Few sculptors of the nineteenth century were as well known during their lifetimes as Moses Ezekiel, though he is little-known today. The first Jewish cadet at VMI, he fought in the battle of New Market in 1864. Encouraged by Robert E. Lee to pursue his artistic calling, Ezekiel studied in Europe and became the first American to win the coveted Prix de Rome. Keith Gibson will draw on his biography of Ezekiel to bring to life this luminary of nineteenth-century art.

Although the Union ironclad Monitor may have ended her working career in a gale off Cape Hatteras in December 1862, her story does not end there. Discovered in 1973, established as a National Marine Sanctuary in 1975, and the subject of intense recovery operations by NOAA and the U.S. Navy since then, the curious “cheesebox on a raft” still has stories to tell.

On April 22, 2010, Lee Shepard delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Hidden Treasures: A Short History of the Mary Custis Lee Trunks.” 

On January 28, 2010, Noah Andre Trudeau delivered a lecture on his book Robert E. Lee. Almost 150 years after the fact, Robert E. Lee remains a towering figure of the Civil War era, an acclaimed strategist and an enigmatic personality. In his new book, the latest in the critically received Great Generals Series, prolific author Noah Andre Trudeau presents an insightful narrative about the Confederacy’s preeminent military leader. (Introduction by Paul A. Levengood)

On January 24, 2008, Dean King delivered this Banner Lecture. In 1815 the American sailing ship Commerce ran aground on the northwestern shore of Africa. In his prize-winning book, Skeletons on the Zahara, Dean King recounts the misfortunes of the shipwrecked crew. They were captured by nomadic Arab slave traders and marched across the desert, subjected to heat, starvation, and cruelty. At last the survivors made it back to the coast where they were ransomed and freed.

On February 14, 2008, Lauranett Lee spoke about “Sites and Stories: African American History in Virginia.”

On October 1, 2009, Julian Hudson delivered a lecture entitled “Prestwould: Gracious Living on the American Frontier, 1790-1830.”

On March 4, 2010, Michael Kranish delivered a lecture on his book, Flight from Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War. In his new book, Michael Kranish recounts Thomas Jefferson’s difficult tenure as Virginia’s governor during the Revolution. The story begins with the background of struggle against British rule, then the tumultuous outbreak of fighting and Jefferson’s role in the Continental Congress, followed by his rise to the governorship. Influenced by Jefferson, Virginia provided for a weak chief executive, and the state was ill-prepared for invasion.

On May 28, 2009 John Ferling delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon.”

In 2007 John Ferling spoke at the museum on his history of the Revolutionary War, Almost a Miracle. Now he has drawn on his unsurpassed knowledge of that era to provide a fresh and provocative new portrait of the greatest of the Founders in The Ascent of George Washington.

On February 4, 2010, Muffie Meyer delivered a lecture entitled “Dolley Madison: A Documentary.”

In March 2010, the “American Experience” history series on PBS broadcast a documentary on the life of Dolley Madison. This lecture offered a preview of part of the documentary, along with commentary about the making of the film by the producer and director, Muffie Meyer.

This event was jointly sponsored by the Virginia Historical Society and James Madison’s Montpelier. (Introduction by Paul A. Levengood)