Don't miss these upcoming lectures: |
Reservations are not required. Admission is $6/adults, $5/seniors, $4/children and students, free/members (please present card) and to Richmond Times-Dispatch readers with a newspaper coupon. Parking is free.
|
 |
On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery
Thursday, February 18, 2010 (noon AND REPEATED AT 7 pm)
By Robert M. Poole
Banner Lecture Series
In his new book, Robert Poole traces the founding of Arlington Cemetery on what had been the family plantation of Robert E. Lee's wife. Arlington first became a U.S. Army headquarters and then a cemetery for indigent Civil War soldiers before Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton made it the new national cemetery. Arlington's special significance grew after the war, as the government gathered soldiers' remains hastily buried on nearby battlefields and reinterred them at Arlington, where they received the honors of a grateful nation. The rituals and reverence associated with Arlington evolved over the next hundred years, paid through the blood of those who fought in the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
What's related:
Pre-order a signed copy of Robert Poole's book online
|
 |
Flight from Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War
Thursday, March 4, 2010 (noon)
By Michael Kranish
Banner Lecture Series
In his new book, Michael Kranish recounts Thomas Jefferson's difficult tenure as Virginia's governor during the Revolution. The story begins with the background of struggle against British rule, then the tumultuous outbreak of fighting and Jefferson's role in the Continental Congress, followed by his rise to the governorship. Influenced by Jefferson, Virginia provided for a weak chief executive, and the state was ill-prepared for invasion. When war came to the Old Dominion, the legislature fled the capital, and Jefferson narrowly eluded capture twice. Kranish describes his many stumbles as he struggled to respond to the crisis. "Jefferson's record was both remarkable and unsatisfactory, filled with contradictions," writes Kranish. As a revolutionary leader who felt he was unqualified to conduct a war, Jefferson never resolved those contradictions. But, as Kranish shows, he did learn lessons from the hard tutelage of war. This lecture is cosponsored with the Society of Colonial Wars in Virginia.
What's related:
Pre-order a signed copy of Michael Kranish's book online
|
 |
Louis Brandeis: An American Legal Giant
Thursday, March 25, 2010 (noon)
By Melvin Urofsky
Banner Lecture Series
Louis Brandeis was one of the most important and distinguished justices to sit on the United States Supreme Court. In his latest book, Melvin Urofsky presents not only Brandeis the reformer, lawyer, and jurist, but also Brandeis the man, in all of his complexity, passion, and wit. Drawing on family papers and materials never before available, Urofsky gives us the remarkable story of Brandeis's effect on American society and jurisprudence, and the electrifying story of his time. Dr. Urofsky is a former professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University. |
 |
Distorted Mirrors: Americans and Their Relations with Russia and China in the Twentieth Century
Thursday, April 1, 2010 (noon)
By Eugene P. Trani
Banner Lecture Series
During the last century, United States relations with Russia and China went through many tumultuous changes. In a new appraisal, Eugene Trani shows where American images of Russia and China originated, how they evolved, and how they have often helped sustain foreign policies that were generally negative toward Russia and more positive toward China. Trani's wide-ranging new book draws on memoirs, archives, and interviews to show how influential individuals shaped perceptions and policies based on what they saw or thought they saw in those two countries. Dr. Trani is president emeritus of Virginia Commonwealth University. |
 |
War: A Short History
Thursday, April 22, 2010 (noon)
By Jeremy Black
Banner Lecture Series
In this lecture based on his latest book, prolific British historian Jeremy Black tackles a big topic. Throughout history, warfare has often proved to be the pivotal cause, means, and consequence of change within society. Examining conflicts on five continents, War: A Short History spans the human experience. Through a detailed exploration of "world-scale" issues—considering the strengths and weaknesses of particular military traditions—Black's global model skillfully weaves a compelling, overall interpretation of the phenomenon of war. Jeremy Black teaches history at the University of Exeter. |
 |
A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke
Thursday, May 27, 2010 (noon AND REPEATED AT 7 pm)
By James Horn
Banner Lecture Series
In 1587, a small band of men, women, and children put down the first tentative roots of English settlement on the sandy soil of Roanoke Island along the North Carolina coast, in what was then considered part of Virginia. In the face of dwindling supplies and hostile Indians, the English leader, John White, left his family and friends and re-crossed the Atlantic in a desperate attempt to assemble ships to rescue the failing colony. However, the threat from the Spanish Armada delayed his return until 1590, and when he did, the colonists had completely disappeared. In his dramatic new account, master historian James Horn revisits the tragedy of this first, failed effort at English colonization in the New World. He offers new evidence about what happened to the Lost Colony and its people. The author of five books on early American history, James Horn is vice president of research and historical interpretation and director of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg. This lecture is cosponsored with the Society of Colonial Wars in Virginia. |
 |
Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families in Virginia
Thursday, June 10, 2010 (noon)
By Jeffrey W. McClurken
Banner Lecture Series
The Civil War ended in spring 1865, but for Confederate veterans and their families, its consequences persisted far longer as they began to pick up the pieces of their civilian lives in the devastated South. In his new book, Jeffrey W. McClurken assesses the wide-ranging effects of the war on Confederate veteran families in Southside Virginia. Coming to terms with postwar reality on an individual level meant reconstructing the household and seeking jobs and financial assistance. It also involved the state in providing replacement limbs for amputees, pensions, and homes for old soldiers and widows. These changes would influence the shape of southern society for generations to come. Dr. McClurken teaches history at the University of Mary Washington. |
 |
Memories of World War II
Thursday, July 22, 2010 (noon)
By Brig. Gen. John W. Mountcastle (USA, Ret.)
Banner Lecture Series
This summer the Virginia Historical Society will present a stunning exhibition of photographs from the greatest war in human history. Here are photos of Hitler and Mussolini at their peak, Londoners during the Blitz, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, Allied leaders at Tehran, GIs in Normandy, and Marines on the black sands of Iwo Jima. Organized from the archives of the Associated Press, this exhibition presents a spectrum of 121 of the most dramatic photographs from all theaters of the war and the home front. In this lecture Brig. Gen. John W. Mountcastle (USA, Ret.) will survey the most important of these images. Before retiring from active duty, Jack Mountcastle was the army's chief of military history in Washington, D.C. |
 |
Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.
Thursday, September 23, 2010 (noon)
By Scott W. Berg
Banner Lecture Series
In 1791 George Washington asked Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who had been a French volunteer during the American Revolution, to design a new federal city on the Potomac for the young republic. Suffering from constant interference, L'Enfant persisted in his work for a year before being dismissed. Yet, his ambitious geometrical plan for the District of Columbia survived and endures to this day. In Grand Avenues, Scott W. Berg resurrects the cranky L'Enfant and reveals how his influence persists in the nation's capital city. Dr. Berg teaches English at George Mason University. |
 |
Virginia Environmental Endowment: Leadership, Leverage, and Legacy
Thursday, October 7, 2010 (noon)
By Gerald P. McCarthy
Banner Lecture Series
Since its inception in 1977, Virginia Environmental Endowment has had a profound influence throughout the Old Dominion. This lecture will focus on the origins, mission, and accomplishments of VEE. Gerald P. McCarthy will examine the affect of the endowment's grants on Virginia’s environment and the people who have helped to make those results possible. Sometimes described as "venture capital for environmental improvement in Virginia," VEE has played a unique role in the development of environmental research, education, and civic engagement. This lecture will address each of these aspects of its work and the strategic approach to grant making that has made VEE a leader within the foundation world. Mr. McCarthy is executive director of Virginia Environmental Endowment. |
 |
Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend
Thursday, November 4, 2010 (noon)
By Scott Reynolds Nelson
Banner Lecture Series
According to the ballad that made him famous, John Henry did battle with a steam-powered drill, beat the machine, and died. Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but historian Scott Nelson has discovered that he was a real person—a nineteen-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866, sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, and put to work building the C&O Railroad. There, at the Lewis Tunnel, Henry and other prisoners worked alongside steam-powered drills. In his book, Nelson pieces together the biography of the real John Henry. It is also the story of work songs, songs that not only turned Henry into a folk hero but also, in reminding workers to slow down or die, were a tool of resistance and protest. This lecture complements the VHS exhibition Organized Labor in Virginia. Scott Reynolds Nelson teaches history at William and Mary. |
| |
