Professor Torget of UNT Looks to Make History with Guiness World Record

The average college course lasts a mere few hours.

For UNT History professor Andrew Torget, it will be much longer.

In two weeks, Torget will attempt to set the Guinness World Record for World’s Longest History Lesson. He plans to lecture for at least twenty-four hours.

“Basically, I’m going to sacrifice my mind and body to do this,” he said, laughing. Torget’s passion for teaching history and his childhood fascination with the Guinness Book of World Records is what sparked his interest in setting this record.

When asked if any particular student or lesson made him decide to set the record, he said it’s just been something that he has always thought would be interesting to do.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind,” Torget said. “I love it. I’ll get to the end of a lecture and wish I could keep going.”

The lecture will cover “all of Texas history” from the beginning of civilization to the twentieth century.

Though it is free to attend, donations are accepted and encouraged.

All proceeds will go to the UNT Libraries, which is raising funds for The Portal to Texas History–a UNT-owned-and-operated online resource site for people in search of “rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas,” according to their website.

“The driving motivation here is to raise awareness about The Portal,” Torget said. “There’s a lot of people who don’t know about it that can benefit from it.”

Torget is passionate about The Portal and the potential it has to educate people on Texas history. He also emphasized that his dream to set this record would not be possible without the library staff helping him.

“The thing I want people to walk away from this is...there is a whole staff of people in the library behind this,” he said. “There’s a big commitment by a lot of folks to make this possible.”
Torget hopes that people watching will take something away from his lengthy lecture.

“Come learn about history while you see history being made,” he said.

The lecture will be held in the Lyceum in the UNT University Union at 115 Union Circle. It will begin at 9 a.m. on August 24th and is free to the public to watch Torget attempt the record.

Those interested in volunteering to witness the lecture can sign up here. You do not have to be enrolled at UNT to participate.

See UNT’s official news release for more information.

Header image by Patrick Tomasso courtesy of Unsplash
Header image layout designed by Mateo Granados