VMHC Lectures

On April 16, 2014, Mitchell Zuckoff delivered the 2014 Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Lecture entitled "Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II." 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 April 17, 2014 Alan Taylor delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832." In 1813, British warships appeared in the Chesapeake Bay to punish Americans for declaring war on the empire. Over many nights, hundreds of slaves paddled out to the vessels seeking protection for their families from the ravages of slavery. The runaways pressured...

On March 27, 2014 Brent Tarter delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Grandees of Government: The Origins and Persistence of Undemocratic Politics in Virginia." From the formation of the first institutions of representative government and the use of slavery in the seventeenth century through the American Revolution, the Civil War, the civil rights movement, and into the twenty-first cent...

From the Earth: The Environment in Virginia's Past and Future was a FREE, day-long conference focusing on the historic relationship between Virginia's environment and its people held at the Virginia Historical Society on March 16, 2012. The conference was sponsored by the Virginia Historical Society and made possible by a generous grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment. The conten...

On November 21, 2011, Internationally renowned historians and hosts Edward Ayers, Brian Balogh, and Peter Onuf presented "Thanksgiving in American History." 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 August 11, 2012, the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) hosted four Negro League baseball players at its museum located at 428 North Boulevard in Richmond. Henry "Pistol" Mason, Joe "Pop" Durham, Mamie "Peanut" Johnson-Goodman, and Pedro Sierra participated in an interview-style educational program answering questions about their Negro League ball-playing days and Civil R...

On November 16, 2011, Tony Horwitz delivered the Alexander W. Weddell Trustees lecture entitled Midnight Risinig: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War. (Introduction by Paul Levengood). 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 6, 2014, Cynthia A. Kierner delivered the banner lecture "We Cannot be Tame Spectators: Four Centuries of Virginia Women's History" From before Jamestown to our own new millennium, women have been central figures in the families and communities of the Old Dominion. In recent decades, historians have also shown that Virginia women—as civic leaders and reformers, genteel ladies...

On october 13, 2010, Kate Tweedy delivered the banner lecture "Secretariat" Secretariat, the great red stallion who became the 1973 Triple Crown winner, was born on March 30, 1970, at The Meadow, a historic farm in Caroline County. The new book, Secretariat's Meadow, celebrates the farm, the family—especially Chris Chenery and his daughter, Penny—and Secretariat. The story is told by P...

On September 13, 2007, Dr. Levengood delivered this lecture on his book, Virginia: Catalyst of Commerce for Four Centuries. He is president-elect and CEO-elect of the Virginia Historical Society. This lecture was a program of the VHS's Reynolds Business History Center. (Introduction by Nelson D. Lankford) The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker...

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 de...

On may 29, 2008, Alan Pell Crawford delivered the banner lecture "Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson" Thomas Jefferson returned to Monticello in 1809 at the end of his second presidential term and died there seventeen years later. In his new book, Alan Pell Crawford reveals the private Jefferson at home, coping with debt and illness, mediating family quarrels, and...

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 headquarter...

On december 4, 2008, Harold Holzer delivered the banner lecture "Lincoln: President Elect" In the winter of 1860–61, the crisis that erupted with the election of Abraham Lincoln threatened to split the nation. In his newest Lincoln book, Lincoln: President-Elect, Harold Holzer examines the perilous interregnum before the president-elect's inauguration and recounts Lincoln's public...

On may 21, 2009, Daniel P. Jordan delivered the banner lecture "Jefferson in Perspective" 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 refle...

On November 4, 2009, Margaret Bemiss and Will Rieley delivered the banner lecture "Historic Virginia Gardens" For nearly a century, the Garden Club of Virginia has undertaken garden research and preservation work at numerous historic sites across the Old Dominion. It has restored and created beautiful landscapes for the education and enjoyment of all, from backyard gardeners to design prof...

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 b...

On February 18, 2010, Robert Poole delivered a lecture on his book On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery. 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...

On Thursday October 7, 2010, Gerald P. McCarthy discussed the Virginia Environmental Endowment. Since its inception in 1977, Virginia Environmental Endowment has had a profound influence throughout the Old Dominion. This lecture focused on the origins, mission, and accomplishments of VEE. Gerald P. McCarthy examined the effects of the endowment's grants on Virginia's environment and the pe...

On October 28, 2010, Marie Tyler-McGraw discussed her book An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia. The West African nation Liberia arose from the aspirations of the American Colonization Society, which attempted to persuade free blacks to emigrate from the United States to that colony. Ultimately, the colonization scheme failed, but Liberia endured. No state was m...

On February 6, 2014, Margaret Edds delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Letters of Oliver and Bernie Hill: The Making of a Legendary Civil Rights Lawyer." Author-journalist Margaret Edds discusses more than 200 letters written during the first years of the Hills’ marriage, while Oliver was struggling to launch a law practice in Roanoke and Bernie was teaching in Washington D.C. The 193...

On June 10, 2010, Jeffrey W. McClurken delivered the banner lecture "Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families" 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 assesse...

On July 22, 2010, Jack Mountcastle discussed photos from the temporary exhibition Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of The Associated Press. The exhibition presented a stunning array of photographs from the greatest war in human history. It included photographs of Hitler and Mussolini at their peak, Londoners during the Blitz, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Warsaw G...

On September 23, 2010, Scott W. Berg delivered the banner lecture "Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary" 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 pe...

On October 15, 2009, William M. S. Rasmussen delivered a lecture in conjunction with the current exhibition The Portent: John Brown's Raid in American Memory. One hundred and fifty years ago, John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry failed utterly. But the violent event and the executions it prompted shocked the nation. They reinforced white southern fears about slave insurrection, emboldened se...