There are two events coming up that are terrifically exciting -- to me, at least.

SYMPHONY of STITCHES -

On March 12 in Edinburg, VA, the Edinburg Heritage Foundation is holding another of its one-day symposiums.

This symposium, like the last, will feature 4 lectures (plus a possible bonus lecture), two show-and tell sessions (bring your originals!), and it costs only $35.   If you're like me, and find it hard to afford hundreds of dollars for weekend symposiums, this is a great alternative.  The talks this year include presentationson quilted clothing, dolls, Confederate jackets, and whitework and counterpanes. Additional information is available under the "SoS" buttons above. I hope you'll consider attending!

HISTORY: Live-And-In-Concert - 

What with the sesquicentennial of the Civil War starting this year, I know lots of folks are looking forward to commemorating the important events that took place in Ft. Sumter and Manassas in 1861.  And now there's going to be an event to celebrate a pretty important event that took place in NEW YORK in 1861.  Let me explain ....

Prior to the Civil War, American – and other --  military forces received needed goods and services, from the government for which they fought, the officers who commanded them, or the communities from which they were recruited, or they did without. Some starved. Some died of wounds left untreated.  Some froze to death.

By the mid 19^th there was widespread recognition that improvements were needed.  And in 1861, 2500 New Yorkers got together and devised a better system, deciding that there would be national organizations formed to (1) raise funds, (2) coordinate contributions on a national level, and (3) distribute aid and comfort based primarily on need.   

This paradigm-shifting, bellwether development led to the  Central Association for the Relief of the Armies and the United States Sanitary Commission.  These organizations were enormously effective,  meeting *social, spiritual, *psychological  needs, providing material, medical, monetary and memorial support.  If they couldn’t save your life, they would at least note your death and inform your family where you were buried.  They – and similar organizations have followed since – have made a significant difference in the lives of millions of soldiers during the Civil War, tens of millions of servicemen and women since then.  

That's right, TENS of MILLIONS of servicemen and women.  Surely, the innovation of providing coordinated, support on a national scale -- and its New York origins -- deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated in the sesquicentennial.

The  proposed 2011 event offers both day and evening components

Portions of the event will be free to the public:  (1.) informal entertainment by Civil War music groups, (2.) vignettes showing support for Civil war soldiers, and  (3.) drill instructions and demonstrations.  These events will take place in both indoor and outdoor venues, and it is our intent that they will be open for free to the public.

Other portions of the event will require the purchase of a ticket:  We plan to rent an 840-seat theatre in Tarrytown, NY.  In the afternoon, we plan to have an informal concert showcasing many genres of music that were popular in the period.  In the evening, we plan a formal concert of Civil War music.

It is appropriate that an event celebrating America’s Heritage of Support for Her Military should acknowledge that the need for support continues.  It is our intent that all profits of the concert will be distributed to national charities that support soldiers today.   To do this, we have, blatantly, stolen an idea from the USSC itself: 

The distribution of funds will be determined by vote of those who purchase tickets to the event.  And this will incent charity partners to promote the event to their supporters.

On January 28th the New York Sesquicentennial Committee voted a limited (no funding) sponsorship for the promotion of this event through their organization.

I am in the process of forming a committee to organize the event.  If you are reading this blog and have would be willin to volunteer in helping to organize this, please email me, Juanita Leisch, at juanitaleisch@yahoo.com. 

Thank you.

Use the "SoS" buttons to learn more about this fun

Friday – Depending on arrival time, convene at Sutherland Tavern or at McLlwaine House.
Afternoon Early-Bird Touring – In the confirmation of your registration, you will receive maps and directions to
the Sutherland Tavern, a privately owned historic site which will be open (for our attendees only) for
tours and a light repast.
5:30-7:00 Reception at the McLlwaine House with light refreshments and a wine tasting.
Dinner on your own
6:00-10:00 Evening Events – “Friday for the Arts” is something new and exciting in Petersburg with art, shopping, dining and community in historic old towne. Stroll the streets or ride the free Arts Bus among the numerous galleries, shops, businesses and restaurants.

Saturday – Convene in upstairs room at Petersburg Area Art League.
8:30-9:15 Architecture of southeast VA
– by Willy Graham, Architectural Historian for Colonial Williamsburg
9:15-10:00 Southern Silver
– by William D. Irvin, Ed.D., Lead Appraiser & Director of Research, Motley’s Auction and Realty
Group
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:00 Clocks & Watches
– by Darrell Olgers, Owner, Sutherland’s Tavern Antiques
11:00-11:45 Edgar Allen Poe
-by Jeff Abugel, Author, Editor, and Restorer of the Hiram Haines Coffee House where Edgar
Allan Poe and Virginia Clemm spent their honeymoon.
11:45-12:30 Lunch on your own
12:30-2:30 Show & Tell sessions
Bring your non-military wood, metal & mechanical artifacts
3:00-5:00 Bring your textile, ceramic, other non-military artifacts
12:30-5:00 Touring on your own
5:00-7:00 Dinner on your own
7:30-9:00 Evening Tours of Centre Hill Mansion and the Siege Museum.
Walking Tour: Antebellum Black Life in the Cockade City
by Emanuel Dabney, historian and staff member, Petersburg National Historical Park (limited to
20 people)
Sunday – Convene in upstairs room at Petersburg Area Art League.
8:30-9:15 Blandford Church
–Dawn Holmes - Manager of Visitor Centers, City of Petersburg
9:15-10:00 Quilts & Coverlets
– Terry L. Hunter - Associate of Motley’s Auctions, active in appraising cons, currency, stamps and
antiques
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:00 Children’s Clothing
– by Juanita Leisch Jensen-author, Who Wore What , former guest curator, National Civil War Museum.
1:00-11:45 Lowndes Ceramics
– by Rob Hunter, editor, Ceramics in America Series
Lunch
1:30-8:30 Sunday at Haw Branch
- Tours focusing on 9 generations of family artifacts.
5:30 - Supper … from the plantation cookbook
- Evening of Music … from the plantation sheet music collection

Menu for Supper at Haw Branch
Smoked Country Ham
Chicken in Wine
Country Steak
---
Boiled Fresh Black-Eyed Peas
Scalloped Potatoes
Stewed Tomatoes
Boiled Cabbage
Greens
---
Corn Bread Squares
Yeast Rolls
---
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Tea and Coffee

Monday – Convene in upstairs room at Petersburg Area Art League.
8:30-9:15 US Military Uniforms and the Sartorial Citizen Soldier
– Ben Greenbaum - former president, Central VA Civil War Collector’s Assn, Exec V.P of the Historic
Petersburg Foundation, author, lecturer, collector of Civil War uniforms
9:15-10:00 Confederate Cloth and Uniforms
– Les Jensen- author, The Uniforms of Johnny Reb and former Curator of Collections, Museum of the Confederacy
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:00 Military Lecture - To Be Determined
– Audience will vote from options
11:00-12:30 Show & Tell - Bring your Military uniforms and artifacts
12:30-12:45 Shuttle to Battersea
12:45-2:45 Lunch at Battersea

Artifact Exhibits – Bring artifacts to classrooms off the upstairs room at Petersburg Area Art League The exhibits of artifacts brought in by attendees and speakers will be a highlight of the weekend … and will include a suit of clothes and wig worn during the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a timeline of men’s civilian coats from the 19th century, and numerous items of children’s clothing.
“The artifact exhibits ALONE are worth the registration fee!”
- Attendee of a prior Civil War Artifact Forum

Sites and Tours— Several are within walking distances of the Petersburg Area Art League

Battersea – Tours and lunch on Monday. Home built in 1768 is a site of architectural, political, and local importance.
Blandford Church – Open for tours of the church and churchyard. Significant for its history and Tiffany windows.
Centre Hill Mansion - Open in the afternoon and (for our attendees only)
Saturday evening. Opulent home originally built in 1823. Exhibits include decorative arts and memorabilia.
Haw Branch Plantation – established in 1745, privately owned by a relative of the original owner.
Sunday tours -
Sunday Supper from the plantation cookbook -
Evening of Musical entertainment from the plantation sheet music collection.
Hiram Haines Coffee House - site where Edgar Allan Poe and Virginia Clemm spent their honeymoon.
McLlwaine House – Friday reception site. Private home, former visitor center, built in 1815.
Siege Museum - open in the afternoon and (for our attendees only) in the evening. Museum housed in the 1839 Exchange Building.
Sutherland Tavern – Built in 1815. Privately owned. Houses a collection of tall case clocks. Friday afternoon tours and view of the collection.
Violet Banks – Home with fine Federal plaster ornamentation in Virginia and R.E. Lee Headquarters, June to November, 1864.

Lodging Options
B&Bs in Petersburg
http://lavilla.tierranet.com/ - La Villa Romaine (owned by former pres. of the Historic Petersburg Foundation - Ken Roy)
http://www.thedestinyinn.com/ - The Destiny Inn on High Street
http://www.thehighstreetinn.com/ - The High St. Inn on High St.
http://www.walker-house.com/ - pre-CW house off Crater Rd.
http://www.raglandmansion.com/ - 10,000 sq.ft. antebellum Italianate showplace
B&B Near Haw Branch Plantation
http://www.winterham.com/ -Winterham Plantation located in Amelia County, adjacent to Haw Branch Plantation.
Hotels Near Petersburg
There are a number of the usual chain hotels in and around Petersburg.
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Les and I were visiting the other day, looking at some of the sheet music, and noticed that the dedications printed on at least three of the pieces were to young ladies who were members of the extended family; mostly Tabbs from Gloucester County.  Tabb is a pretty big name in Virginia, and certainly not unknown in Gloucester County.

Think of it!  Attendees at this event are not only  going to eat the food the former residents ate (or at least food made from their recipes), but we're also going to listen to the music they listened to, and played, and which was written for and dedicated to, people they know and to whom they were related!

I won't be dancing, but I hope someone else comes who knows period dances.

WILLIE GRAHAM
Willie Graham is the curator of architecture at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation where he oversees reconstruction and restoration efforts. His research focuses on traditional building construction technology. Some of his projects include the restoration of the Williamsburg Courthouse and a number of houses in town, and the reinterpretation of buildings previously reconstructed over the Foundation’s 80 plus years of operation. He has designed and managed virtually all of the organization’s reconstructions over the past 30 years, including houses, outbuildings, shops, a slave quarter complex at Carter’s Grove, a lunatic asylum, Richard Charlton’s Coffeehouse, and now the Revolutionary War armoury complex at the James Anderson site. Current research projects include the virtual reconstruction of David Douglass’ 1760 Williamsburg theater and design work for Virtual Williamsburg, which is a 3D interactive model of the town as it appeared in 1776. He has promoted the use of advanced technologies to probe buildings as a way to better understand how and when they were built and used. He lectures, conducts fieldwork, and consults on restoration and building interpretation in America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

- Speaker on US Military topics

Ben is a popular lecturer on Civil War topics. He has created award winning displays at many national Civil War shows, and a frequent contributor to the North South Trader’s Civil War Price Guide.  Ben’s experience includes 50 years of collecting Civil War memorabilia, and 25 years experience in authenticating, appraising: Civil War  artifacts, 18^th and 19^th century furniture, decorative items, art  and books. Ben and his wife, Bonny live in an early 19^th century house they restored in Petersburg, Va.

Education:

1969 – B.A. (Biology/Pre-Med),  Hamilton College, Clington, NY

1975 – M. Sci. Ed. (Biology), University of Richmond, Richmond, VA

Graduate studies in Anthropology / Archaeology

Affiliations:

Member and past president – Central Virginia Civil War Collectors Association.

Member – The Petersburg Museum Board

Director of Marketing – The Battersea Foundation

Executive Vice President – The Historic Petersburg  Foundation

Member of the Petersburg Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee

Vocation:

1980 – Served as an Archaeological Field Supervisor for the Virginia Research Center for Archaeology.

1975-present -- Science Teacher  at  Amelia Co. HS, Crewe Middle School,  Fairfield Middle School and The Collegiate School.

ROBERT HUNTER - Speaker on Ceramics

Robert Hunter is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and an archaeologist and ceramic historian living in Williamsburg, VA.  He was the founding director of the Center for Archaeologial Research at the College of William and Mary, and served on the curtorial staff at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.  Robert Hunter is the editor of the extremely successful Ceramics in America series that is published by the Chipstone Foundation and distributed by the Antique Collectors’ Club.

TERRY L. HUNTER - Speaker on Quilts (and Coverlets)

Terry Hunter is active in appraising coins, currency, stamps, and antiques as an associate of Motley's Auctions, Inc., and regularly participates in Motley’s Gallery appraisal fairs, is active in the buying of stamps, currency, and antiques. Terry previously held concurrent jobs with Amherst Auction Galleries, Amherst, Massachusetts and Ken Miller and Son, Auctioneers, Northfield, Massachusetts, providing appraisal services for American Ephemera, textiles, especially quilts and jacquard weaving, American art pottery and American art glass.

Education

1969 BA – Summa Cum Laude (History/Geography) College of the Ozarks, Branson, Missouri

1971 MA – Magna Cum Laude – (History of France) University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts

1976 Post Graduate Work (History of Art, American Ephemera and Textiles all Course Work), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts

Completed for PhD. PhD examination scores were distinction in all four fields, written and oral.

WILLIAM D. IRVIN - Speaker on Silver

Bill Irvin is Lead Appraiser & Director of Research for the Motley’s Auction and Realty Group. He has been the owner of Harrington and Winchester, an appointment-only antique furniture and decorative arts establishment, for over twenty years.

Education:

2008 – Furniture Forum, Winterthur, DE

1987 – Doctor of Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia

1974 – Master of Science, Forestry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia

1972 – Bachelor of Science, Forestry, with Honors, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Affiliations:

Member – Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

Member – Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Member – Virginia Historical Society

Civic:

Member, College Board, John Tyler Community College

Member, Real Estate Committee, Historic Petersburg Foundation, Inc.

Past Member, Architectural Review Board, City of Petersburg, Virginia

JUANITA LEISCH JENSEN - Speaker on Civilian Clothing

Juanita Leisch Jensen is a fellow in the Company of Military Historians and an independent scholar studying civilians in the Civil War era and sharing her knowledge through exhibits, presentations, and publications. Her books, Who Wore What: Women’s Clothes 1861-1865and Introduction to Civil War Civilians are in their seventh and eighth printings. She was a founder and is president of the Society for Women and the Civil War

Publications:

2007 – Guest Curator, “Spirit of Young America” Natl Civil War Museum, H’burg, PA
2006 – Guest Curator,  “Essential to the Cause” Natl Civil War Museum, H’burg, PA
1995 – Guest Curator, “Look of the Ladies”, Civil War Library and Museum, Phila, PA
1995 – Who Wore What: Women’s Wear, 1861-65 (now in its 8^th printing)
1994 – Introduction to Civil War Civilians (now in its 7^th printing)

Education:

1979 – B.A. (American Material Culture), College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA.

LESLIE D. JENSEN - Speaker on CS Militaria

Les Jensen is a well respected military historian and museum curator specializing in soldier life, uniforms, and military material culture. As a professional curator of military museums, Les served as the first professional curator of the Museum of the Confederacy, and has worked in the US Army Museum system for 30 years.  He wrote the seminal work providing a typology of Confederate jackets, a regimental history of the 32nd Virginia, and he’s been called in as an expert witness for a number of investigations and lawsuits regarding Civil War artifacts.

Affiliations:

He is a Fellow, a former Governor and President of the Company of Military Historians, and in 2010, he received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor awarded, by that organization.

Education:

1971 -- B.A. Roanoke College (European History)

2009 -- Graduate Work, Museum Studies, University of Oklahoma

Summer Seminar - Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

Winedale Seminar in Museum Studies

Attendee and Instructor at numerous U.S. Army Museum Conferences

Newest addition to the agenda:
Shop "the market": Information will be available on historic properties currently on the market.

Topics and speakers:
Architecture in VA - Willie Graham (with photos by John Rooney)
Ceramics in VA - Rob Hunter
CS uniforms and militaria - Les Jensen 
Civilian  Clothing - Juanita Leisch Jensen
Clocks & Watches - Darrell Olgers
Edgar Allen Poe - Jeff Abugel
Iron vessels and implements - Tom Butler
Quilts & coverlets - Terry Hunter
Southern Silver - Bill Irvin
US uniforms and militaria - Ben Greenbaum

Historic sites and homes
Blandord Church
Centre Hill Mansion
Seige Museum
Haw Branch Plantation - special tours, Sunday supper and evening of music
McLlwaine House - Friday reception
Special Tour of a private home and collection - (identity and location will be revealed in your confirmation packet!)
Battersea - lunch on Monday
 

Talk about Special Privileges!
Registrants will receive in their confiramtion packet directions to a private 1803 home just outside Petersburg they can tour on Friday afternoon, and will have access to see a private collection of tall case clocks, AND see a suit of clothes and wig worn by one of the signers when he signed the Declaration fo Independence.  For people who can't arrive in town Friday afternoon, the suit and wig will also be displayed AT the Artifact Forum.

Show and Tell ; Show and TASTE
There's news of a wine tasting during the Friday evening reception at the McLlwaine House!

Sunday at Haw Branch Keeps Getting Better and Better
- Heritage Foods
David Cardona has provided the caterer for Sunday supper with a book of Haw Branch heritage recipes, and she's confirmed she will be using them for Sunday Supper! 
- Heritage Entertainment
David Cardona has dug out the Haw Branch collection of Sheet Music, so our evening of music after dinner will echo the music played at Haw Branch from centuries in the past.   Attendees are welcome to wear clothing from any period of Haw Branch history for the Sunday events at Haw Branch.

More on Sunday at Haw Branch
In my last post, I mentioned the sheet music collection at Haw Branch.  We've discovered that several of the pieces of music were written for, and dedicated to, members of the extended family, including Gloucester County relatives of the Tabb family, the family that built and first owned Haw Branch.