January 2019
Lunch Bite – Highland Broadsword
British military historian and armaments specialist Paul Newman discusses a Highland broadsword, the iconic weapon of the Highland Scots in the eighteenth century. During the Revolutionary War, the basket-hilt broadsword was carried by Scottish infantrymen and some British dragoons in the Royal Army, as well as by Scottish immigrants to the Carolinas and Georgia who served in loyalist units. American troops captured Highland broadswords on the battlefield as well as from British supply ships. This example was used during the…
Find out more »Author’s Talk – Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America
President George Washington was determined to secure the Old Northwest—the region extending from the Ohio to the Mississippi—for American settlers, but a powerful Indian confederacy barred the way. Two successive military expeditions to take control of the region had ended in expensive and bloody disasters. Congressmen, reluctant to authorize a third, insisted that it was foolish “to send forth armies to be butchered in the forests.” Washington ignored them, and chose Anthony Wayne—a headstrong Continental Army veteran with a reputation…
Find out more »February 2019
Concert – A Cappella Pop
The Singing Capital Chorus presents a cappella music from the Great American Songbook, classic songs from film and more in this first performance of the spring American Music Series. As the DC chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the Singing Capital Chorus is a premier a cappella singing group in the national capital region that has been ringing chords and entrancing audiences since its founding in 1945. The concert will last approximately one hour. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served…
Find out more »Lunch Bite – Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Library intern Kris Stinson presents an eighteenth-century set of Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and discusses the influence of classical ideas and literature on Revolutionary War participants. First published in 1776, Gibbon’s revolutionary work wove a provocative narrative on the causes of the decay and collapse of the late Roman empire, a society with which early Americans felt a peculiar affinity. Delving into Rome’s complex imperial structure and the characters upon whose fate it rested, Gibbon presented readers…
Find out more »March 2019
Lecture – The Swords of George Washington
This lecture was rescheduled from February 20 due to winter weather on the original date. Whether in the role of militia officer, commander of the Continental Army or president of the United States, a sword frequently hung by George Washington's side. Nine of his swords are known to exist today, and each has a fascinating history not just as a functional weapon but as a symbol of the iconic American founder and the birth of the nation. Commemorate the 287th…
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