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September 2012 E-Newsletter
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Annual Fredericksburg Welsh Festival
 This yearly celebration of all things Welsh, co-sponsored by the Welsh Society of Fredericksburg, returns to the 900 block of Charles Street, in front of the museum, on Saturday, September 22, from noon to 5 p.m. James Monroe had Welsh ancestry though his mother, Elizabeth Jones, making him one of many prominent Americans (including Meriwether Lewis, J.P. Morgan and Frank Lloyd Wright) to descend from this small corner of the British Isles.
Join us for live music by national acts IONA and Jodee James and local group Moch Pryderi; traditional dancing; infamous Welsh cookies; mini history, genealogy, and language lessons; Celtic arts and crafts vendors; children's activities and much more!
Admission is a suggested donation of $5/adult and $1/child. The festival is partially supported by funding from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Fredericksburg Economic Authority JumpStart! program.
Stay downtown after you visit the festival to check out the street art festival Via Colori, and come back that evening for the Fredericksburg Area Museum's Art Comes Alive program.
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25th Annual James Monroe Lecture: "What We Know that Ain't So: Myths of the War of 1812."
 | | Officers and crew of H.M. Shannon taking the American ship Chesapeake (June 1813). |
Don Hickey, award-winning author and noted student of the War of 1812, will deliver this year's James Monroe Lecture on Monday, September 24, at 7 p.m. In this engaging talk, Professor Hickey will explore the leading myths and misconceptions of the war. A question and answer period will follow in which members of the audience are invited to challenge these views and to offer their own myths of the war. An award-winning author, Professor Hickey has written six books and more than 50 articles on the War of 1812. He is best known for The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (Bicentennial edition, 2012) and Don't Give Up the Ship! Myths of the War of 1812 (2006). Don also serves as series editor for Johns Hopkins Books on the War of 1812. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois and is a professor of history at Wayne State College in Nebraska. The lecture is co-sponsored by the UMW departments of History and American Studies and Historic Preservation, and the UMW Center for Historic Preservation. A reception will follow, and three of Don's books will be available for purchase and autographs. Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center, UMW campus. Free and open to the public.
UMW campus map.
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Membership Appeal
 2012 marks the 85th anniversary of the museum's founding and has already seen two exciting developments: the acquisition of a document representing the earliest-known example of James Monroe's signature, and the important loan of the Rembrandt Peale portrait of Monroe to the Virginia Governor's Mansion.
In recognition of this milestone year, we are running a special membership appeal. We are asking each member of the Friends of the James Monroe Museum to recruit at least one new member. As a thank-you, old and new members will be invited to a special reception with the UMW Board of Visitors in November.
We hope you will help us grow our museum family and make 2012 a banner year!
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Adele Uphaus-Conner,
Membership and Special Events Coordinator
Newsletter Editor
Museum main number: 540/654-1043
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Upcoming Events
| Saturday, September 22: Annual Fredericksburg Welsh Festival. Music, crafts and demonstrations are part of this long-running street festival that honors Monroe's Welsh heritage. (Noon to 5 p.m.; suggested donation of $5.)
Monday, September 24: Annual James Monroe Lecture, "What We Know that Ain't So: Myths about the War of 1812" with Donald Hickey, professor of history at Wayne State College in Nebraska. (7 p.m., free.)
Call us at 540/654-1043 with questions or to make reservations for the above events. Visit our website for more information. |
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Stay Connected!
OUR WEBSITE
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The James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library, located in historic downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia, is the largest repository in the country for artifacts and documents related to the fifth president of the United States. The museum was first opened in 1927 by Monroe descendants as a place to house their own personal collections, which had been handed down through generations of the family. Eventually, the museum and its extensive collections were turned over to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the museum is now administered by the University of Mary Washington.
The museum belongs to the American Association of Museums, the American Association for State and Local History, and the Virginia Association of Museums. It is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
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