Image courtesy of Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

2019 Harry M. Ward Book Prize Winner

The 2019 Harry M. Ward Book Prize winner is Dr. Rod Andrew, Jr., Clemson University, for The Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder

Rod Andrew, Jr. presents a very complex Andrew Pickens.  He was a man who founded churches, established towns, owned plantations, and brought a stern sense of republican responsibility and egalitarianism to his duty as a public figure and revolutionary officer.  As a slaveholder, Pickens was a Southerner of his times, but he did as much as any of his countrymen to establish the new republic.  This included desperate years as a partisan officer, during which he served not only gallantly, but brilliantly. He was one of the most effective militia commanders in the entire South, and he worked well with other rebel leaders, including Continental major general Nathanael Greene.  Pickens fought hard against the British, regional loyalists, and American Indians; but as Andrew suggests, his moral code caused him to wrestle internally with the issue of slavery and, after the war, to insist on fair dealings with the Southern Indian tribes. Pickens certainly was, as Andrew’s title indicates, a Revolutionary War Hero, and an American Founder. This is biography at its best.

Presentation of this award is scheduled during the 9th Annual Conference on the American Revolution, March 20-22, 2020, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

2019 International Conference on the American Revolution: October 3-5, 2019

2019 International Conference on the American Revolution
Thursday, October 3 to Saturday, October 5, 2019
Museum of the American Revolution
Philadelphia, PA

Registration and Schedule: www.AmRevMuseum.org/Conferences

The Museum of the American Revolution, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, and the Richard C. von Hess Foundation are pleased to present the 2019 International Conference on the American Revolution on October 3-5, 2019. This event will bring noted historians, writers, and curators from Ireland, Scotland, England, and the United States together to explore military, political, social, and artistic themes from the Age of Revolutions. The conference will coincide with the opening of Cost of Revolution: The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier, the Museum’s first international loan exhibition, which is on view from September 28, 2019 – March 17, 2020. With more than 100 works of art, historical objects, manuscripts, and maps from lenders across the globe, Cost of Revolution will explore the Age of Revolutions in America and Ireland through the life of an Irish-born artist and officer in the British Army, Richard St. George (ca.1752-1798). Additional programs inspired by this exhibition, including special performances and lectures in addition to the Museum's Read the Revolution Speaker Series, will be listed on the Museum events calendar at www.AmRevMuseum.org/Events.

Information: Registration includes Museum admission, all sessions, and meals (excluding dinners) at $275 ($250 for Museum Members). Limited spaces are still available for an optional tour on Thursday, October 3 at 9:00am – 4:00pm to follow the steps of Richard St. George on the Philadelphia Campaign, offered at an additional charge to registration at $125 ($100 for Museum Members).

Questions: Please direct all questions about the Museum of the American Revolution international conference, special exhibition, and related programs to Hannah Boettcher, Manager of Special Programs, at conferences@amrevmuseum.org.

2020 Meeting Dates

For your advance planning pleasure, the meeting dates for 2020 have been posted under the "Meetings" heading above. Speakers and topics will be posted when available.