The fall-winter lecture series of the Farmingdale Bethpage Historical Society will begin Sun., Nov. 16, 2 p.m. at the Farmingdale Public Library, 116 Merritts Rd., Farmingdale. The first presentation will be The Vanderbilt Cup Races, delivered by historian and author Howard Kroplick.

The Vanderbilt Cup Races were held from 1904 to 1910 on public roads of Long Island. They drew up to 250,000 spectators at a time when Nassau County had only 60,000 residents. The sponsor was William K. "Willie K." Vanderbilt, railroad heir and pioneer race car driver.

Kroplick has drawn from his collection of 20,000 images of the races to illustrate his program. For more information about the Vanderbilt Cup Races and the speaker on Nov. 16., Howard Kroplick, visit www.vanderbiltcupraces.com.

The fall-winter lecture series is free and open to the public and are presented Sundays at 2 p.m. For more information, call 249-3099.