Virginia Historical Society Podcast

As a statesman, diplomat, secretary of state, and chief justice, no one in the founding generation had a more enduring impact on our country’s government and judicial system than John Marshall, and no one did more to preserve the delicate unity of the fledgling union. From 1776 to his death in 1835, Marshall was at the center of every key event in the nation’s history both at home and abroad. Raised in a log cabin on the western frontier of Virginia, he had little formal education and none of the advantages of the other great Virginians, yet he developed a talent for self-invention that served him well in office. On October 11, 2018, Joel Richard Paul, author of the critically acclaimed "Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times," delivered a banner lecture on John Marshall’s pivotal role in the founding of our republic. Joel Richard Paul is a professor of constitutional and international law at the University of California Hastings Law School in San Francisco. He has also taught on the

On September 27, 2018, William I. Hitchcock delivered a banner lecture,“The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s.” Once thought to be a mediocre president, Dwight Eisenhower is today widely considered one of our finest leaders. Presidential historians now rank Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents. In his latest book, William Hitchcock explains why. Drawing on newly declassified documents and thousands of pages of unpublished material, The Age of Eisenhowertells the story of a masterful president guiding the nation through the great crises of the 1950s, from McCarthyism and the Korean War through civil rights turmoil and Cold War conflicts. Hitchcock offers a portrait of a skilled leader who found a middle path through the bitter partisanship of his era. At home, he affirmed the central elements of the New Deal, such as Social Security; fought the demagoguery of Sen. Joseph McCarthy; and advanced the agenda of civil rights for African-Americans. Abroad, he ended the Korean War and

A century ago—at the height of World War I—history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. The disease claimed more lives in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has claimed in thirty-seven years, and more than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease. KEYNOTE SPEAKER: John M. Barry is an award-winning and New York Times best-selling author whose book The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History was named the year’s outstanding book on science or medicine by The National Academies of Science’s in 2004. After weaving together a dramatic story of triumph amid tragedy in the face of a global pandemic, Barry will join a panel of specialists from the VCU School of Medicine who will discuss the role they are playing today in the research, treatment, and prevention of in

On September 6, 2018, Craig Bruce Smith delivered the banner lecture, “Virginian Honor: The Ethics of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.” Despite being born into different generations and regions, fellow Virginians George Washington and Thomas Jefferson believed honor was central to the American Revolution, the new nation, and daily life. While both writing to their nephews, Washington insisted “let honor & probity be your polar star,” and Jefferson instructed, “Never suppose that in any possible situation or under any circumstances that it is best for you to do a dishonourable thing.” They each felt this ideal was so essential that it needed to be imparted to the next generation. But what did they mean by honor? Drawn from his new book "American Honor: The Creation of the Nation’s Ideals during the Revolutionary Era," Craig Bruce Smith explores the ethical roots of Washington and Jefferson’s thinking. He shows two distinct paths to prominence in early America and presents how honor was formed from the

On August 23, 2018, A. Wilson Greene delivered a banner lecture, “‘A Perfect Hell of Blood’: The Battle of the Crater.” Although the Petersburg Campaign lasted 292 days in 1864–65, one day stands out above all others: July 30, 1864. On that infamous Saturday, the Union army exploded 8,000 pounds of black powder beneath a Confederate bastion, destroying it along with more than 300 southern soldiers. The subsequent federal assaults, however, proved a dismal failure, squandering a very real possibility of driving the Army of Northern Virginia out of Petersburg. Three determined Confederate counterattacks ensured southern victory that day, but those triumphant assaults possessed a dark side: the unprecedented massacre of black Union soldiers. A. Wilson Greene, whose new book, A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg, covers the first six weeks of the Petersburg Campaign, discusses the battle of the Crater, explores the nature of Confederate general William Mahone’s attacks, and offers insights into the mo

On August 2, 2018, David Cox delivered a banner lecture, “‘Keep It a Holy Thing’: Lee Chapel’s Greatest Challenge.” The chapel that Robert E. Lee built on the campus of what was then Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, almost did not survive to its 150th anniversary this year. In the early 1920s, an energetic president wanted to tear it down to create a vast monumental building to honor his famous predecessor. An unlikely combination of “a little group of willful women,” a crusading newspaper editor, alumni, and Lee aficionados from around the country managed to save it for posterity, even as they redefined its meaning in ways that abide today. David Cox, a visiting professor of history at Southern Virginia University, teaches American and religious history. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Lexington, where, from 1987 to 2000, he was rector of R. E. Lee Memorial Church. He is the author of The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee and Lee Chapel at 150: A History.

On July 12, 2018, Kitty Snow delivered the banner lecture, “From Richmond to France: Images and Stories of Richmond and Her World War I Soldiers.” When America entered the Great War in 1917, many of Richmond’s “soldier boys” had never been out of the city, much less the country. Most went to Camp Lee and then boarded ships for France. One of those young men was Leon Stilson. His father, streetcar driver Harry Stilson, photographed his son and other Richmond boys as they went off to war and came home. He photographed them with family and in parades and celebrations. Harry’s great-granddaughter, Kitty Snow, will share images and stories of those young men and Richmond during the war and after the Armistice. Some did not come home, so the Stilson collection also gives you passage on a Gold Star Mother Pilgrimage to France. Kitty Snow is the owner of Home Team Realtors and a part-time historian. She is the author of "From a Richmond Streetcar: Life through the Lens of Harris Stilson," "On the West Clay Line," "

On June 14, 2018, Ellen Schall Agnew delivered a Banner Lecture, “Farm to Easel: Queena Stovall’s Evolution as an Artist.” Self-taught Virginia artist Emma Serena “Queena” Stovall started painting and was “discovered” in 1949 at the age of sixty-two. Over the next two decades she recorded on canvas in meticulous detail the rural life, labors, activities, and people surrounding her home near the Blue Ridge mountains in Elon, Virginia. Stovall’s discovery came ten years after that of famed folk artist Anna Mary Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses in 1939, and at the cusp of dramatic changes in the art world with non-objective art gaining notoriety and popularity in such major art centers as New York. Sandwiched between Moses’ bucolic New England scenes and the world’s changing social, political, and economic order following the World War II, Stovall’s evolution as an artist proves a fascinating study. Ellen Schall Agnew will consider Stovall’s place within this spectrum of twentieth-century art through the personal re

On June 26, 2018, John Ferling delivered a Banner Lecture, “Jefferson, Paine, and Monroe: The American Revolution’s Authentic Revolutionaries.” He discussed American history and his book, "Apostles of Revolution: Jefferson, Paine, Monroe and the Struggle Against the Old Order in America and Europe." Some American revolutionaries in 1776 desired little domestic change and some who thought they wanted political and social transformations were quickly frightened by the changes that accompanied the American Revolution. But Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and James Monroe were real revolutionaries. Not only did they long for changes in the fabric of America that could never be realized while the colonies remained under Britain’s thumb, but they also hoped the American Revolution would inspire revolutions that would sweep Europe free of monarchies and aristocracies and expand the rights of the people. Jefferson, Paine, and Monroe were active in both the American and the French Revolution, activism that brought the

On May 31, 2018, the Honorable John Hager delivered a Banner Lecture, “Best Seat in the House.” Since being struck by polio in 1973, John Hager has enjoyed life as a participatory sport — in the game, not on the sidelines. Life for him has been whole and exciting by doing not observing, and his “up close and personal” involvement with so many individuals, organizations, and groups has been enriching and fulfilling. In this lecture, John Hager talks about his life and how what some see as a handicap has instead been an enabling, not disabling, opportunity to serve others. At times he has found himself and his wheelchair in the front, often in the middle, and sometimes in the back of the room, but they were all the best seat in the house. The Honorable John H. Hager served as the 37th lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002, as an assistant secretary within the United States Department of Education from 2004 to 2007, and as the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia from August 2007 until May 2

On May 22, 2018, Lord Alan Watson delivered a Banner Lecture about his book, “Churchill’s Legacy: Two Speeches to Save the World.” Having first helped bring victory to the Allies in 1945, Winston Churchill went on to preserve the freedom of the world by gaining the support of the United States in the restoration of Europe. In Fulton, Missouri, Churchill alerted America to the reality of ‘Uncle Joe’—a tyrant determined to dominate Europe at any cost. Churchill called for an Anglo-American alliance based on their shared values and the deterrent of America’s possession of the atomic bomb. Churchill also urged the Americans to recognize the debt they owed Britain for opposing Hitler in 1940, as so brilliantly portrayed by Gary Oldman in the film, Darkest Hour. In Zurich, Switzerland, Churchill boldly proposed a partnership between France and Germany: a United States of Europe. The hatred stirred up by the war had to be replaced by partnership for Europe to recover its economic vitality and regain its moral statu

On May 16, 2018, Bobby Ukrop and his coauthors participated in a moderated discussion about their book, “The Diamond—Miracle on the Boulevard.” Born out of crisis, the community-wide effort to build the region’s sparkling jewel, “The Diamond,” showed what could happen with regional cooperation, a public-private partnership, and grassroots support of the citizenry. The Diamond opened on April 17, 1985, having been built in the off-season. It was a miracle! How did it happen and what can we learn about vision and teamwork from this Miracle on the Boulevard? Co-authors Bobby Ukrop, Randy Hallman, and Phil Stanton discussed their book with Jamie Bosket, President and CEO of the Virginia Historical Society.

"Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court" by Dr. Paul Finkelman by

n May 1, 2018, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., presented a Banner Lecture about his book, “Letters from a Soviet Prison: A Son’s Search for the Truth.” For the past twenty-five years, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., has lectured on, taught, and researched the Cold War; in particular the U-2 Incident of May 1, 1960, in which his father was shot down while flying a CIA U-2 spy plane over the former Soviet Union. In 2017, Powers, Jr., published his first book, which includes his dad’s letters to and from family while incarcerated, family photos sent to him in prison, and other correspondence that provides a unique firsthand account of the U-2 Incident, shoot down, imprisonment, and events that led up to his father’s exchange for Soviet Spy Rudolph Abel in 1962.

Experience a heaping helping of culinary history in our 4.6.2018 Banner Lecture by Toni Tipton-Martin about her book, “Inside the Jemima Code: The Joy of African American Cooking.” Overshadowed by the demeaning stereotype of an illiterate “Aunt Jemima," this lecture transforms America’s most maligned kitchen servant into an inspirational and powerful model of culinary wisdom and cultural authority.

On March 8, 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.

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

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 f

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 auth

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 V