VMHC Lectures

On March 8, 2018, Kat Imhoff delivered at Banner Lecture entitled "Dolley Madison and the Politics of Gracious Hospitality" at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture

As America’s first First Lady, Dolley Madison was instrumental in creating a new Republican template for style, etiquette, and social interaction that defined Washington, D.C.’s social-political culture in the early nineteenth century. Kat Imhoff, President and CEO of the Montpelier Foundation, takes viewers on a journey that examines Dolley’s life and the ways she used hospitality to achieve the most important political ends.

This lecture was cosponsored with James Madison's Montpelier.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On March 22, 2018 , Gregory J. Hansard delivered Banner Lecture at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture entitled “‘Haven of Safety’: The Kaiser’s Courteous Pirates in Hampton Roads.”

During World War I, two German surface raiders sought harbor to make repairs at Hampton Roads after sinking 25 merchant ships. British and French ships nearby kept them from leaving Newport News, so more than 800 German sailors took up residence at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. They built their own miniature German village, visited family and friends, and attended social events in the community. Their presence made the shipyard a major tourist area before the United States entered the war.

Historian Gregory J. Hansard presents the fascinating story of how Hampton Roads was a haven of safety for German sailors during World War I.

Mr. Hansard teaches history and museum studies at John Tyler Community College. He previously worked at the Virginia Historical Society as Manager of Web and Digital Resources and as Assistant Editor of Publications. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, where he played varsity baseball, and a masters of arts in history from Virginia State University. He is the author of "German Sailors in Hampton Roads: A World War I Story at the Norfolk Navy Yard."

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

Fifty years ago, cutting-edge science intersected with human drama and changed the course of medical history. The Medical College of Virginia in Richmond was situated squarely in the path of the race to the first successful human heart transplant. And now, it’s history.

On March 14, 2018, at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, a panel of VCU Health transplant surgeons discussed Donald McRae’s book, "Every Second Counts", which details the critical role that the late Dr. Richard Lower and the Medical College of Virginia played in the events leading up to the first human heart transplant in December 1967 and the first human heart transplant by Dr. Lower at MCV in May 1968. The panel highlighted innovations in human organ transplantation during the past 50 years.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

Charles F. Bryan, Jr., Ph.D. — President & CEO Emeritus, Virginia Historical Society; member of MCV Foundation Board of Trustees

MODERATOR:

Peter F. Buckley, M.D. — Dean, VCU School of Medicine; Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, VCU Health

PANEL MEMBERS:

Vigneshwar Kasirajan, M.D. — Stuart McGuire Professor and Department Chair, VCU Department of Surgery, VCU School of Medicine

Marlon F. Levy, M.D. — David M. Hume Endowed Chair in Surgery, VCU School of Medicine; Professor and Chair, Division of Transplant Surgery; Director, Hume-Lee Transplant Center

Keyur Shah, M.D. — Section Chief of Heart Failure, Medical Director of Mechanical Circulatory Support, Associate Professor, Division of Cardiology, VCU School of Medicine

Daniel G. Tang, M.D. — Richard R. Lower, M.D. Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery, Associate Professor of Surgery, VCU School of Medicine; Surgical Director, Cardiac Transplant and Mechanical Support

This lecture was made possible by a generous grant from Virginia Sargeant Reynolds Foundation.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On February 1, 2018, Glenn F. Williams delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Lord Dunmore’s War: Last Indian Conflict of the Colonial Era.”

This lecture explained the causes and conduct of the last Indian War that took place before the start of the American War for Independence. Set during what some would call the “Quiet Time,” many historians pay it little attention or misinterpret its historical significance. However, John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, led the colony's soldiers “in his majesty’s service” in a defensive war that culminated in a successful offensive military expedition before the deepening colonial crisis spun out of control. Although the victorious Lord Dunmore returned to Williamsburg in triumph and at the height of his popularity in December 1774, before another year ended he would flee his capital and be vilified by Virginians.

Dr. Glenn F. Williams is a Senior Historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History at Fort McNair, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s Campaign against the Iroquois; USS Constellation: A Short History of the Last All-Sail Warship Built by the U.S. Navy; and Dunmore’s War: The Last Conflict of America’s Colonial Era.

This lecture was cosponsored with the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Virginia.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On January 11, 2018, Alan Pell Crawford delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Mark Twain, FFV? America’s Most Beloved Author and the Old Dominion.”

Reports of Mark Twain’s death were “greatly exaggerated” more than once. The more famous report was from when he was living in London in 1897. But it happened again a decade later when he had come to Virginia on yacht that was enshrouded in fog off Hampton Roads. The New York Times reported that the yacht sank and Twain had drowned. Twain’s response was characteristically amused—and amusing. He told the Times he planned to conduct an “exhaustive investigation of this report that I have been lost at sea. If there is any foundation to this report, I will at once apprise the anxious public.” Twain, who had come to Virginia for the Jamestown Exposition, had a special and—by historians, overlooked—relationship with the Old Dominion. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, was proud of his Virginia roots. His father was John Marshall Clemens, “one of the F.F.V.’s of Virginie,” Twain’s daughter Susy wrote in her 1872 biography, Papa. This lecture will discuss Twain’s Virginia roots, which we should all take as much pride in as he did.

Alan Pell Crawford is a former U.S. Senate speechwriter, congressional press secretary, and magazine editor. He has published essays on politics and history in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, and The Weekly Standard. He has reviewed books on U.S. history, politics, and culture for The Wall Street Journal since 1993. He is the author of Unwise Passions: A True Story of a Remarkable Woman and the First Great Scandal of 18th Century America; Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson; and How Not to Get Rich: The Financial Misadventures of Mark Twain.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On February 22, 2018, Lynn Rainville delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Doing Their Bit: The Surprising Role of Virginians in the Great War.”

In this illustrated lecture, Lynn Rainville revealed the crucial roles that Virginians played in the Great War. These individuals ranged from drafted soldiers to politicians (including Staunton native, Woodrow Wilson) and from locally born horses to their ferriers. These patriots also included female stenographers, African American doctors, domestic gardeners, National Guard troops, and army chaplains. Of these hundreds of thousands of volunteers, more than 3,600 lost their lives as a direct result of the war, impacting families throughout the state. And yet many of their sacrifices have been forgotten. Rainville concluded her talk with a study of statues erected in Virginia after the war to reveal a more complete story of service and sacrifice during the Great War.

Dr. Lynn Rainville is a research professor in the humanities at Sweet Briar College and a fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. She is the author of "Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia" and "Virginia and the Great War: Mobilization, Supply and Combat, 1914–1919."

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On February 15, 2018, Brian Horrigan spoke at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture about the exhibition "WW1 America" during the WWI America Exhibition Exclusive Member Preview.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On January 25, 2018, Jonathan W. White delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Our Little Monitor: The Greatest Invention of the Civil War.”

On March 9, 1862, the USS Monitor met the CSS Virginia in battle in Hampton Roads, Virginia—the first time ironclad vessels would engage each other in combat. For four hours the two ships pummeled one another as thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers and civilians watched from the shorelines. Although the battle ended in a draw, this engagement would change the very nature of naval warfare. The “wooden walls” of navies around the world suddenly appeared far more vulnerable to political and military leaders. At the same time, in the weeks after the battle of Hampton Roads, Americans developed their own ideas for improving the Monitor or for sinking the Virginia. This talk will discuss some of the inventions devised by terrified northerners as well as the legacy of the USS Monitor in American life and culture since its sinking on New Year’s Eve 1862.

Dr. Jonathan W. White is associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and a senior fellow with CNU’s Center for American Studies. He is the author of several books, including Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln and Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams during the Civil War, and coeditor (with Anna Gibson Holloway) of Our Little Monitor: The Greatest Invention of the Civil War.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On October 5, 2017, Gregory Wilson delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Toxic Dust: The History and Legacy of Virginia’s Kepone Disaster.”

In July 1975, news broke about workers at Life Science Products Company in Hopewell poisoned while making the pesticide Kepone, the brand name of chlordecone. Further investigations showed Life Science had contracted with Allied Chemical, a larger firm with a plant in Hopewell, to make Kepone and that both companies dumped Kepone waste into the James River and its nearby tributaries. The events led to a number of significant events, including a fishing and harvesting ban that remained in various forms through the 1980s, new state and federal environmental regulations, and federal court cases that led to the creation of the Virginia Environmental Endowment in 1977. Forty years later, Kepone remains in the James River sediment but in much reduced levels. Still, traces of Kepone have been found in James River fish today. The complete toxic effects of Kepone are not fully known, but a major public health crisis appears to be unfolding in the French West Indies from continued chlordecone use on banana plants through the 1990s. Chlordecone’s toxic global legacy led the United Nations Environmental Program to call for an end to its use. The events surrounding Kepone left an important legacy that continues to affect people and the environment in Virginia and around the world. The Kepone story is a compelling reminder of the critical ongoing importance of government oversight in the protection of human health and the environment.

Dr. Gregory Wilson is a professor of history at the University of Akron. He grew up in Newport News, Virginia, and remembers the Kepone tragedy from his youth. Dr. Wilson earned his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. He is the author of Above the Shots: An Oral History of the Kent State Shootings (with Craig Simpson), Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State (with Kevin F. Kern), and Communities Left Behind: The Area Redevelopment Administration, 1945–1965.

This lecture is cosponsored by the Virginia Environmental Endowment as part of its 40th Anniversary.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

On December 7, 2017, Alyson Lindsey Taylor-White delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Shockoe Hill Cemetery: A Richmond Landmark's History.”

In 1822, Richmond’s Common Council faced a grave dilemma, literally. The nation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the capital city of Richmond were in the grips of a severe economic depression, one of the young nation’s first. It was not a good time for the city to invest in capital improvements, much less acquire real estate. And yet they felt they had no choice but to do just that. In particular, the city faced a desperate shortage of available private and church properties to inter the dead safely and in a sanitary method. The decision was made to create Richmond’s first necropolis that would be designed for the living as much as for the dead. Created on the cusp of the rural cemetery movement that would soon sweep the nation, Shockoe Hill Cemetery was laid out by city surveyor Richard Young in 1824 to have a pleasing, picturesque, park-like setting. Famous occupants include Chief Justice John Marshall, Union Spy Elizabeth Van Lew, Richmond’s first mayor Dr. William Foushee, as well as most of the people who Edgar Allan Poe loved (and some he did not) as he grew up in Richmond. Today, the nearly 200 year-old cemetery is one of the city’s loveliest landmarks, and yet it remains one of the least often visited.

Alyson Lindsey Taylor-White was the editor of the Virginia Review magazine for twenty-five years and is currently an adjunct instructor at the University of Richmond. She has written for the Dictionary of Virginia Biography and is a regular contributor to the blog The Shockoe Examiner, where she writes about her favorite subject, the richly textured history of Richmond. She also leads educational tours of local historic sites in Richmond and in nearby Petersburg.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.