia History Festival’s keynote address at 6 p.m. in the Patrick Theatre of the Columbus Museum. His presentation is titled “The Birth of the American Dream: How the Real Mad Men Changed the World.”

“The program will focus on the 20 years following World War II, as post-war Americans became mass consumers of goods, entertainment and information,” Deaton said in a news release. “This rise of the middleclass consumer was driven largely by the real ‘Mad Men’ of Madison Avenue but there were other societal forces at work, from suburbs to fast food, that changed everything about the way Americans lived and their place in the world. We’re going to discuss that in a fun and informative way that sheds light on who they were and the world they created.”

Admission is free, courtesy of sponsors Synovus and TSYS. The lecture will be recorded for a later broadcast on C-SPAN.

The Georgia History Festival is the Georgia Historical Society’s signature K-12 educational program. Running from September through February each year at various locations throughout the state, the festival comprises events designed to bring history to life and encourage Georgians to, as the website puts it, “explore the richness and diversity of our state’s past.”

The society’s annual Trustees Gala, Feb. 13 in Savannah, will induct retired Synovus chairman and CEO Jimmy Blanchard and Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent as the newest trustees. For a complete list of the festival’s events, see GeorgiaHistoryFestival.org.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.