Friday, September 25, 2009
Speaker will shed light on women in Civil War
Elisabeth Muhlenfield
Priscilla Richardson is columnist The Botetourt View. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Priscilla Richardson
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Daleville's John Graham asked Weldon Martin, the executive director of the Botetourt Historical Society, to invite Elisabeth Muhlenfeld to speak to the fifth annual Founders Day dinner on Saturday, Oct. 3. This dinner put on by the society will recognize a select few who have done a lot to promote Botetourt's history -- sorry, the names are secret until that evening. But for us it will provide an evening's entertainment along with enlightenment as Muhlenfeld delves into the role of women in the Civil War.
Graham, head of the Civil War Roundtable, had heard Muhlenfeld speak to another group, and so he felt sure she would bring us insight into the war's home front. She qualifies to speak on this topic from her work with the Mary Boykin Chesnut diaries. She, along with the historian C. Vann Woodward, edited a published version of the Chesnut diaries. She also wrote a biography of Chesnut and edited Chesnut's novels. At the time she did this pioneering work on a Civil War woman, very few diaries were known. "But since then, many others have come to light," she said, giving us much more information.
However, most of Muhlenfeld's work until now concentrated on her job, from which she just retired this year, as president of Sweet Briar College. As president, she advocated single sex colleges for women, writing many articles and serving on committees of educators.
She doesn't boast but the college made some giant strides under her leadership. The school built an inn and conference center and a student commons, as well as a fitness and athletics center, plus new student housing. She also saw to it that academic programs expanded, adding majors in environmental science, business and archeology. Completely breaking stereotypes, in 2004 her school became one of two women's colleges in the country to offer engineering degrees.
Although, as she said, "I am not a historian," she certainly acts like one, especially in bringing Civil War history to the forefront. She currently chairs the board of directors of the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar in Richmond. "The Tredegar works made cannons for the north before the war, and for the Confederates during it, and all done with slave labor." So she feels it makes an excellent site for this museum concentrating on the Civil War.
Another current interest of hers is the Tusculum Institute. The building itself was the home of the mother of Sweet Briar's founder. It has been deconstructed and will eventually be reconstructed on college property to house the institute. The institute acts as a resource center for historic preservation and adaptive reuse of buildings.
Like so many busy and productive people, Muhlenfeld serves on other committees, one being Mount Vernon's Advisory Council and another the advisory council of Virginia's Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. This gives her a feel for the entire sweep of American history, from the Revolution on.
A little personal note about this accomplished woman: she and her husband together raised four children, two of hers, two of his. How did she manage? "There was a lot of chaos."
Tickets for the dinner are available from any society board member, from Digital Image Printing or at the Botetourt County Historical Museum. But today is the deadline to get a reservation, so hustle. The ham, chicken breast, sweet potato, vegetables and lemon chess pie dinner would be reason enough to attend. Randy Hurt will provide keyboard music to make it even more enjoyable.
You do not want to miss this speaker to learn much more about everyday life in this part of Virginia during the war.
The fifth annual Founders Day dinner Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m., at the Fincastle United Methodist Family Life Center across from the health department, tickets $25 each. For more information, call 473-8394, or email info@bothistsoc.org.
