ASTORIA — Join the Columbia River Maritime Museum every Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. during January and the second Tuesday of February for its “Past to Present Lecture Series.” The series is free with your admission and always free for museum members.

The series begins Jan. 9 with Mac Burns, executive director of the Clatsop County Historical Society, who will discuss John Jacob Astor and the founding of Astoria.

Prior to his work with the Historical Society, Burns served in the same capacity at the Ethan Allen Homestead and Museum in Vermont and the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri. He has a master’s degree in public history from Wichita State University.

The Clatsop County Historical Society was the lead organization in planning and orchestrating the Astoria Bicentennial celebration in 2011. Burns has been spreading the word about John Jacob Astor, the fur trade and the founding of Astoria long before the celebration.

During his talk, Burns will touch on the relative merits of Peter Stark’s book “Astoria” and those of Washington Irving and James Ronda.