Yorktown Victory Center Replacement Will Be Named 'American Revolution Museum at Yorktown'
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DISPATCH A Newsletter of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation • Spring 2012 Yorktown Victory Center Replacement Will Be Named ‘American Revolution Museum at Yorktown’ Along with a physical transforma- bonds, is estimated at $46 tion of the Yorktown Victory Center will million. Private donations come a new name – “American Revolu- to the Jamestown-Yorktown tion Museum at Yorktown” – adopted Foundation, Inc., will sup- May 10 by the Jamestown-Yorktown port elements of gallery Foundation Board of Trustees and and outdoor exhibits and endorsed by the Jamestown-Yorktown educational resources. Foundation, Inc., Board of Directors. “The new name high- Recommended by a board naming lights the core offering of study task force, the new name will the museum, American be implemented upon completion of Revolution history,” said the museum replacement, and in the Frank B. Atkinson, who meantime the Yorktown Victory Center chaired the naming study will continue in operation as a museum task force comprised of 11 The distinctive two-story main entrance of the American of the American Revolution. members of the Jamestown- Revolution Museum at Yorktown will serve as a focal point Construction is expected to start Yorktown Foundation for arriving visitors. in the second half of 2012 on the proj- and Jamestown-Yorktown name were identified, and research ect, which includes an 80,000-square- Foundation, Inc., boards, “and the in- was undertaken on names currently in foot structure that will encompass ex- clusion of the word ‘Yorktown’ provides use. Selected names were tested with panded exhibition galleries, classrooms a geographical anchor. We arrived Yorktown Victory Center visitors and and support functions, and reorganiza- at this choice through a methodical reviewed by a trademark attorney and tion of the 22-acre site. Total cost of process that began with compiling branding consultant.” building construction and renovations an extensive list of potential names, “This name ideally reflects what we to the site and living-history areas, to engaging our Museums and Programs aim to achieve with the new museum,” be funded primarily through the sale Advisory Council and Foundation said Foundation Chairman H. Benson of Virginia Public Building Authority staff. Key elements to include in the Dendy III. “The American Revolu- tion Museum at Yorktown will provide a renewed perspective on the mean- ing and impact of the Revolution and Private Funds Bolster New Yorktown Museum will have a nationally important role, along with the Colonial Williamsburg Gifts and grants from individu- Foundation, the National Park Service als, corporations and foundations and other Historic Triangle partners, in are providing critical support for interpreting events that transformed 13 elements of the new Yorktown British colonies into the United States museum’s gallery and outdoor of America.” exhibits – such as acquisition of The Yorktown Victory Center artifacts for exhibit, production opened in 1976 as one of three Virginia of films, and reproduction items – centers for the national Bicentennial. and for educational resources. In the early 1990s, the museum’s focus “The Jamestown-Yorktown Foun- was broadened to encompass events dation, Inc., Board of Directors is that led to the Revolutionary War and pleased to be part of the leadership the subsequent formation of a new na- and vision that is transforming the Private funding will support production of films for new museum exhibits, including an experi- tional government. Critical short-term Yorktown Victory Center into the ential theater that will transport visitors to the exhibit renovations were completed American Revolution Museum at battlefield at Yorktown in 1781. in 2006, and in 2007 the Foundation Yorktown, a museum that will con- board adopted a master plan to address tinue to inspire in current and future generations a lifelong love of American long-term exhibit, building and opera- history,” said President Sue H. Gerdelman. tion issues. To learn more about urgent private funding needs, contact the Develop- The new museum building will be ment Office at (757) 253-4139. positioned on the site with an entrance continued on page 2 Revolutionary War Lecture Series Features Four Speakers Fred Anderson, author and professor of history at the East Carolina University, will speak October 6 on the “Battle University of Colorado at Boulder, joins the roster of speak- of the Capes,” which was critical to Cornwallis’ surrender at ers in the Yorktown Victory Center’s upcoming Revolution- Yorktown and the collapse of the British commitment to the ary War lecture series, presenting “‘Like the peace of God, war. Dr. Tilley will explore factors that impacted the battle, it passeth all understanding’: The Peace of Paris (1763) and including personal relationships between key British com- the Unforeseeable American Revolution” on September 29. manders and communications problems that helped force Looking through the prism of a futurist novel published in Cornwallis’ surrender. 1763 that envisions ongoing 19th- and 20th-century wars The series concludes October 27 with “Origins of the with France, and later Russia, along with a slow decline of Constitution,” presented by Abner (Woody) Linwood Holton British power, Dr. Anderson examines British views on the III, author and professor of history and American Studies at outcome of the Seven Years’ War and how the British did not the University of Richmond. Drawing from his book Unruly foresee the American Revolution. The Anderson lecture is Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, Dr. Holton finds supported with a grant from Dominion Resources. present-day parallels in the crisis that led to the U.S. Con- This year’s series begins with a lecture by Yorktown Vic- stitution, pointing out that a deepening recession, skittish tory Center Senior Curator Sarah Meschutt on September investors, an insurmountable federal debt, anti-tax protests 22, “Patriots Claim a New Destiny; Loyalists Defend Their and falling real estate values were the very challenges that Heritage in the United States of America.” Framing the led to the ratification of the Constitution 224 years ago. American Revolution as a watershed period that shaped lives All four lectures are at 7 p.m. on Saturdays in the York- in new ways and offered immense opportunities for those town Victory Center’s Richard S. Reynolds Theater. Admis- with powerful networking skills and ingenuity, Dr. Meschutt sion is free, and advance reservations are recommended by explores the causes for which Loyalists and Patriots fought calling (757) 253-4572 or e-mailing [email protected]. The and died and their lives in the aftermath of the war. series is supported with private donations to the Jamestown- John Tilley, author and associate professor of history at Yorktown Foundation, Inc. Delegate Stolle Appointed About the speakers Fred Anderson’s (September 29) extensive writings about the to Board of Trustees Seven Years’ War include the books The War That Made America: Virginia Delegate Christopher P. Stolle, M.D., of Virginia A Short History of the French and Indian War (2005) and Crucible Beach has been appointed to the Jamestown-Yorktown of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North Foundation Board of Trustees by House of Delegates America, 1754-1766 (2000). He is co-author, with Andrew Cay- ton, of The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, Speaker William J. Howell to succeed William R. Janis. 1500-2000 (2005). Dr. Anderson earned a Ph.D. from Har- A retired Naval officer, Dr. Stolle is currently vice president vard University and has worked since 1983 at the University of of medical affairs at Riverside Regional Medical Center. He Colorado at Boulder, where he is Professor of Distinction and was elected to the House of Delegates in 2009 to represent Director of Honors in the College of Arts and Sciences. the 83rd District. In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Woody Holton’s (October 27) Unruly Americans and the Origins Stolle holds a master’s degree in business administration of the Constitution (2007) was a finalist for the National Book from the College of William and Mary. n Award. A two-time winner of the Virginia Literary Award for Non-Fiction, Dr. Holton also is author of Abigail Adams (2009), winner of the Bancroft Prize, and Forced Founders: Indians, Debt- American Revolution Museum at Yorktown ors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia continued from page 1 (1999). Dr. Holton received a Ph.D. from Duke University and is professor of history and American Studies at the University of that will serve as a focal point for arriving visitors. Featuring Richmond. museum galleries with immersive learning environments, in- Sarah Meschutt (September 22) has worked as senior curator teractive exhibits and period artifacts, the structure also will at the Yorktown Victory Center since 2008, with a key role in house classroom and event space, visitor services, gift shop, planning new permanent gallery exhibits. She previously was and support functions and will provide improved access to chief curator of art collections at the Museum of the Shenan- the museum’s outdoor re-created Continental Army encamp- doah Valley in Winchester, consulting curator for the collec- ment and Revolutionary-period farm. The two outdoor areas tions at Kykuit House in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., and keeper of will be expanded and relocated. edged weapons at the Royal Armouries Museum, H.M. Tower of The Yorktown Victory Center will remain in operation London. She has a Ph.D. from Oxford University. during construction. The existing buildings will be demol- John Tilley (October 6) is author of The British Navy and the ished after the new building is complete, and new permanent American Revolution (1985) and The United States Coast Guard Aux- gallery exhibits will be fabricated and installed after the new iliary: A History (1992).