2007 Seminar - November 2-3
Speakers for the November Seminar are as follows:
Friday evening: Keynote speaker Dr. Jeffrey H. Schwartz, Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. His talk: "What did George Washington Really Look Like? The First Forensic Reconstruction of Our First President." If you have been to Mount Vernon and seen the mannequins of Washington based on Dr. Schwartz's leadership with others on the forensic team--as he said in an earlier version of this talk I heard back in February--"it was quite a challenge trying to reconstruct someone's face and body when you were not allowed to work with the bones!" A real "CSI" kind of effort to bring our first president to life.
Saturday morning kickoff address by Dr. John Oliphant, and independent scholar from Sussex in the United Kingdom who has written the book "Peace and War on the Anglo-Cherokee Frontier, 1756-1763" (MacMillan, 2001), and numerous articles/essays to other 18th century publications. Dr. Oliphant's address will be based on the title "Peace and War on the Anglo-American Frontier" with a focus on the role the Cherokee played during the Forbes Campaign. He is currently working on a biography of General John Forbes.
Saturday morning--Program of Colonial Music by the noted duet David and Ginger Hildebrand of the Colonial Music Institute in Severna Park, Maryland. Their music has been featured in several recent movies and television, including the PBS series "Liberty!" and C-Span's "American Presidents." They recently released a CD "Music in the Life of Benjamin Franklin" for the Franklin Tricentennial in 2006.
Saturday afternoon -- "Awful Affliction and Adorable Providence: Jean McCord Lowry's
Captivity Journal" by Dr. Helen Westra, Associate Professor of English, Grand Valley State University. This presentation is based on the powerful published narrative of Jean McCord Lowry, who was taken captive by a French and Indian raiding party at Fort McCord in April 1756. Lowry witnessed the death of her brother and husband, and was eventually separated from her three children, remaining in captivity for more than 3 years. Professor Westrateaches 18th Century American Literature at Grand Valley State, with a particular interest in Indian and Slave captivity narratives. In 2005 she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach American Literature at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she has been instrumental in helping that University establish an American studies program.
"Benjamin Franklin: America's First "CIA" Station Chief?" by James Srodes, journalist from
Washington, D.C. Jim attended our seminar last year, and will be remembered by many
for his wit and comments about Franklin with his friend and keynote speaker, Lady Joan Reid. Jim's own award winning biography of Franklin is entitled "Franklin: The Essential Founding Father" (Washington, D.C. Regnery, 2002), and will be the basis for his compelling talk on Franklin as an intelligence operative. In 2000 Jim's biography of former CIA Director Allen Dulles was named "the best intelligence book" by the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, and Jim is in wide demand for his programs on the history of that Agency.
We will have the usual short business meeting/election, vendors, and silent auction.
