VMHC Lectures

On November 18, 2009, Josiah Bunting, III, delivered the 2009 Alexander W. Weddell Trustees Lecture. The topic of his lecture was 'George Marshall, His Men, and the Recovery of Europe.' Mr. Bunting is the President of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation in New York, Former President of Hampden-Sydney College, and Superintendent Emeritus of the Virginia Military Institute. (Introduction by J. Stewart Bryan, III, and Paul A. Levengood)

On March 21, 2009, Daniel P. Jordan delivered the Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Lecture. Drawing on his many years as president of Monticello, Dr. Jordan reflected on the meaning of Thomas Jefferson within the broader context of his times and his enduring legacy for us today. Daniel P. Jordan recently retired as president of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, one of the most beloved historic sites in America. No other historian today has immersed himself more deeply into the multifaceted life of our third president. Drawing on his many years at Monticello, Dr. Jordan reflected on the meaning of Thomas Jefferson within the broader context of his times and his enduring legacy for us today. (Introduction by Paul A. Levengood)

On November 19, 2008, former VHS President and CEO Charles F. Bryan, Jr., delivered the Alexander W. Weddell Trustees Lecture. In this autobiographical lecture, Dr. Bryan reflects on the field of public history as it developed during the course of his own career. In this autobiographical lecture, Dr. Bryan reflects on the field of public history as it developed during the course of his own career. In 1988, he was appointed as President and CEO of the Virginia Historical Society. During his tenure, Dr. Bryan oversaw fund-raising campaigns that raised more than $110 million. These efforts have resulted in quadrupling the size of the Society's headquarters building and a significant expansion of educational programs statewide. In November 2008, Dr. Bryan retired from the VHS and was named president emeritus by the board of trustees. (Introduction by Paul A. Levengood)

On April 10, 2008, Charles C. Mann delivered the 2008 Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Trustees Lecture. In his recent best-selling book, 1491, a groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Mr. Mann radically altered our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. In 'Tobacco, Mosquito, Slave,' Mann gave VHS members a preview of his next book, which will describe the creation of the first truly global network of trade and ideas—from the triangular trade linking Europe, West Africa, and the New World to the first trans-Pacific ties between the New World and East Asia. (Introduction by Charles F. Bryan, Jr.)

On March 29, 2007, Dr. Lankford delivered the Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Lecture. In early March 1861, civil war loomed. By late April, Americans had begun to kill their fellow citizens. Cry Havoc! The Crooked Road to Civil War, 1861 recounts in riveting detail the events that divided the states and reveals how quirks of timing, character, and place all conspired to transform the nation into a battlefield. Nelson Lankford, author of Richmond Burning, chronicles the eight critical weeks that began with Lincoln's inauguration through the explosion at Fort Sumter and the president's fateful response to it. (Introduction by Charles F. Bryan, Jr.)

On April 4, 2008, Mr. Malone delivered this talk at the 2008 symposium, 'Sweet Dreams: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline.' Bill Malone is Professor of History, Emeritus, at Tulane University. He is author of Country Music, U.S.A.; Southern Music, American Music; Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class; and to be published this June, Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens. He also produced and annotated the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow. He has delivered the Lamar Lecture at Mercer University, published as Singing Cowboys and Musical Mountaineers: Southern Culture and the Roots of Country Music. He has served as a joint visiting scholar at Duke and the University of North Carolina. His weekly radio show, "Back to the Country," on Madison, Wisconsin's WORT-FM has been on the air for years and has regularly garnered listeners' choice awards. In all, he continues is his role as the dean of country music scholarship, combining, in his words, "the passionate predilections of the fan . . . with the wary skepticism of the scholar." (Introduction by Nelson D. Lankford)

On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the community was invited to attend a conference about Richmond's African American history, "Hidden Things Brought to Light: Finding Lumpkin's Jail and Locating the Burial Ground for Negroes." Sponsored by the Virginia Historical Society, the City of Richmond Slave Trail Commission, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the half-day conference presented recent scholarship on two downtown Richmond historical sites, the Burial Ground for Negroes and Lumpkin's Slave Jail, both of which have special importance for the history of African Americans in Virginia.

On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the community was invited to attend a conference about Richmond's African American history, "Hidden Things Brought to Light: Finding Lumpkin's Jail and Locating the Burial Ground for Negroes." In this session, Chris Stevenson, spoke on locating the 1809 Negro Burial Ground.

On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the community was invited to attend a conference about Richmond's African American history, "Hidden Things Brought to Light: Finding Lumpkin's Jail and Locating the Burial Ground for Negroes." In this session ,Jeffrey Ruggles, curator for prints and photographs at the VHS, spoke on Shockoe Valley topgraphy and the slave trade.

On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the community was invited to attend a conference about Richmond's African American history, "Hidden Things Brought to Light: Finding Lumpkin's Jail and Locating the Burial Ground for Negroes." Sponsored by the Virginia Historical Society, the City of Richmond Slave Trail Commission, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the half-day conference presented recent scholarship on two downtown Richmond historical sites, the Burial Ground for Negroes and Lumpkin's Slave Jail, both of which have special importance for the history of African Americans in Virginia.