Remembering Georgia Sommers Wright, art historian, scholar, filmmaker

Georgia Wright died at home on Dec. 20, 2019. She was 82.

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Georgia earned her BA from Swarthmore College, her Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University and her MBA from UC Berkeley. She taught at Stanford University, UC Davis, Mills College and UC Berkeley, among others.

Georgia combined her expertise in medieval art with her business degree through her company, Video Monuments, which produced the award-winning educational films Light on the Stone: The Medieval Church at Vezelay and Three English Cathedrals: Norwich, Lincoln, Wells.

Since the 1980s, Georgia was active in the Bay Area-based Institute for Historical Study, serving as newsletter editor for many years and president for several terms. She was also co-founder of the National Coalition for Independent Scholars. Through newsletter articles, conference presentations and homemade T-shirts and buttons proclaiming, “I’m not a bum; I’m an independent scholar,” she advocated for broader respect for the work done by scholars outside of academic settings.