Special Project Funding Opportunities

Thank you for taking the time to review this list of Special Projects, compiled by Stratford Hall staff. Full or partial funding for any of these projects is greatly appreciated. To contribute, click here. If you have questions, please feel free to call the Stratford Hall Development Office at 804-493-8038 x8919 or email development@stratfordhall.org. Please be sure to type the name of the project that you choose to support in the “notes” field of the donation form.

Thank you for your support of Stratford Hall.

Education: Slavery Symposium

The history of Virginia and of slavery--and the enduring ramifications of slavery--are thoroughly interconnected, covering a period beginning shortly after the founding of the Jamestown settlement, through the Civil War, into the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras, and still being manifested in issues of race relations as current as today’s news. Yet how many of our state’s teachers are truly prepared to address this most challenging of historical subjects in 21st-century classroom environments? This symposium will immerse twenty-five teachers in cutting edge scholarship on the topic of chattel slavery in Virginia, while introducing them to a circle of instructors and colleagues who can provide a source of aid and information not only at the moment but for long after the closing of the symposium.

Stratford Hall will host the three-day residential symposium October 2-4, 2009 exposing participants to noted slavery scholars and introducing them to the best literature available on the topic, canonical as well as recent publications in the field. They will reside in Cheek Guesthouse, and take their meals at the nearby Stratford Hall dining room. Instructional sessions will be offered in the large duPont Room of the Jessie Ball duPont Memorial Library. Using the library’s wireless network facilities, it will also expose participants to electronic resources that can be highly beneficial in the classroom. In addition, participants will attain permanent access to the internet discussion group stratalum@arthes.com, and they will be encouraged to create personal blogs to record and disseminate their symposium experience.

Cost to complete program: $10,000 includes funding for supplies, speaker and presenter fees, participant and speaker lodging and meals, marketing

This annual program takes place in February, to celebrate African American History Month. Led by local community leaders, this program of song, story and dance is often accompanied by outdoor crafts and activities, such as blacksmithing. A special walking tour focuses on the African American experience at Stratford, including that of slaves and servants. Performances by local school and church groups are one of the most popular elements of the African American History program.

Cost of program: $2,000 for performers’ fees, supplies and marketing

Stratford Hall is seeking support to institute a new program for our youth visitors. The Signers’ Club, Stratford Hall’s version of the National Park Service’s Junior Ranger program (http://www.nps.gov/learn/juniorranger.htm), will provide an additional activity for children who visit Stratford Hall and make it a more desirable destination for families.

Stratford Hall was home to the only two brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Stratford’s “signers,” embodied the qualities we encourage through our educational programs at Stratford. A thirst for knowledge, recognition of the need for civic involvement, independent thought and honor were ideals shared not only by the Lees, but by all signers of the Declaration of Independence. We hope to encourage these same characteristics in a future generation of “signers.” Children will receive a booklet in the Visitors Center, at the beginning of their Stratford Hall experience, with various activities relating to areas of Stratford Hall. Activities will include different experiences, from the Great House tour to an activity at the beach—helping to encourage families to do more than just a house tour during their visit. To get a certificate and patch at the end of their day, children have to complete at least three activities (out of approximately ten). The Signers’ Club is intended for families with children ages 5-13.

Participating in the Signers’ Club will help children to learn about Stratford and the United States’ early colonial history, archaeology, and paleontology—this project uses what students learn, and are tested on, in the classroom and applies it to a historic site, establishing in young people the importance of preserving historic sites such as Stratford Hall.

Cost to implement program: $10,000 for supplies for first year of program

Lees & Independence Celebration

In the spring of 1776, Richard Henry Lee, along with his brother Francis Lightfoot, took his seat in the second Continental Congress. Sensing the history-making action that lay ahead, he wrote confidently to his brother William, "There never appeared more perfect unanimity among any set of men, than among the delegates."

In three months as delegate, Richard Henry served on 18 different committees - none as important as his appointment to frame the Declaration of Rights of the Colonies, which led directly to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry was accorded the well-deserved honor of introducing the resolution before Congress: ...That these united Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance from the British crown, and that all political connection between America and State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved...

The resolution was adopted on July 2 - the formal act that dissolved the ties with England. Two days later, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was ratified - the American Revolution became a reality. To highlight the importance of the Lee family – Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot were the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence – in the formation of this country, we celebrate the day that Richard Henry introduced the language that would lead the colonies to become a separate nation.

Each year on the Saturday closest to June 7 (it will be June 5 in 2010), we hold Stratford Hall’s Lees and Independence Celebration. The event is planned to appeal to families throughout the Northern Neck and surrounding regions. Our education staff develops interesting children’s activities (such as signing your own Declaration of Independence with a quill pen), and there are characters and demonstrations of 18th century activities in historically accurate dress.

The Lees and Independence celebration will serve to educate the public, while providing entertainment and a relaxing family outing at an annual event that people will look forward to each year.

Cost to complete program: $2,000 includes funding for supplies, re-enactors and period characters’ fees and marketing

Ann McCarty Lee

Women’s History Month

Stratford Hall’s Education Department annually offers a program in March commemorating Women’s History Month. This marks the contributions of women of the Lee family or of women who played important historical roles linked to the Lee era. The program typically involves a scholarly presentation by a historian/author such as Mary Coulling (The Lee Girls) and Joan Cashin (First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis’s Civil War).

Cost of program: $2,000 to cover speaker, travel, marketing, and materials

Northern Neck Cultural Landscapes Symposium

Stratford Hall will annually offer this residential symposium, which received warm acclaim following its inaugural offering in October 2008. Each year the symposium will focus on different themes, ranging from the region’s colonial mansions, to the buildings and grounds of early churches, to formal gardens and vernacular landscapes, to the Northern Neck’s arteries of commerce and transportation…and more. The symposium provides a balance between classroom sessions led by widely-acclaimed architectural historian Camille Wells, along with other respected scholars, and field trips to buildings and sites related to symposium themes. As with other Stratford Hall residential symposia, registrants lodge at the Cheek and Astor Guesthouses and have their meals at the adjacent plantation dining room or on the road during site visits.

Cost: a donation of $5,000 would support speakers’ fees and travel expenses, and would enable Stratford to offer a participant scholarship for the program

Fry-Jefferson Map

The Stratford Hall collections include a wide variety of works on paper that date from the 18th century to the present day. Some highlights of this important collection include:

• Two large historic engravings depicting frescos from the Vatican – these prints were brought back from Europe by Arthur Lee, who served as a commissioner and ambassador in the years surrounding the Revolutionary War.
• An important 1775 map “of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with Part of Pensilvania, New Jersey and North Carolina", completed by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson and popularly known as the “Fry-Jefferson Map” (see image).

These fragile works of art and historic documents necessitate proper storage materials for their long-term preservation. Materials needed for safe re-housing include acid-free archival folders and an archival flat file storage cabinet.

Cost of project: $3,500 to fund purchase of one flat file cabinet and archival document folders

Archival Storage Containers

Collections: Archival Supplies

The collections at Stratford Hall are in constant need of tender, loving care and archival supplies are always needed. Some of our more immediate needs are supplies of acid-free file folders for object document files, polyester sleeves for historic photographs, and acid-free handled boxes for storage and object movement. We also plan on re-housing many of our archaeology artifacts beginning this summer and are in need of polypropylene storage bags, acid-free paper tags, small archival storage boxes, and trays to provide safe storage environments.

Your funding of this on-going project will help us preserve and care for the Stratford Hall collections on a daily basis and make a great impact on the long-term survival of these historic artifacts.

Cost of project: $1,000 to purchase a grouping of archival supplies such as bags, boxes, and tags

Rolled Textile Racks

Many of Stratford Hall’s large furnishing textiles (counterpanes, bed hangings, and window curtains) are rolled up for storage. While this practice is relatively safe for the objects, the support materials need to be updated to archival-grade products to help assure the long-term preservation of the textiles. Providing funding for this project will allow collections staff to unroll the textiles, measure and photograph them, examine them for conservation concerns, and re-roll them on acid-free paper tubes that will then be covered with Tyvek sheeting and labeled for easy inventory and access.

Cost of project: $3,500 for purchase of acid-free rolled textile tubing and supplemental materials

Collections:Textile Survey and Conservation Assessment

The proposed project requires that a textile conservator review all materials in the textile collection, conduct a basic assessment of each object, record the current condition of the object, perform basic rehousing if necessary with the assistance of Stratford collections staff, and provide written recommendations for future preventative conservation or treatment priorities. This proposed project will comprise Phase I of a two-phased project. Phase II will involve formal conservation proposals and treatment as well as storage furniture purchases found to be necessary based on Phase I findings.

The goal of the project is to acquire a better understanding of the condition of the textile collection at Stratford Hall, including many Lee family pieces. This project will help to prioritize conservation needs for the future and help ensure the long-term preservation of this important and fragile collection.

Cost of project: $10,605 to complete survey and assessment

Preservation Project

Cost $2,000 for tools, equipment and supplies for the Preservation Department