Seeing the Future

By Charles F. Bryan, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer

It may be summertime, but livin' is hardly easy here at the VHS. You can scarcely tell anymore when the school year comes to a close and vacation begins. The semester certainly ended with a bang for our museum educators and docents, as nearly 14,000 children came to visit since the beginning of the calendar year. There was hardly a time during March, April, or May when our parking lot didn't have several buses lined up with groups from all over the state.

It's always gratifying to hear the reactions of the students and their teachers. They especially like The Story of Virginia, our flagship exhibition, which is such a draw for classes preparing for their SOL exams. This past spring the exhibition The Civil Rights Movement in Virginia was very popular, too. And now this summer we have the traveling hit, Lindbergh.

On a typical school field trip, groups can devote only a short time to our museum. But we've heard of several enterprising students who have remedied the lack of time by returning for more over the weekend-and bringing their parents along, too. That's a heartwarming endorsement, and I want to share it with you because you've made that experience possible through your support of the VHS.

Summer used to be a down time for our education department. Not any more. We have a full slate of programs this year, especially with the new Teaching American History grants. The most intensive of these will immerse teachers from Chesterfield County in Virginia history. Our regular teachers institute brought talented classroom instructors here to study Slavery in Virginia. And the workshops for teachers that have been a hallmark of our education effort continue throughout the summer.

So when you visit our headquarters this summer, don't be surprised to see it bustling with students of all ages learning about our commonwealth's past.

Posted August 2004
• Letter archive
• Charles F. Bryan, Jr. biography