White House Of The Confederacy Bicentennial Programs Focus On 200 Years Of History, Preservation

Originally published March 2018 · p. 16

RICHMOND, Va.—The White House of the Confederacy observes its bicentennial in 2018. Throughout the year, programs and activities will focus on the structure’s rich history as a home, school, and museum, and the diverse people who occupied it during its first 200 years. “Though it is known primarily as the residence of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family, the house has many fascinating stories to tell,” says Stephanie Arduini, Director of Education and Programs at the American Civil War Museum. “Throughout the year, we’ll explore these different perspectives through monthly programs, online exhibits, and eventually a new, permanent exhibit in the house’s lower level.” Beginning in January, monthly programs will include presentations by local, regional, and nationally known historians, panel discussions, and special dramatic presentations commissioned especially for the bicentennial. Topics will include life in prewar

Richmond, the influence of high society women during the Civil War, self-emancipation by the house’s enslaved laborers, complex relations of servitude, public education in Richmond, and the house’s uses after the war, among others. Daily guided tours will focus on the house’s varied meanings to the Civil War and its legacies, as seen through the eyes of the people who lived, worked, and passed through as visitors. Special guided tours, focusing on Presidents Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, will be offered during weekends. Arduini says those tours will compare the two men through their experiences in this house and more broadly through the choices each made during the war. A new website has been developed to provide an online focus on the house. It will feature a variety of information about programs and special events, as well as new online exhibits that focus on the history of the house and its occupants. Website visitors also will be able to donate to ongoing preservation work at the house, and will be encouraged to contribute their own memories through stories and photographs of the personal experiences. The website can be reached via the Museum’s main website at ACWM.org. “We’re especially excited about the opportunity for online visitors to add their personal histories to that of the house,” Arduini says. “We have very little information, for example, about the house’s time as a public school. It would be amazing to find stories and photos from that era, and even people’s unique experiences with the house over the years and what it’s meant to them.” Preservation work will continue through the year and beyond. Arduini says restoration of the house’s 35 windows will be completed during 2018. Other projects include plaster repair and restoration, restoration of the exterior shutters, cleaning and painting the exterior, reinterpretation of the garden, and the creation of exhibit space in the house’s lower level. Fundraising in support of this work is under way and donations are encouraged. Arduini says the Museum is working closely in partnership with organizations throughout Richmond and beyond. Among them are the National Park Service, Virginia War Memorial, Richmond Public Schools, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Library of Virginia, Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Women’s Club, and many others. “Through the Confederate President’s House, you can see the history of Richmond and the Civil War era,—and how we’ve chosen to remember that past,” Arduini says. “Through the stories told here, visitors will discover complex choices that were made by all Americans before, during, and after the war, and how those choices impact Americans today.” The White House of the Confederacy is located at 12th and Clay Streets in downtown

Richmond. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guided tours are offered throughout the day. Tickets can be purchased there or online at ACWM.org. Information about and schedules for special programs and tours also can be found online. Founded in 2013, the American Civil War Museum operates three sites: The White House and Museum of the Confederacy, and Historic Tredegar in Richmond, and the American Civil War Museum – Appomattox. Through exhibits and programs, the Museum explores the American Civil War and its legacies through the perspectives of people free and enslaved, military and civilian.