Next Meeting: March 18, 2015

"The Convention Army," Larry Arnold

The meeting will be held in the Westhampton Room, Heilman Center (dining hall--building 34 on the campus map), University of Richmond, at 6:30 p.m. with dinner available for purchase in the dining hall beginning at 5:30 p.m. It is not necessary that you purchase dinner in order to attend the meeting.

University of Richmond campus map:
http://www.richmond.edu/about/directions/campusmap.pdf

Hacking John Adams

The following is taken from the Massachusetts Historical Society's E-news:


At the end of 2014, the hack into Sony Pictures and the subsequent publication of the private communications of Sony employees drew massive public interest. John Adams faced a "hack" of his own in the summer of 1775 when private letters he had written to his wife, Abigail Adams, and to his friend James Warren were intercepted by the British and subsequently published in Boston and London. Adams, participating in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was growing increasingly frustrated at the reluctance of some of the members to take strong measures of resistance against Great Britain and took to his letters to vent his frustration, in particular against John Dickinson, a member from Pennsylvania who believed that even with hostilities ongoing, reconciliation with Great Britain was still possible and should be pursued. John Adams, fed up with this, vented to Warren: "In Confidence,--I am determined to write freely to you this Time.--A certain great Fortune and piddling Genius whose Fame has been trumpeted so loudly, has given a silly Cast to our whole Doings--We are between Hawk and Buzzard." Read more about John Adams's candid opinions about congressional members. 

Crossing of the Dan 2015 Commemoration: February 14, 2015

Here are details about the 234th Anniversary Commemoration of the Crossing of the Dan on February 14, in South Boston. If you have never attended, it’s well worth the trip. Information: http://www.prizery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=192&Itemid=199

4th Annual Conference on the American Revolution: March 20-22, 2015

The 4th Annual Conference on the American Revolution is fast approaching, sponsored by America’s History, our business partner. Details of the March 20 – 22 symposium in Williamsburg are here.  This conference has gotten better every year and rooms for this year's are going fast! Highly recommended!

Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library

In May 2015, the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library is opening an extraordinary American Revolutionary War era exhibition commemorating the 250^th anniversary of American colonial resistance to Britain’s 1765 Stamp Act. The exhibition will travel to Colonial Williamsburg in 2016 and the New-York Historical Society in 2017. The exhibition prospectus can be viewed here:  http://maps.bpl.org/content/revolution.   Several organizations are partnering to create this show, including the British Library, the Library of Congress, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 

ARRT members will be able to view the exhibition in Williamsburg in 2016.  We’ll keep you posted. 

Campaign 1776

Although mentioned in a previous post, the information regarding Campaign 1776 bears repeating. Campaign 1776 is the Civil War Trust’s exciting initiative to preserve American Revolution battlefields. Given the Trust’s success with Civil War fields, this has the potential to be big. Please consider joining as a charter member. All Revolutionary War-related groups are very enthusiastic about this new effort and it has been mentioned as a potential recipient of the ARRT-Richmond's 2015 preservation contribution. More on that in a later post. More information can be found here: http://www.campaign1776.org

2015 Dues

We will being collecting dues for 2015 at our January 14 meeting. Dues are still a bargain at $20.00 for the calendar year!

In order to ensure the accuracy of our records, we are asking everyone who is reenlisting to complete a 2015 information form, found under the "Dues" link at the top of the page. If you are attending the meeting, it will speed-up the process if you print and complete the form before arrival. We will have extras at the meeting for those who forget. If you cannot attend the meeting, you can print the form and mail it with your check to the address on the bottom of the form.