This year the Symposium is honored to have the following featured speakers:

Elizabeth Fenn is an assistant professor of history at Duke University. She received her B. A. from Duke and her Ph.D. from Yale University. Her book, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82, received the 2003 Longman-History Today Book of the Year award and the James Broussard First Book Prize.

The First Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line will depict Revolutionary War military and communication practices and demonstrate authentic weaponry and uniforms. The First Virginia Regiment was authorized by the Virginia Convention of July 17, 1775 as a state defense unit but was soon accepted into the Continental Army created by Congress. The Regiment served with Washington’s Army and fought with distinction at Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, Monmouth Court House, and other actions in the north. The recreated first Virginia Regiment is one of the most recognized Revolutionary War units in the country. Organized in February 1975, the First Virginia is incorporated in Virginia as a nonprofit, educational organization. The Regiment gives camp and tactical demonstrations, participates in battle reenactments, (including the largest, in Yorktown in 1981) and has a comprehensive educational program. Members have appeared in feature films, including “The Patriot.”

Woody Holton has taught Early American history at the University of Richmond since the fall of 2000. He is currently an assistant professor there. Among the classes he has taught are the American Revolution, Early American Women, Creating the Constitution, and Early African Americans. In 2000, the Organization of American Historians awarded his first book, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia its prestigious Merle Curti award. Forced Founders is required reading on more than 150 campuses across the country, from Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania to Stanford and the University of California—Santa Cruz. Dr. Holton holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a doctorate from Duke. Before he started teaching, he directed numerous environmental campaigns and was founding director of the environmental advocacy group “Clean Up Congress.”

Jim Mackay is currently the Director of The Lyceum, Alexandria’s History Museum. In that capacity he has developed many exhibits and programs interpreting varied, and sometimes unusual, aspects of Alexandria’s history.. Originally trained as an historian of Colonial America, he has also worked at Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Williamsburg. Jim Mackay holds an MA in history from George Mason University; his master’s thesis was on the development of taverns in Alexandria: 1750-1810.

William Troppman is on the interpretative staff of the Valley Forge National Historical Park and will present a session about George Washington as a military leader. A graduate of Monmouth University in New Jersey, Mr. Troppman taught high school history for 9 years in the Philadelphia area. After his master’s work in military history at Temple University, he joined the National Park Service; first as a park ranger at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia and for the past 10 years at Valley Forge National Historical Park. He is a frequent lecturer at the park and for other historic sites and societies and is at present writing a book on Benjamin Franklin’s involvement with the military, and a study of George Washington’s chaplains.

Henry Wiencek is an author and a Senior Research Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities in Charlottesville. His latest book is An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. His previous book, The Hairstons—An American Family in Black and White, won the 1999 National Book Critics’ Circle Award in biography.  Click this text for more information about Mr. Wiencek.

In Addition:

An integral and anticipated part of every symposium are the vignettes about the period, presented by the George Washington Symposium Players. See issues, discussions, and daily life in Alexandria as they might have taken place from 1776—1783.

Fred Sand is again sharing his collection of George Washington medals, on display today. He tells us that more types of medals and coins have been struck in honor of George Washington than any other American. This custom began in 1778 with the “Voltaire” medal and continues to this day. A small selection of medals and coins is displayed today.