Valentine’s Day at the Wilson Library
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum will host a “Victorian Valentine’s Day Celebration” for girls seven to twelve years of age on Saturday, February 4th. Two sessions will be offered from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Museum building.
Participants will enjoy hands-on activities including creating fashionable hats suitable for the most elegant Victorian Tea Party, making scented sachets, and going on an exciting scavenger hunt. As part of the festivities, crafts, games, social dances of the period, and etiquette of both the Victorian era and present day will be highlighted. Girls are invited to bring any doll for the event that they would like. Continue reading “Valentine’s Day at the Wilson Library” »
Birthday open house at Wilson Library
Celebrate Woodrow Wilson’s 155th birthday at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library on Wednesday, Dec. 28.
Tour his birthplace, which will be decorated with period decorations for the holidays.The dining room table will be set for the dessert course reminiscent of the mid-19th century. The kitchen will illustrate how the desserts including fruitcake, poundcake and ginger cookies were made.
Light refreshments will be served in the President’s Shop in its brand-new location on 20 N. Coalter St. There will be an unveiling of a Woodrow Wilson postmark featuring artwork by Carmella Pyanoe, a student at Shelburne Middle School in Staunton, and guests can purchase first day stamped envelopes. The drawings of 14 finalists of the Woodrow Wilson Postmark Student Art Contest will also be on display.
More information online at www.WoodrowWilson.org.
Veterans Day at Woodrow Wilson Library
In recognition of President Woodrow Wilson’s involvement in the formation of Veterans Day, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum is presenting a free Veterans Day program, open to the public, on Friday, Nov. 11, at 10:30 a.m. in the Presidential Library gardens, weather permitting.
The program will be held in the Woodrow Wilson Museum if there is inclement weather. University of Virginia Professor Edward G. Lengel, a noted military historian, will be the guest speaker. Dr. Lengel is the author of To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne 1918, an award-winning book on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the last battle of World War I. Woodrow Wilson portrayer Judd Bankert will present excerpts of President Wilson’s announcement of the Armistice. There will also be a brief ceremony featuring cadets in the honor guard firing battery from Mary Baldwin College. A moment of silence to remember all veterans will be observed at 11:00 a.m. In addition to the program, all veterans, active military members, and their families will receive free tours of the Presidential Library that day.
On Nov. 11, 1918, President Wilson announced the armistice, or temporary halt of fighting in World War I, which took effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. The following year, he proclaimed that Nov. 11 would forever be Armistice Day in the United States. The day evolved into Veterans Day, when all veterans are remembered and honored and on which, for years, the entire country observed a moment of silence at 11 a.m. This year’s program will be on the 93rd anniversary of the Armistice.
Free admission to the Presidential Library for veterans and their families includes guided tours of President Wilson’s Birthplace and self-guided tours of the Woodrow Wilson Museum, which features the World War I trench exhibit and President Wilson’s 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine. On Friday, Nov. 11, the Presidential Library will be open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wilson Library hires local educator to head up museum program
Tracey Michael joins the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum as the new museum educator. Michael will be responsible for developing and presenting programs for students, expanding outreach to schools, and coordinating general public programming. She will continue and expand the work of recent staff retirees, Karen Church and Ellen Abernethy.
Don Wilson, President and C.E.O. of the Wilson Presidential Library said, “We were impressed not only with Tracey’s experience with students of all ages, but also with her innovative ideas for programming at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum.”
Michael is a licensed educator who taught history at Buffalo Gap High School, Augusta County School System, from 2005-2011. She also worked as program coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club of Harrisonburg and as head counselor at the Fredericksburg YMCA, creating lesson plans and providing interactive and educational activities for elementary school children.
A graduate of Bridgewater College, Michael has a B.A. in History & Political Science, with a minor in Education. She was also a participant in the multi-year Teaching American History Grant program, held at the Wilson Presidential Library and funded by the U.S Department of Education.
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum in Staunton offers educational programs for school aged audiences that follow the Virginia Standards of Learning requirements. It is also open for tours of Wilson’s restored birthplace, self-guided tours through a museum and period garden, and a President’s Shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Saturday, and 12 – 5 p.m. on Sundays. The WWPLM’s archival collections are accessible through its e-Library or by appointment. For additional information, visit www.woodrowwilson.org or call 540.885.0897.
Former White House press secretary to speak in Staunton
Marlin Fitzwater, press secretary for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, will reflect on his White House experiences at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6 in John Lewis Auditorium at Lee High School in Staunton. The program will be a conversational interview conducted by Don Wilson, President and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, who worked with Fitzwater in Washington. This special Conversation with Marlin Fitzwater is jointly hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum and Staunton City Schools, with sponsorship by StellarOne, and is free to the general public.
As the only press secretary in history to be appointed by two presidents, Fitzwater stood next to Reagan and Bush during Cold War summits, economic downturns, and eight military conflicts including the Persian Gulf War. He gave over 850 press briefings in six years, winning praise from both the news media and the public for his honesty and good humor.
Personable and down-to-earth, Fitzwater has a unique insight into the White House and Washington which he shared as a writer and consultant for the television show The West Wing. The New York Times said of Fitzwater, “He may look like a tweedy, out-of-shape bureaucrat on the podium, but his persona is a blend of W. C. Fields, Huckleberry Finn and the comedian Gary Shandling.”
Today, Fitzwater is an author and television analyst on politics and the media. His bestselling Call the Briefing is a memoir of his time in the White House. Death in the Polka Dot Shoes, his third and most recent book, is a novel about a waterman on the Chesapeake Bay. He is also co-author of Empires Fall, a stage play about a meeting between George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
A Conversation with Marlin Fitzwater launches a new series of public programs by the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum. The WWPLM is located at 18 N. Coalter Street in Staunton and includes Wilson’s birthplace, a museum, gardens, and a library and archive. For additional information visit www.woodrowwilson.org or call 540-885-0897.
Delegation from France to visit Wilson Library
A delegation from France will visit the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum on Friday, September 16, to discuss ways to commemorate the centennial of World War I. The delegation includes Serge Barcellini, Controller General of the French Military Forces, and Frederic Castier, former Liaison Officer between the US Army Europe and French authorities.
WWPLM trustees and staff met the French delegation during a members’ tour of France’s World War I battlefields in October 2010. Wanting a Franco-American collaboration for the war’s centennial, Barcellini and Castier agreed to assist with a session at the annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History in Richmond, September 14. The session, Challenges Faces Collaborative Commemorations, will be moderated by Don Wilson, President and CEO of the WWPLM and will explore possible approaches to the centennial of World War I.
Wilson says, “World War I was transformational for both Wilson’s presidency and America’s global role. Through a collaborative commemoration, both nations can gain a better understanding of the war and its impact on modern society.”
Honoring American participation in World War I is of great interest to Castier, who frequently serves as a guide for the American battlefields of World War I such as Catigny and Meuse-Argonne. Castier is a consultant for Encore Interpretive Design of Tennessee and Projects Coordinator for the Meuse General Council. He is also president of an historical association dedicated friendship between France and the United States and commemorating America’s role in both world wars.
In addition to his long career in the French Administration, Barcellini is a lecturer at the prestigious University of Sciences-Po in Paris. He is a recipient of the Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and the author of a book and numerous articles on the politics of memory.
20th century presidency class among OLLI offerings
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum (WWPL) is pleased to partner with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia (OLLI at UVA) to present “Late 20th Century Presidents and Their Families: Personal Observations and Reflections,” a three-meeting class taught by WWPL President and CEO Don W. Wilson beginning in October at the Presidential Library. Dr. Wilson is former Archivist of the United States and leader of several federal Presidential Libraries, in addition to the WWPL. The class is one of 13 courses OLLI at UVA will offer in Staunton during the fall session, which begins in September. OLLI is also offering 52 classes in Charlottesville this fall.
In the Presidency course, Dr. Wilson will provide participants with first-hand observations of the U.S. Presidents from President Eisenhower to President George W. Bush and their immediate family members. The class will meet at the Presidential Library on three consecutive Monday afternoons, from October 24 through November 7, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
OLLI at UVA brings together people from various backgrounds who share a common interest in learning and intellectual stimulation. Formed in association with the University of Virginia in 2001, the Institute was inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s own deeply-held belief in, and practice of, education as a lifelong enterprise which invigorates the mind and enriches life. OLLI expanded to the Shenandoah Valley in 2010. All classes except the Presidency class will meet at the R.R Smith Center for History and Art in Staunton or the Lifetime Education Building at Augusta Health in Fishersville. Students can take up to four classes for $100.00.
A Kansas native, Dr. Wilson received his undergraduate degree from Washburn University and his Masters and Ph.D. in American History from the University of Cincinnati. He served as Historian and Deputy Director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, Associate Director of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and first Director of the Gerald Ford Presidential Library in Michigan. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed Dr. Wilson as the seventh Archivist of the United States. He was confirmed by the United States Senate, and held the position until 1993. As Archivist, Dr. Wilson oversaw the National Archives and Records Administration, which has custody of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. From 1993 to 1999, as the Executive Director of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, Dr. Wilson was responsible for the establishment and development of that presidential library, which opened in 1997. During his service at these presidential libraries, Dr. Wilson served as a history professor at Kansas State University, the University of Michigan, Washburn University, and Texas A&M University.
For more information about and to register for the Presidency class and all of the OLLI at UVA classes, see the website at www.olliuva.org, or call or email OLLI at (877) 861-9207 or olliuva@virginia.edu. For more information about the WWPL, see the website at www.woodrowwilson.org or call or email the WWPL (540) 885-0897 or info@woodrowwilson.org.
Wilson Library to host teaching institute
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum today announced it will host a one-week institute for Virginia history teachers from Monday, July 11, until Friday, July 15.
The summer institute is the second of three annual week-long sessions in a professional development curriculum entitled “American History in International Context” that the Presidential Library is holding in conjunction with Bedford County Public Schools. Dr. Lawrence Goodheart, Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Edward T. O’Donnell, Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross, will speak at the Institute. Teachers from Alleghany, Bath, Bedford, Craig, Giles, Highland, and Pulaski County Public Schools are participating.
On Monday, the teachers will begin their week-long program of presentations, discussions, and workshops. Besides presentations by Dr. Goodheart and Dr. O’Donnell, there will be workshops led by Dalton Ford of Waynesboro Public Schools, Sandra Trenholm, Director of Collections at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York, local historian Lucinda Cooke, and Susan Lendermon of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. Teachers will attend sessions about research techniques, teaching with primary sources and material culture, and using technology to meet Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL’s). On Friday, the participants will give presentations on lesson plan projects they prepared throughout the week on topics related to the institute.
The program is designed to improve the teachers’ knowledge and appreciation of American history by focusing on significant connections in America’s past and introducing them to available resources and new pedagogical practices. During this second year, the teachers are examining international issues and trends that shaped 19th-century American history and the development of the United States as a world power.
The program is made possible by a Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Bedford County Public Schools received the grant in partnership with the Presidential Library and Alleghany, Bath, Craig, Giles, Highland, and Pulaski County Public Schools.
The teachers participated in one-day preparatory sessions at the Presidential Library last fall and this spring. Later this month, the teachers will continue the program through a historic site visit to Gettysburg. They will return to the Presidential Library for one-day sessions this fall and next spring, and participate in a final summer institute in 2012.
Wilson Library appoints new chair, board members
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation today announced that its Board of Trustees has elected Charlottesville pediatrician Michael Dickens as its new Chair and appointed six new Board members: Dr. Richard L. M. Coleman of Staunton; Dr. Gordon A. Haaland of Lancaster County, Virginia; Judge Stephen H. Helvin of Charlottesville; Dr. Edward G. Lengel of Charlottesville; L. Gray Marion, Jr., of Charleston, West Virginia; and Richard Robbins Pancake of Staunton and Washington, D.C. All began their terms on July 1. Dr. Dickens succeeds Dr. A. Stanley Link, Jr., who remains on the Board as Immediate Past Chair. William Walker of Staunton was named Vice Chair of the Board. The six new Trustees replaced retiring Board members Dr. A. Tracy Aitcheson, Jr., of Waynesboro, Morgan Peyton of Charlottesville, and Harry J. Warthen, III, of Manakin-Sabot.
Dr. Michael D. Dickens has served on Foundation’s Board of Trustees since 2007 and as Vice Chair since 2010. He graduated with honors from Princeton University and received his M.D. from Columbia University. He did his residency at the University of Virginia, served two years active duty in the Navy, and retired as a Lieutenant Commander. Dr. Dickens’ avocation is American presidential history, and he is the author of From the Papers of RADM Cary Grayson, MC: The Role of a President’s Physician in a Time of Crisis, an extensive two-part article about President Wilson’s physician published in 2007 in the The Grog Ration, a journal of the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He resides in Charlottesville.
Dr. Richard L. M. Coleman is a retired physician. He has previously served six terms on the Board, including service as Chair of the Board’s Board Resources Committee. His most recent term expired last year. Dr. Coleman is a graduate of Princeton and the University of Virginia Medical School. He resides in Staunton.
Dr. Gordon A. Haaland is a former President of the University of New Hampshire and President of Gettysburg College. As a social psychologist and leader in higher education, Dr. Haaland has published numerous papers in his field and has served on numerous boards and commissions. He resides in Lancaster County, Virginia, and Maine.
Judge Stephen H. Helvin is a retired Virginia District judge. He attended Hampden Sydney College and T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond and has taught courses at the University of Virginia School of Law. Judge Helvin remains active in the Virginia judiciary on a part-time basis. He resides in Charlottesville.
Dr. Edward G. Lengel is a University of Virginia Professor of History and Editor of the Papers of George Washington. He is the author of To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918 about World War I’s last battle, which involved 1.2 million American troops and still stands as the largest battle in American history. Dr. Lengel was the Presidential Library’s Annual Luncheon speaker in 2010, co-led the WWPL’s tour of World War I battlefields and cemeteries in 2010, and advised the WWPL on its new World War I trench exhibit. He resides in Charlottesville.
L. Gray Marion, Jr., has been the Chief Executive Officer of Independent Insurance Agents of West Virginia, Inc., since 1987. He was previously Associate Curator of Exhibitions with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and with the John Glenn for President campaign in 1983-84 and the Gerald Baliles for Governor campaign in Virginia in 1985. He resides in Charleston, West Virginia.
Richard Robbins Pancake recently retired from work as a trade and government affairs counsel, largely with Agilent Technologies and Hewlett Packard Corporation. He is the son of Colonel Frank R. Pancake, a former leader of the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation. He received his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Virginia. He resides in Washington, D.C., and Staunton.
Wilson Library acquires Signal Corps photographs
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum announced today that, with the assistance of Sen. Mark Warner it recently acquired a collection of 120 Signal Corps photographs from President Wilson’s trip to Europe for the Paris Peace Conference following World War I.
Many of the photographs are of President Wilson. Barbara Rohmann of Fairfax County, Virginia, donated the collection, which is now a part of the WWPL’s archival collection and will eventually be added to the on-line Wilson eLibrary. The photographs belonged to Ms. Rohmann’s grandfather, Howard Talbott MacFall, Sr., who, while stationed at Fort Myer, Virginia, during World War I, was selected to accompany President Wilson’s Peace Commission to Europe.
The Presidential Library learned about Ms. Rohmann’s photographs from Senator Mark Warner’s office, which she contacted to help her find a suitable repository for the collection. Senator Warner put her in touch with the Presidential Library. Peggy Dillard, the Presidential Library’s Director of Library and Archives, contacted Ms. Rohmann and drove to Northern Virginia to meet with her and pick up the photographs, which were stored in a vintage cigar box.
Don W. Wilson, the president and CEO of the WWPL, said, “These photographs are valuable additions to our collection and, as the centennial of President Wilson’s administration and World War I approaches, they will help us educate the public about President Wilson and the war. We appreciate Ms. Rohmann’s generosity and the confidence she and Senator Warner showed in us.”
“It is really remarkable that such valuable and previously unknown historical photos were stored for years in a cigar box, and it certainly was our pleasure to work with Mrs. Rohmann and direct her to the resources of the Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton,” Sen. Warner said.
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum is open 360 days a year for guests from around the world to tour the President’s Birthplace, the historic gardens, and the Woodrow Wilson Museum, including the President’s 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine and the new World War I trench exhibit.
The Presidential Library also sponsors educational programming for thousands of schoolchildren each year and hosts teachers’ institutes and a variety of other educational symposia. In addition, the Presidential Library attracts top-flight speakers, including Scott Berg, Larry Sabato, Cokie Roberts, Bill Schneider, Robert Samuelson, John Milton Cooper, and Edward Lengel.
For more information, visit the WWPL’s website at www.woodrowwilson.org.
Wilson Library, OLLI, team up for class on WWI
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum is pleased to partner with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia to present America, Woodrow Wilson, and World War I,”a five-meeting class beginning in February at the Presidential Library.
The class will be taught by World War I scholar William Walker, who will argue that World War I was the most significant event of the 20th century. An in-depth guided tour of the WWPL’s new World War I trench exhibit, will be a special feature of the course.
The class is one of eleven courses OLLI at UVA will offer in Staunton during the spring session, which begins Feb. 7.
In the World War I course, Walker will discuss how the war dramatically altered the world in which we grew up, continues to affect our lives today, and will remain one of the most influential events for decades to come. The course will cover the full scope of the war, with particular emphasis on the American experience and the struggles of President Wilson, and will include lecture and discussion among the participants.
The class will meet on five consecutive Wednesdays, from Feb. 23 through March 23, and although the course had been filled to its limit of 15 students, Walker agreed to expand capacity due to interest. Another class offered by Mac Warford on the psychology of C. G. Jung also reached capacity and has been expanded.
For more information about and to register for the World War I class and all of the OLLI at UVA classes, see the website at www.olliuva.org.
Wilson Library adds to Board of Trustees
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation on Tuesday announced that six members have joined its Board of Trustees: Mary Lynn Bayliss of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia; Katherine Grayson Wilkins of Washington, D.C.; R. Steven Nichols of Staunton; Hampden H. Smith III of Lexington; Rita M. Smith of Richmond; and William T. Walker Jr. of Staunton. All began three-year terms in July.
Dr. Mary Lynn Bayliss is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and has a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. She was assistant professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University for several years. She has served on the Board of the Women’s Club of Richmond and the Maymont Foundation. Dr. Bayliss previously served four terms on the board. She resides in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia.
Katherine Grayson Wilkins is the granddaughter of Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson, President Wilson’s physician. She is director of development at Give an Hour, a nonprofit that is dedicated to meeting the mental health needs of the troops and families affected by the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan through counseling to individuals, families, and children. She lives in Washington, D.C., and previously worked at the Washington National Cathedral, where President Wilson is buried.
Dr. R. Steven Nichols is superintendent of the Staunton City Schools. He earned his doctorate from the University of Virginia and has been involved in instruction for almost 40 years, as a teacher and administrator at all grade levels from kindergarten to university graduate schools. Dr. Nichols also holds a degree in American Civil War History and still conducts research into various aspects of that period. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia in educational law. He resides in Staunton.
Hampden H. Smith, III, is professor emeritus of journalism at Washington and Lee University, where he was department head for 14 years. He was a reporter and editor with Virginia newspapers for 10 years before joining the faculty at Washington and Lee in 1974. He has held three Fulbrights, at Moscow State University, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Tirana in Albania. Mr. Smith, who lives in Lexington, previously served on the board from 1999 to 2009.
Rita M. Smith is senior vice president in the Private Bank Trust of Bank of America. She was born and raised in Staunton, where she was a member of First Presbyterian Church, the same church where President Wilson’s father was pastor. She has served on the boards and committees at the Maymont Foundation, Longwood University, the University of Richmond, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, and the Massey Cancer Center. Mrs. Smith, who lives in Richmond, previously served on the WWPL’s board from 2003 to 2009.
William T. Walker Jr. served as associate vice president for public affairs at the College of William and Mary and similar positions at Gettysburg College, Virginia Tech, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English at the University of Virginia and completed his course work for his Ph.D. in English from Tulane University. Mr. Walker is writing a book about World War I and has assisted the Presidential Library with grant applications, the new World War I exhibit, and the upcoming World War I battlefield tour. He lives in Staunton.
The six new Trustees are replacing retiring board members Richard L.M. Coleman, Lawrence Eagleburger, Evarts W. Opie, Jr., James R. Perkins, and Fitz W. M. Woodrow, Jr., and the late Marlene Eagleburger.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
