On March 7, Jill LePore, Harvard University professor, author and writer for "The New Yorker" gave a speech in Elon University’s Whitley Auditorium titled “The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death” in which she used various iterations of the board game “Life” to talk about how one contemplates life and death in society.

In addition to teaching at Harvard, LePore has written many acclaimed books, including her 2005 piece, "New York Burning," which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her essays have appeared in various scholarly journals and her current project, a biography of Benjamin Franklin’s sister, Jane Franklin Mecom, will be released later this year.

 “This is a story about the history of life and death,” LePore said as she began her talk. The story she is referring to is the evolution of “The Game of Life,” a game that is centuries old, but popularized by Milton Bradley in 1860 when he invented “The Checkered Game Of Life.”

Prior to Bradley’s invention, other forms of the game existed with names like “The New Game of Life” and “The Mansion of Happiness,” both of which were popular in the early 1800s in America and the United Kingdom.

Throughout the years since Bradley’s first version of the game, the Milton Bradley Company has released various adaptations of the game: a centennial version in 1960, and updated versions in years as recent as 2007.

“The aim of these were to teach morals and values of life to those playing the game,” LePore said. “These games are like time capsules and tell us something about how people thought life should be lived at that time.”

The audience in a mostly full Whitley Auditorium was thoroughly engaged throughout the nearly hour-long presentation, responding to LePore's talk with laughs and applause when appropriate.

LePore’s biggest question was, “Why did Milton Bradley invent the game the way he did, when he did?” She deduced that Bradley’s ideas about life itself could be found in “The Checkered Game of Life.” His game was a reflection of the values of the 1860s, and each additional adaptation reflected the values of those respective times.

LePore is visiting Elon through the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars program, which invites renowned scholars to visit college campuses where Phi Beta Kappa chapters are located. Visiting scholars such as LePore spend two days on the campus, visiting classes and giving one address which is open to the public.

“[Milton Bradley] took a game and turned it into the story of America,” LePore said. “It is a game of destiny, of the human condition.”