Registration Fees:We are offering the option to purchase the entire series which includes three lectures and one excursion for one price. You may also purchase lectures and the excursion individually. Space is limited so we recommend that you purchase as soon as possible to be guaranteed a space in the program.
Program and Lecture Information:
1. LECTURE on Wednesday, November 3, 2023 at 10:00 amHCF Headquarters, 40 East Bay Street, Community Room Dr. Emilie Johnson, Curator of Arts and History at Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
Thomas Jefferson had a lifelong enthusiasm for the fine arts, shaped by Enlightenment thinkers and refined through his travels in the American colonies and Europe. As a diplomat, Jefferson found knowledge of the fine arts, particularly painting and sculpture, crucial diplomatic tools as he negotiated American interests with European powers. This session will explore Jefferson’s personal collections, how his tastes formed, and his efforts to bring fine arts to American citizens.
Emilie Johnson is a curator at Monticello whose exhibitions and installations have featured Thomas Jefferson’s carriages, the material culture of enslavement, classical sculpture, and the Declaration of Independence. She holds a Ph. D in Art and Architectural History from the University of Virginia, and her scholarship focuses on American art, architecture, and material culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
2. LECTURE on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 10:00 amHCF Headquarters, 40 East Bay Street, Community RoomDr. Douglas Edgerton, Professor of History at LeMoyne College
Long after Black abolitionist Denmark Vesey and thirty-four of his followers were hanged in the summer of 1822, his legacy lived on in both the Black and White communities in South Carolina. This talk briefly covers the events of 1822 before moving on to discuss the ways his life was used by abolitionists, proslavery politicians, and northern Civil War recruiters, and how it was contested well into the twenty-first century and still, even with the opening of the International African American Museum, remains unsettled.
Douglas R. Egerton has taught history at Le Moyne College since 1987. He has held visiting appointments at Colgate University, Cornell University, and the University College of Dublin. He is the author of nine books, including the Lincoln Prize co-winner, Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America (2016), and He Shall Go Out Free: The Lives of Denmark Vesey (1999). He is currently finishing a biography of abolitionist-soldier-feminist-poet Thomas Wentworth Higginson. He lives near Syracuse, New York, with his wife, historian Leigh Fought.
3. LECTURE on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at 10:00 amHCF Headquarters, 40 East Bay Street, Community RoomLark Mason, Lark Mason Art Advisory; Antiques Roadshow Appraiser
Explore the fascinating inner workings of auctions, appraisals, and what looks good (and not so good) on TV. Esteemed appraiser Lark Mason will delve into the age-old questions: What is my stuff worth and what to do when your children don’t want it?
Lark Mason is an expert in Chinese art and antiquities and has appeared on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow since its inception in 1996. He is the author of Asian Art (2003), and translator of Wang Shixiang’s Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture. He serves as a Trustee for The Preservation Society of Newport Country, representing historic Newport’s collections and historic mansions. He is the founder of iGavel Auctions, Lark Mason Associates, and Lark Mason Art Advisory.
4. EXCURSION on Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - Departure Time: TBAParticipants will drive themselves or carpool with others on this excursion to Edisto Island. A boxed lunch will be provided for each registered guest. More details will be provided prior to the date.
Itinerary includes visits to:
Speakers include:
Constructed circa 1885, the Hutchinson House is the last surviving structure that directly represents the immense challenges of the Lowcountry’s post-emancipation community. Constructed on land acquired by James Hutchinson and other freedmen in 1875, the house was completed circa 1885 by Henry Hutchinson and his wife Rosa Swinton. Operating one of a few African American-owned cotton gins in the region, the Hutchinson family prospered as farmers. Family descendants resided in the house until the 1980s. The Edisto Island Open Land Trust purchased the property in 2016 and has expertly spearheaded its stabilization and restoration efforts. With the project nearing completion, Hutchinson House will soon be open to the public and serve the community as an important space for programs and events.
Built for planter Paul Hamilton, this circa 1725 Huguenot-influenced house burned in 1929. Today, the Brick House ruins are undergoing intensive stabilization and preservation efforts. In 2018, engineer John Moore and architect Simons Young collaborated to design structural support measures. As of 2023, contractor Richard Marks, along with Artis Construction and UpSouth, LLC, has successfully carried out three separate phases of the restoration work.
First established by James Crawford in 1784 and centered on 110-acres, Crawford Plantation (or “Crawford’s Plantation House” as it appears on some records) was a major producer of Sea Island Cotton by the early 19th century. Crawford’s main house, constructed in 1834 by Ephriam Mikell, retains its original T-shape floorplan and Greek-revival stylings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Today the house is owned by Jane and Colby Broadwater.