knew. so thank you so much. i'm. doing that. hello, everyone. i'm. good afternoon. thank you very much for being here. i so appreciate your attendance on this beautiful friday

afternoon. and welcome to everyone who will eventually see this program online. thanks so much to c-span for recording it and sharing this wisdom with a much broader audience. my name is lindsay chervinsky. i'm the executive director of the george washington presidential library here at mt. vernon. and i'm delighted to welcome you to the 2024 george washington symposium entitled founding fellows ten years of academic excellence. so this annual event is one of mt. vernon's longest running programs. it is now in its 29th year, which is amazing. it is made possible by a generous endowment by the barrow foundation and we are grateful to their ongoing support. the george washington presidential library opened its doors in 2013, so we are now technically in its 11th year. i had the excellent fortune of being a fellow in the library, and through this fellows program in the. 2015 to 2016 academic year and it was the most enriching

intellectual experience, both because i got to see such cool old stuff and do incredible, historic research, but also be surrounded by people who were intellectually curious, who asked a great questions, who could engage in converse fashion that lifted up the quality of my scholarship and everyone around me. it is rare that you get to meet people who have sort of a baseline, understand knowing of the story and the narrative so that you can skip those initial steps and you can just dig in to the meat of what you're trying to work on. and that community was so unbelievably valuable to my development and to my career long term. so i am thrilled that we are able to put on a program this year which celebrates some of the other work that the fellows have done in the last 11 years to showcase the breadth and depth of the breadth and depth of the way that one can study washington.

his lifetime. and of course, all of the people who have lived and worked at mount vernon, the library is one of one piece of our mission to educate the widest public audience about the life and times and legacy of george washington, the first president of the united states. but it is one, of course, that i am obviously particularly proud to be a part of as we move forward, i want to encourage everyone to think broadly about what it means to study george washington, to study his lifetime, and hopefully the next couple of days will be fun and intellectually stimulating for you all. i it fairly. i have not actually asked the participants if they're okay with this, but i always find the questions to be the most interesting and fun part. so i do hope that you will engage and participate in the sessions and ask questions when invited to do so. with that introduction, i am now delighted to turn over the program to mt. vernon dystocia curator dr. jill rothschild, who

was also a fellow at one point in the fellow library program, who will moderate our very first panel of scholars entitled new discoveries in washington's memory. thank you so much. hi, everyone. can you hear me? all right? okay. thanks, katherine. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon for the symposiums, inaugural panel, new discoveries in washington's memory, i'm jill vom rothschild, as you heard, associate curator in the fine and decorative art department here at mt. vernon. and i'm thrilled to be moderating this panel on washington's memory. a fitting way to enter the weekend's multifaceted look at washington and his world. i've had the pleasure of getting to know many of today's panelists and additional scholars in the audience through

our shared fascination with the national memory of george washington, we were connected through this fellowship program that we celebrate this weekend, and we have continue to think together about the nearly endless ways in which people sought to memorialize washington during his lifetime as his star was on the rise. and especially in the century after his death and what those efforts can tell us about the people who burnished his memory as an art historian, i have been intrigued by the way in which remembering washington takes material form. my own interest in a pervasive desire for 19th century americans to access washington. the man developed out of my study of this painting of yarmuk by charles wilson peale as a fellow, i delved into the misattribution, the painting had for nearly 100 years, labeled in the 1850s as washington as body

serpent. although yarrow, a free muslim man living in georgetown, had no connections to george washington. and a fascinating biography in his own right, his portrait hung in peale's philadelphia museum near many of the artist's life portraits of washington. because of the painting's proximity, 19th century viewers wrongly assumed the portrait depicted william lee washington and his famous enslaved valet during the revolutionary war and a desire to remember washington and those associated with him subsume claimed jarreau's identity and biography in the process here at mount vernon, we collect and exhibit a wide range of memorial artifacts, and we continue to benefit from the scholarship of the panelists and many other past fellows. as we study these objects in december, we will exhibit a mt. vernon gem, which mid-19th

century tourists perch just as a memento of their visit here it features an engraved profile portrait of washington surrounded by views of his home and his framed by a piece of wood hewn near his tomb. the source of its relic value for tourists. we also recently acquired an extraordinary example of the british ceramicist josiah wedgwood, late 18th century production, a first edition portland base whose importance to mount vernon stems not only from the base itself, but from what was held inside. this base was owned by wedgwood friend thomas poole, who, like the artists, admire washington and supported america's revolution. paul placed the ultimate washington relic, a lock of his hair into the base where it has been entombed since 1802. and we acquired the hair as

well. the base, the gem and the portrait are all examples of how studying washington's memory can ultimately shed light on the cultural and social histories of those who seek to keep his memory alive. today's panelists will delve into other fascinating threads in the study of washington's memory. they will speak to portrayal of sites of washington's life and fine art and how the process of a painter to document locations significant to his history intersect ed with the writing of his biography, they'll speak to how seneca iroquois leaders public images and memories were shaped by their connections to washington, to what happened when washington's own writings were exported and translated to a european context, and how the apparently neutral act of preserving washington's home. mount vernon during the civil war enabled women of the nascent

mount vernon ladies association to exercise political agency. i'll introduce them all briefly now and then let them move through their presentations, and then we'll return for a discussion and q&a after their talks. so please be thinking of your questions. our first speaker is dr. lydia metz brandt, a professor of art and architectural history at the university of south carolina. dr. brandt has authored the south carolina statehouse grounds, a guidebook and first in the homes of his countrymen, george washington's mount vernon and the american imagination, as well as articles and winters. her portfolio is antiques and fine art. the public historian, the journal of the society of architectural historians and many book chapters. her current research explores the southern plantation house in popular visitor visual culture. our second speaker is dr. melissa davis, assistant professor of history at augusta university in augusta, georgia.

her interests lie in the civil war and reconstruction. women and gender studies and public history. her book gendering secession white women and the politics and politics in south carolina, 1862 1861 will be published with cambridge university press in 2025. our third speaker is dr. derek o leary, who received his ph.d. in u.s. history at uc berkeley in 2020 and has taught since at bard high school, early college, d.c., and the university of south carolina. he transitioned to the federal government in 2022 and just completed the prestigious presidential management fellowship program at a prestigious. he didn't write that. his book, archival communities constructing the past in the early u.s. will be published by uva press in 2025 as well. and our final speaker is dr. john c winters, assistant director of the georgia. ann richards civil war era

center at penn state. he is the author of the 2023 book the amazing iroquois and the invention of the empire state. from oxford university press and is published in various academic and public facing venues. as a public historian, john won a national park service grant for the reinterpretation of the historic fort rosalie site in natchez, mississippi. he and he directed the public history program at the university of southern mississippi. john returns to mt. vernon today, where he has previously served as a history interpreter and the supervisor of interpretation from 2011 to 2013. john held a research fellowship at the library in 2019, and you can see their respective dates of of the other speakers fellowships as well. and in addition to his paper, john will share some exciting news about a forthcoming, edited volume with uva press, in which all the panelists work on washington's memory will appear.

so please join me in welcoming dr. brandt. to the oh, it's so good to see everyone today. this is a project that's really still coming together. and so some of this is breaking research. i proposed to spend my second fellowship at the library in spring 2020. i didn't know what was going to happen. researching a series of nine washington related paintings made by john gadsby chapman in the 1830s. born in allegan, drea and 1808, chapman produced these accomplished oil paintings. between 1833 and 1835. clockwise from the upper left, they include the site of george

washington's birth, his childhood home. otherwise known as very farm yorktown. his mother's house in fredericksburg. and three of mount vernon. the mansion from the river. the bedchamber in which washington died. and the old tomb chapman also made two smaller paintings of yorktown, mount vernon curator adam irby. and i started this project in 2015. when mount vernon had the paintings on loan, the estate later purchased them. we found them really, really pretty. they were very charming, but we also weren't sure what they meant. why did chapman choose these sites? why paint them as they appeared in the 1830s rather than recreate dating what they look like during washington's time? and why paint them at all? as a result of this fellowship, we have plunged deep into the world of american history, writing and painting in the

1830s. we realized that the answers to our questions lie not in the painting themselves, but in the partnership that produced them between chapman seen here. this is what i mean about charming in a self-portrait where he has painted himself painting on plein air and his patron author and bureaucrat james kirk paulding, whom you see on the right. we knew from the jump that paulding had commissioned these paintings of washington sites. we also knew that they were connected to spalding's two volume biography of washington that he published in 1835. and you can see one of chapman's paintings adapted for the frontispiece of one of the volumes here on the left. but it wasn't until we fully unraveled their relationship that we understood the pivotal place that their partnership played in new ways of thinking about american history and landscapes in the 19th century.

today, how quickly introduce you to our most important findings as we finish two essay manuscripts on this partnership. chapman and pauling's partnership began at the confluence of old virginia and a new york art scene on the rise. pauling didn't just pay for chapman to paint pictures of washington's homes and haunts. he hired him to conduct research that would become central to his biographical project. pauling had long wanted to write a book about george washington, but he didn't have the time or the resource was to complete the highly personal look into washington's life that he knew people wanted. and chapman was the perfect person to undertake the work. he'd attended the alexandria academy with the eldest son of lawrence louis and nellie park, custis louis and nellie had commissioned him to paint one of her grandsons. you see here with her plantation, woodlawn, in the background.

chapman's mother was friendly with the then mistress of mount vernon jane charlotte blackburn. washington resulting in her commissioning chapman for this massive group portrait that you can now see in the museum here at mount vernon in 1834. and i like to imagine chapman interviewing her while painting this on the piazza for chapman palling, meanwhile, could help chapman break into the new york art scene, which was quickly surpassing philadelphia in the early 19th century. his wildly successful satirical pamphlet, it's published with washington irving in 1807, had launched a career as a popular novelist, playwright and critic. like his friends, artist and inventor samuel f.b., morse and novelist james fenimore cooper, pauling's work was focused on nationalist themes. he aimed not only to support american art, but also to promote the idea that american

cultural and natural resources could compete with those of europe. chapman had met and impressed members of pauling's intellectual circle while studying in italy in the 1820s, especially cooper and maurice cooper had commissioned paintings from him. while morse and chapman had traveled together and in fact, morse painted this picture while he was traveling with chapman in tuscany and has a very chapman's sky holdings commission secured such relationships for chapman and a steady paycheck. chapman began working with pauling in the winter of 1830 233, perhaps after an introduction by either cooper or morse. he traveled throughout virginia on pauling's dime, painting scenes and talking to people who had known washington. the results of their partnership revealed a new side of washington's biography.

and this was always the goal for pauling to tell a more intimate story of george washington. chapman wrote. spalding painfully detailed accounts of his conversations with people like lawrence lewis and jeremy prophet, a man enslaved by washington, his brother john august. in washington. pauling then repeated these stories in his book sometime verbatim. pauling hoped that this content would help his book stand out, especially against those by person. weems and jared sparks. weems book had been published in 27 editions by the time pauling and chapman began working together, but it was also well-known for its romantic liberties, including the story of a child. washington chopping down a cherry tree. jared sparks had only just begun publishing his 11 volumes of washington's papers in the early

1830s, but they promise to be foremost a collection of annotate. the primary sources pauling used chapman's research to ensure that his biography would be distinguished from these projects. not only by being true, but also by its accessibility in both content and cost. harper and brothers. ultimately published the book as part of their family library, a series of inexpensive volumes aimed at young readers. the anecdotes chapman reported to spalding suggest that he was more than just well-connected. chapman was affable and convincing enough to encourage people to spill about washington. in a letter to pauling, chapman recounted lawrence lewis's description of how washington rose before or at dawn of day and lighted his own candle and went to the study and spent the early hours alone. his devotion, as chapman went on

to spalding when daylight became sufficient to extinguish his candle, he rang the bell and a servant appeared with his boots. he said not a word, but would turn them around and around if clean they would quietly drawn on. they were quietly drawn on, if not, the servant got them about his head. chapman clarified that washington hit the enslaved valet without betraying any exciting hint beyond the effort of the moment and in a minute afterwards, he was no less calm and collected than usual. pauling surely recognized that while this anecdote came from an authoritative source and showed a definitive personal side of the general, it could also prove him to be hot tempered or even cruel. this story would have demonstrated washington as appropriate sense of discipline to lewis an enslaver as he was telling the story. chapman's family enslaved and

participated in the slave trade so he would not have been surprised by the story when repeating it to spalding. but pauling knew the potential of such a story to damage washington's heroic image. although he published chapman's initial description of washington inns routine almost word for word in his biography, pauling edited out the account of washington striking the man when his occupation was finished, he wrung for his boots and walked or rode out to pursue his morning exercise and avocations. but chapman's research was only half of what he brought to the partnership, which as a whole produced a resumé for the artist as an important and even cutting edged painter of american history. backed by authoritative and exhaustive research, chapman's paintings offered evidence of his skills as a history painter, the highest calling for an

artist in the 19th century west. more specifically, his choice to paint these historic sites as they look to contemporary eyes highlighted their capacity for the theories of the picturesque, so fashionable in england and that are still praised today as the hallmark of the hudson river school of landscape painting. chapman engaged with these places as ruinous, such as washington's boyhood home, seen here again and again, the pictures contrast the moldering sites of washington's 18th century america with the busy modern world continuing on around them. this also visualized ideas paulding had published as early as the 18 tens about america's capacity for a picturesque history that was as rich as that of england or europe. conceived by paulding and chapman. together, this series prove that chapman could paint a major

history picture that he could not only technically achieve technically accomplished, and deeply meaningful pictures of historic places, but that he could also literally reconstruct them. by the time he painted the series as only interior scene you see here, none of this furniture was at mount vernon chapman visited george washington park. custis at arlington house to learn how the room had been arranged at the time of washington's death. he then sketched each piece and reassembled them in the room to create a scene as if washington's body had only just been removed. the resume worked. spalding's role as chapman's official patron ended in 1837, when the federal government awarded him the commission for one of the four remaining spots in the rotunda of the u.s. capitol. chapman finished his monumental baptism of pocahontas.

you see here in 1840. and we just saw it today in the rotunda. the u.s. capitol. it's really, really big. harry search has revealed how important the partnership was to earning chapman. this commission something that previous historians have not recognized. contemporary critics regard chapman's washington paintings as historical landscapes, just one tier below history paintings. they not only had the stamp of approval of a major american writer, spalding, but were also produced as part of a reciprocal partnership with that man. the works focus on washington in particular, proved that chapman could handle the biography of the nation's single, most important and complex figure. the partnership also hone the skills chapman would need to paint a major historical picture and provided the theme as chapman painted the washington

landscapes for pauling. he created a parallel portfolio on jamestown, including this highly accomplished work of the ruin of the jamestown church, which he painted while in yorktown for the washington pictures. his images of james town, past and present, accompanied and illustrated fiction and poetry. pauling wrote about jamestown town in the years leading up to the baptism of pocahontas commission. they help to explain chapman's ultimate choice of subject for the capitol picture, something that has long puzzled historians. the baptism of pocahontas was a chance for chapman to reconstruct the ruin of the jamestown church, in particular, much like his reassembling of the furniture in washington's bedchamber. chapman traveled to england to sketch details of costume, furniture and architecture that he then incorporated into this major painting. the commission was an

opportunity to recreate one of america's oldest ruins on a grand scale, using all the connections and skills he'd gained in the polling partnership. he even employed james kirk pauling son william as a model in van -- dress and the paintings corner. even though this picture is one of the most important american history paintings of the 19th century isn't of washington. it was made possible by washington's memory and chapman and pauling's treatment of it. this enormous painting, it is 12 feet by 18 feet is evidence of the capacity for washington's memory as a subject for art history, making and personal and intellectual ambitions. in the 1830s. only through washington could a young artist, even one as talented and welcome, connected as john gadsby chapman, paint a monumental american sea. thank you.

oh yeah. that is the big button, right. well, while this happens. hi, everyone. my name is melissa develvis and i'm going to talk about my portion of research that is now part of this volume. i closed the volume because no one goes quite past the civil war. in looking at washington's memory of our sample size. i thought it would be a fun little background on how i found this research in the first place. we will shout out he's not there anymore. but if you've ever been to the south carolinian, a library in columbia, south carolina, graham duncan was my boss at the time,

and he said, you know, you've been processing collections for a really long time. it's about time that i give you one that's from your time period. and so i found mary cox chestnut, not mary boykin chestnut. her mother in law. some of her letters that were in. as usual, we find things in just walls. they found some papers in a wall. and it's the letters and receipts from mostly women telling her, no, i'm sorry, i can't be one of your regional lady managers for the mt. vernon. ladies association. we're too busy or people aren't interested enough. it's 1860. and so in those mostly no's, but some yeses, i tripped and fell into the mt. vernon ladies association. and then, lo and behold and pamela cunningham is a south carolinian, and suddenly i was not only doing research on secession in south carolina women, but how did the mt. vernon ladies association cope with an incoming split of a country when their entire organization was to really

embody what the nation was? and the founder of this nation. so my chapter essentially is about cunningham and the marvelous use of washington's memory during secession and the lead up. people wanted mt. vernon and the ladies to essentially save the union with their preservation efforts. in their defense, a really, really high order to try and fulfill. but they tried and women used the discussions of this goal. and the state of mount vernon to talk about electoral politics, which at the time was still considered very unladylike. do we say, well, that's the idea, but surely they still politics? well, there apologizing for it in their letters. and so what whites elite ladies at the very least, are doing to mask their political discussion is to use language of religion or to use the language of history and memory, which was appropriate for women. and so here we can talk about is

mt. vernon going to go with virginia? is it going to stay in the nation? are we going to be fundraise ing in the next year? all of these discussions about the state of the union filtered through mt. vernon. i also challenge the idea that the mt. vernon ladies association's deliberate neutrality during secession and during the civil war is the same thing as being a political and public. cunningham wants us to think that it's the same thing. but i argue as many nationalisms scholars do, that sometimes to define yourself as neutral means you're defining yourself as not the other thing, and therefore, i'm actually finding a lot in common with unionists, especially, of course, due to their connection with edward everett. constitutional unionists on the eve of secession. so i wanted to start with the history wars between washington or sorry, when the north and the south both bring up washington and the american revolution to get their point across. this begins in the 1830s. so if you think history wars are a new thing to get political

gains across, you are incorrect. they chose 4th of july speeches to poke at either the abolitionists or the southern enslavers. the northerners has claimed that this is the revolution, our inheritance, the promise of the declaration of independence is to free one's slaves, and that washington did. sure, it was very late, but he was getting this movement started and that the founders are enacting the lockean idea of freedom. meanwhile, enslavers are sitting here saying, all right, but they wrote the constitution and that protects our property. and george washington was a good family man and a good man to his slaves. and therefore, we're embodying what the founders wanted. so both of them using the same revolutionary ideals to push for their side and to make jabs at the other side, especially the south, increasingly says the american revolution is about rebelling against tyranny. and isn't that what we were going to do?

so increasingly, we get a sexual nature to these battle monuments, these like, does bunker hill belong to the north or does it belong to the nation? should south carolina have its own american revolutionary battle that is going to be there? epitome of independence. all of these history wars are happening that, of course, come to a head in the 1850s. and on the other side, we have our unionists who are trying to use washington, and especially his farewell address as proof that actually, no, we should not have a north or south kind of antipathy that we should stay together. one of them, of course, i'm not going to spend a lot of time on everett because i believe he's already going to be discussed in this. i just got to go first. edward everett made the speech around the circuit talking about the farewell address. and he, of course, becomes the vice presidential nominee for the constitutional union party. he also becomes a huge close friend to an pamela cunningham

sometimes signing his letters with poppa. and she not her dad, but so he would end up raising hundreds of thousands and thousands of dollars for the mount vernon ladies association. so this is not necessarily a new thing, but they start to in get the mount vernon ladies association to do this unionist work for them. they see washington as a mecca. it's a holy site worthy of pilgrimage. they say that this is the patriarch of our liberties who quote more than any earthly being enabled, the nation's happiness and aggrandizement. so by visiting mount vernon, especially on the eve of disunion, that is to remember that they all have the same quote, father. therefore, if the estate could be preserved because it was not in good shape in the 1850s, before, and pamela cunningham and the specifically virginian members of the mount vernon, ladies associate should not in great shape before their fundraising efforts begin.

and so by visiting mount vernon, the embodiment of washington, if we can preserve the estate, perhaps we can also preserve the nation. and so here comes the mvl washington at this point is viewed almost as the god of like the civic religion within american politics. he's a religious idol, a father to all, a paternal figure, and therefore due to its ties to domesticity and women can preserve his memory without getting too far into the political sphere. so while the mvl is fundraising with senators giving speeches, all the things that we could consider political work because it's washington women are appropriately set up to do this. and so we see an pamela cunningham, of course, again, she's also going to be mentioned so the founder of the mount vernon ladies association, also a south carolinian, which will become very important in 1860. just a couple other cast of characters. john august in washington, the

third from whom this so great. i can skip this part almost because i'm speaking to like minded people. usually have to give the founding story. but i also want to include one of our vice regents, because she is a very close friend of pamela cunningham, and it is to her that merce cunningham writes her most vocal letters. and then, of course, her secretary, sarah tracy. later, herbert. so here are just some excerpts from the mount vernon record that show that, yes, this task of saving the union was a very big pill to swallow for and just a task for women who were starting from the ground up. but they accepted this. so we can see here how isn't it strange that of this nation, it's women who essentially are going to get involved with this purchase. woman is gifted with nicer notions and warmer feelings of patriotism than were ever dreamed of in man's philosophy. it is around the or sorry in the domestic circle and around the family altar that republican virtue and the love of country

exact truths. so again, it's this idea that it's a part essential part of feminine ity, this kind of historic preservation of washington's memory. here's yet another one. you are woman, the best gift of god to man. you will be the brightest, the purest and the noblest or sorry. charity will bring about the brightest, the purest and the noblest moment. monument to his memory. and then also it gets very, very you can see what i mean by civic religion right on the morning of the third day. woman was first at the tomb of the divine savior. and on the evening of the last day, woman will be the last of the grave of the political of his country. and one more here to add to all other obstacles. here's where you can see that they are taking on the mantle of we can do this. we can at least try to keep the north and the south united. once again, they're claiming that they are apolitical. they're not being political. but this is a unionist goal.

and unions were a party at the time. so to add to all other obstacles was a feeling of social reserved which restricts the sphere of women's action in the southern states. and yet, even more than other, a feeling in its nature was antagonize. stick to this movement. so they're saying that women actually were even more limited in the south and therefore speaks forcibly. for the purity of the motive, the love of washington and the spirit of patriotism that gave power to make the community realize from the first the beauty of the tribute to virtue and discharge of a duty to the honored dead, the performance of which would exercise a desirable influence upon the living as an appropriate sphere for woman. what an illustration of the grandeur and power of true patriotism, saying, you know, the southern women actually have it harder, and yet they're still doing it. so this is true patriot ism right here. so as i mentioned, the mount vernon ladies associate is going

to really accept this goal, embrace it. cunningham going to say that like washington himself, mt. vernon's lady association should stand as a beacon light amid, quote, the deep gloom now over spreading over our political horizon. i'm going to back up. their work should create, quote, a great national heart stirred by one common feeling, united in common purpose. e pluribus unum spontaneously from every section comes one sentiment that this enterprise is to be one of the political, one of political union and regeneration. so cunningham in this is not shying away from mentioning internal dissensions of 1860. she's not refusing to recognize that there is clouds on the political spectrum. but she says that what we are going to do is unite in one kind of common heart, see that everyone has devotion to washington in common.

so she is firmly situating mount vernon and its ladies as a force for unionism. unlike many of her fire eating family members in south carolina. her the cunningham's in south carolina are very, very pro secession, so much so that they call an pamela a yankee in some in one letter, i believe. she is very upset about this. a virginia member, susan pellet, proclaimed that the mount vernon ladies association was a conservative power for good. the bond which shall link together in in one brotherhood north south's east and west, whose aim shall be the preservation of the union now and forever. cunningham advocated for a policy of neutrality, ensuring that the mount vernon ladies association, quote, was and always would be above sectional fanaticism. but again, i am seeing this as unionism and not quite neutrality unless they are refusing to say we declare for lincoln or we declare for

buchanan or douglas or anyone, of course, than jefferson davis as well. and so here we can see she is trying so hard to leave current national events. however, out of mount vernon in jim. no, in march, sorry, in march of 1860. however the mount vernon record publishes a speech in which john brown is mentioned and cunningham is furious as can see here, she was desperately trying to stop mt. vernon from taking a stand and yet the publisher, a man she mentions has no words to express the indignation when she sees the name of john brown and mention of the harpers ferry raid in a record that is an organ of an association formed to ignore politics in sections. and it happened under her sanction and just at very time when she is asking for a movement on national grounds and on behalf of the name of the common father of this country.

so she is infuriated there is a mention of john brown in her record. and from here on out, she actually insists on editing and or at least looking at every entry of the record before it is published. of course, then we get into some money troubles. people are stealing money from the record, and so it very inconveniently to me stops publishing very shortly after this. i wanted more research here. however, you can see that some women are starting to use the language of the revolution and history to push for secession. i'm. my book is on south carolina. so people are still pushing for a union. but here can see that unlike cunningham, some young women, especially in south carolina, are saying that these are the places where we have these revolutionary forefathers. and yet now they either don't care enough to fundraise for mount vernon or calhoun has been added as a founding father to the united states.

if you are in south carolina, so women are continuing to use history to talk politics. as the session nears, cunningham has to go home and settle estate of her father. when she gets there. there is a newspaper report that says, we learn that miss and pamela cunningham, the southern matron, is now at bournville. that's in south carolina. we are informed that her patriotic heart beats an ardent response to the great southern movement and that her only regret is that she cannot bring the tomb of washington with the south. cunningham is furious because she did not say that. and that they would dare to call her political as another that really bothers her. of course, today we would see her as a very political woman pushing for going to congress, lobbying for funds and things like this. but she says before this, i've made it a rule to never notice any editorial notices of myself. it's more ladylike to pass them

by. however, it is most improper and indelicate to draw a lady into the quote, political arena. so, again, she is kind of differentiating between what is political and what is not. also, how improper it is to, quote, do it in connection with her relations to an association formed to have joint ownership and guardianship of the grave of one father of all. no matter how our country is divided to quote, throw such a firebrand into our women's wigwam was more than a blunder. it was a crime. so this letter goes on for nine pages. she is very unhappy. her vision is poor and her hand is poor. and i don't know if i don't know if smith is in here, but i had to send this to her. and i said, please help me. there are many words i really needed help with, and i've been doing this for a bit. so she furious that she gets swept into this rumor mill simply because she's in south carolina as south carolina and actually as georgia seceding at this point. she remains trapped in south

carolina for the rest of the war. and so she recognizes that she has a problem here in which she can't decry disunion because she'll bring one region upon her. however, if she refuses, respond to something said about her. she brings her state and her family of south carolina down upon her. so cunningham's hands are tied. her efforts to keep mt. vernon ladies association as a neutral force for unionism have failed, secession occurs. and she on the download does raise some money for the confederacy. after the war begins, she is in no means an abolitionist. she does not like them at all. so mt. vernon is able to remain neutral throughout the civil war, mostly because they simply stop all functioning. and so they don't have to worry about these things. cunningham can get her letters out any way when she's in south carolina. and so tracy and herbert basically hold it down for her. and i will close on one more

kind of funny story about the civil war itself in which, yes, there continues to be questions in which they frame mount vernon as a question of north versus south. there are rumors published in a northern newspaper, the john august in washington, now a confederate has stolen the body of washington, moved it to a different place in virginia. so there's rumors of body snatching. there's also rumors that cunningham state of virginia on mount vernon and is now a spy passing information down to the southern traitors. but for that, actually, other people have written about it very well. and so i will close with this. thank you so much. well, hey there, everybody. it's it's such a pleasure to be back here. i happen to have overlapped with lydia in of 2020 when we had no idea what was about to come.

but it was a wonderful time to be introduced to mt. vernon and some other faces in the crowd who i'm happy to see and to start some of the research that has turned into this chapter of this great this great book project. so i suspect that any of us who have read a text in translation or perhaps even translated a text themself, have part of the difference and the distance between the original and the translation, even if a text is translated word for word, can it meaning by meaning be conveyed from one language into another? surely something is lost in translation, but we might also wonder what is found or produced by that translator for their own readers. if we do look at translation with this set of skeptical questions in mind, we should find it surprise zien to observe the confidence with which certain bookish americans of the antebellum period envision the translation of george washington's papers into other

languages a translation that some believed could perfectly preserve not only the sense of those words, but the character of washington himself, the very essence of the man. sizable portions. and you can see snippets of the cover pages of these editions of washington's writings appeared in first, a two volume german edition in 1839, a project overseen by the famous german historian friedrich von romer. and the following year, a four volume edition introduced and overseen by another famous european historian, francois gizo, which appeared in 1840. to my knowledge, this was the single largest export of translated american and archival materials in this period. so during the decade before, these translation projects were undertaken, historian jared sparks, who will hear a lot more about lidia, introduced him earlier, had gathered and sifted through innumerable papers

written by washington himself. sparks collected or copied these on both sides of the atlantic. he roved from england to france. he crossed throughout all of the 13 original states, and he spent some time right here on the site of mount vernon, where supreme court justice bush, rod washington, granted him access to his uncle's papers. sparks likely traveled more in search of archival materials than other american of his generation. selections of these writings appeared in 12 volumes. one, which included a life of washington written by sparks himself and were published between 1834. in 1837. so the ink had hardly dried on these volumes when on content with a strictly american readership for this long labor of love, sparks eyed europe. he had the help of george tickner, a harvard professor who was then living in europe and who became a sort of literary agent or intermediary between

sparks and the german rumor and the french guy. so who led these translate projects to their respective publics? in these translated versions sparks was certain that washington and again, not merely words, but his very character would appear precisely before these foreign readers, as it did before americans in the same perfect proportions that sparks observed in the man. so i'd like to examine a few things. the first is where did this conviction come from? that papers authored in one language could be conveyed perfectly into another language that the essence of a man could cross linguistic but also cultural and ideological lines and appeal in the same way to foreign. and then second, what actually when washington's papers began to cross into foreign languages. jared sparks featured here on the left and then francois gizo on your right.

so in 1828, jesus wrote to jared sparks to thank him for a signed letter by george washington and that sparks had gifted the frenchman. jesus was then a professor of history at the university of paris and sparks, a traveling researcher in france searching for materials related to washington. disregarded a passive use most of the time on the monument that was for the francophones. in translation, i will carefully save the small monument of a great man, keizo to sparks by labeling this two dimensional piece of paper a scrap from washington's archives as a monument. jesus was borrowing a metaphor from one language, from the lexicon of one medium sculpture or architecture to describe another text, whether speaking about a single document or the collected writings of washington, this was not an uncommon way to envision washington's writing in this

period. in the previous year, sparks himself in a letter to the marquis de lafayette, the famed french ally of the american revolution, had described the volumes of washington's writings that he hoped one day to publish as, quote, a monument for posterity reared by the hands of our great hero himself. a monument for post-death pity reared by the hands of our great hero himself. so what lay beneath this belief that whether a leaf of paper, many thousands compiled washington as writings form some sort of monument or the broader monumental landscape in the early us, which lydia has already told us a little bit about, helps provide some context for this. unlike many places in europe around the greater mediterranean world, or even to the south in the western hemisphere. large scale civilizations have left ruins. that to some americans at least, left them feeling culturally

self-conscious. where indeed with the stimulus, four great american works of art, for instance, or works of fiction, come from if not in stone. some americans sought to find a more inspire, fearing monument of their nation's greatness in text. sparks washington as a sort of monument in an era when actual monuments of washington were few or worse. in the case of washington's dilapidated tomb, which year after year aggrieved visitors to mount vernon, we saw an image by chapman earlier from lydia. in the life of george washington that preceded the 11 documentary volumes of washington's writings that sparks put together, he included an anonymous document that he had uncovered behind a framed miniature portrait of washington hanging in mount vernon. this document was entitled character of washington, designed for a monumental inscription. and i've wondered if it's still there. i'm not encouraging people to go flipping over while hangings in

mount vernon, but maybe somebody knows this page long inscription included the following and the name of washing tin, adding new luster to humana and resounded to the remotest regions of the earth. magnanimous and youth, glorious through death, glorious through life, great and death. his highest ambition, the happiness of mankind and his noblest victory. the conquest of himself bequeathing posterity, the inheritance of his fame, and building his monument in the hearts of his countrymen. he lived the ornament of the 18th century. he died regretted by a mourning world and building his monument in the hearts of his countrymen. even in an inscription for an actual monument in stone or in metal that was never built, the anonymous author claimed that washington's very name was already monumental, both for americans and for the wider world. throughout his edited volumes,

sparks showed readers that washington's life and writings exhibited these extraordinary qualities in both form and in content. sparks wrote his business papers, day books, ledgers and letter books exhibit space admins of the same studious care and exactness every fact occupies a clear and distinct place. and if mistakes occurred, the faulty words were so skillful, early, erased and corrected as to render the effect envisaged all except to a scrutinizing eye. these writerly qualities on the page mirrored washington's character. as sparks perceived it, which he described as, quote, the happy combination of rare talent and qualities, the harmonious union, the intellectual and moral powers, rather than the dazzling splendor of any one trait which constitute the grandeur of his character. though we should note, as lydia brought to the surface that this composure could coincide with acts of quotidian cruelty.

they could coexist together. sparks positioned washington's readers nonetheless to view him in a certain light as a type of textual monument on the plate that precedes the first volume of the writings of washington. reflects this in it sparks stacked five separate signatures of washington that he had gathered over the years, organized chronologically from top to bottom, 1744, 1749, 1757, 1776 and 1799, all significant years in washington's life. one atop the other, almost as if sparks had constructed a statue of text from these innumerable autograph notes that he had gathered over the years by washington. as sparks completed his project sympathetic american readers praise these in washington as well. massachusetts politician and man of letters, edward everett, who had been a big day already, and

i'm sure we'll hear more about and got in in a little bit borrowed this visual lexicon of architecture to describe washington's character in the north american review. everett wrote that the peculiar eminence of the character of washington consists in no small degree in the want of those salient points which identify the characters of the most common men, but which consist in the undue development and over the action of a portion of the moral or intellectual system. it would not be easy to find a person. its less adapted to the purposes of romance. according to the laws of which usually regulate that department of composition. the faults, which have sometimes been curiously pointed out in his character, are the faults which a pupil of david would find in the pictures of rafael. or modern building committee would detect in the parthenon the severe adjustment of all the parts of his characters to each other, produce a repose and

harmony in which the vulgar mind interprets into an absence of decisive qualities. sparks was thrilled. he quickly thanked everett for this flattering review and wrote this idea of its proportions. sparks praised is beautifully illustrated. the line not a single traded discretion is disclosed in this work is very high praise. sparks and everett were in agreement about these monumental characteristics of washington, which, like the parthenon, they could imagine being admired across ages and across national lines. so to come back to the translation gives such comparisons of washington to the monumental marvels of the classical world, such as the parthenon, surely encouraged sparks to believe that washington's writing held a universal value for readers beyond the u.s. sparks and his american intermediary is in germany, and france enthused artistically. looks forward to the publication of translated editions in each country.

everett again wrote in such hands as friedrich von romer and francois izzo. these precious relics will come before the continental public as favorably as they have done before the american. we doubt not that they will bring washing to the to the fire sides of the hundred millions in europe who receive their supplies of intellectual food through the french and german language. so such hopefulness about a european sized readership for these translations might seem a bit hyperbole. but it reflected the enthused chasm of americans. i once there confidence in the significance of these writings and their excitement that these two distinguished european historians could lend their authority to the translation projects in the interest of time, i'm going to skip over the german translation, which you can see on your left here. on the screen, though, it follows its own path. an interesting story. instead, i'll focus on the french translation overseen

again by francois gwarzo, as he had for sparks in germany. george tickner took on the task of coordinating this french edition. sparks had considered alexis de tocqueville famous for his democracy in america as a possible candidate to oversee the project. but he liked gizo for the job. translating, introducing and promoting the project. sparks had worried that gizo would be too busy. he had been a key member in the administration of louis-philippe, the monarch of france, during the july monarchy, which lasted from 1830 to 1848. he would later become the foreign minister of france for most of the 1840s and nonetheless, when gizo was presented with the project, he was excited about the opportunity. he soon delved into research about washington passing sparks volumes, as well as other sources about washington ins life. in short time became enthralled.

gizo reported to tickner later that year, quote, i lived all of last summer in intimacy with our great man. i have found this intimacy equally salutary, as sweet for my soul, and i would be happy to spread the taste for it in my country. deeply intimate terms that keizo uses to describe washington. he also selected items from the american edition to be translated, engaged to editors to translate them, and he spent the summer writing his detailed introduction to the four volume french edition. the work appeared the following year, featuring own 117 page essay sparks his life of washington and translated into french and then four volumes of documents translated from english to french. often featuring moments of french and american cooperation during the war. so what are these translated volumes themselves?

when they appeared in french, the elite bookish american confidence that washington's writings could seamlessly, authentically across languages met a more complex reality. while sparks his german and french counterparts accepted his claim about washington's extraordinary qualities, the textual monument of washington that sparkes had assembled was cast in a different light abroad, especially in france. however, he admired washington jesuit, adapted washington to his own political ideology and vision of french history. on one hand, the french edition, the edition and gizo himself praised the very qualities and washington that sparks that celebrated. the french editors presented the translated volumes as the monument to washington that sparks had conceived it as explaining in their introduction, quote, his homeland, america has recently erected the most beautiful of

monuments to him. again, that repetition of the term monument. it has published his works, his letters, his speeches, his messages that which washington said or wrote at the very moment when he was acting, that is to say, his living image and true history, almost as if the text translated into french continue to bear washington himself, inserting washington's writings. throughout the essay, gizo illuminated his vital role waging the revolution and forging a nation. like sparks, jesus praised the consists that he observed across washington's writings which bore the qualities of the man himself. at the same time, while praising the exceptional role that washington had played during the revolution, jesus drew on his own historical vision, one that was relevant for france to depict washington in a certain light. gizo emphasized washington's perseverance and been trying condition ins that could have collapsed into anarchy, where as

sparks attributed these challenges to the limits of congressional control over the public and other structural challenges that washington encountered as commander in chief. jesus blamed human nature and more important, the excesses of democracy, which worried him. jesus on the american revolution and its aftermath. the need for centralized power to mean to win control over revolutionary events. jesus wrote the jealousies of the states of local interest, ancient habits, the democratic prejudice revolted a great deal against the sacrifices that the organization of a higher and more powerful central body needed to impose on him for his own washington represented the concept of the just milieu, the happy medium, a balance between anarchy and absolutism that in the eyes of gizo, defined the july monarchy and should continue to govern.

france. so in washington, gizo perceived a useful historical analogy between the 18th century emergence of the american republic and his own 19th century nation, a constitution tional monarchy in washington's capacity to overcome internal struggles and instill public order. so as to defend liberty within the new republic. against these external challenges, jesus saw less a republican model for model for france to emulate and rather a retrospective validate ocean of the constitutional monarchy of louis, felipe. jesus sent a letter, a copy of his essay on washington to the king louis felipe, who promised jesus that i will endeavor to read at least the introduction, which i hear spoken of as a masterpiece. sparks also sent the king of france a copy of his original english works. can you imagine sending a copy of one of our monographs to the king of a foreign country or the president of a foreign country? such was his confidence in the work louis-philippe nonetheless

shared jesus sense of washington, who the monarch described, quote, as neither puritan nor restore crat, nor even less dumber crats. he was essentially a man of order and government, seeking only to combine and exploit as well as possible the often discordant and always rather weak elements with which he had to combat anarchy and preserve his country like his own. louis felipe took to washington. he would later ask the american portrait artist george healy, who was then painting the portrait of the king to reproduce a copy of gilbert stuart's early portrait of washington. the king had seen this decades, decades earlier, while touring in the united states. george healy the portrait artist, recorded louis felipe saying, i must have my washington. i have my heart set on it. however much gibson's interpretation of washington for french readers may have diverged

from sparks, his own sparks shared his entire satisfaction with gizo in the spring of 1840. he wrote to the frenchman the justness of the sentiments expressed in the introduction, its tone of candor, moderation and impartiality, and its enlarged and liberal views cannot fail to recommend it to every american and indeed to everyone who wishes the successes of free institu tions. whether sparks could read french, i don't know. it's hard to assess fluency in the past, but my sense is not that well. nonetheless, he was thrilled with this addition by gizo, an english translation of it soon appeared in the united states of guido's introductory essay that is the editor's introduced the volume by saying nothing has ever been written concerning washington in europe. so accurate, so just and so profound as this. and it will serve to justify and strengthen that admiration which been accorded to him in foreign countries, hardly less than in our own.

sparks gifted gizo a copy this translation of his own introductory essay later that year, when sparks was traveling in europe to do more research, and gizo then serving as francis to england the following year. 25 americans, including sparks, wrote to gizo to propose that a portrait be made of him. that portrait, in fact, and hung in the u.s. capitol, probably not far from the baptism of pocahontas as, quote, a permanent memorial of the profound respect which we entertain for your personal character and intellectual trophies, and in particular, the of the gratitude which all americans should feel for your liberal agency in exhibiting a new to europe, the true nature of their revolution and the distinctive preeminence of its hero. washington. in conclusion, though, washington in life visit in europe. in text, he moved back and forth across the atlantic ocean.

in this way, crossing in every crossing, not only linguistic, but also these cultural, political and ideological lines. men like sparks or everett or tickner were confident them. washington's writings like washington in himself, would appear before foreign readers, as he did before them, with all of his distinctive, monumental qualities. but monuments, as we know, texts no fixed meaning. they can be cast in different lights by and for different. thanks, everyone. okay. good afternoon, everybody.

um, i would like to start thanking. of course, my, my fellow panelists. as john mentioned before, i have the real privilege of being not only a chapter author, but an editor, the editor of the of this really wonderful, interdisciplinary volume that we have that is composed of all of these various chapters, really looking at the various ways that the of george washington have been subverted in ways that are revelatory on bringing all of this really kind of cutting edge research together under under a single umbrella. and when we when he was actually published in 2026, you will i will be. amazed by by what we've produced here. so that unfortunately for all of you, is the high point of my presentation. usually, you know, sometimes you can save the best for last. in your case i my last name starts with a w so that's my

curse. and now i bestow that curse upon all of you. so just bear with me as as we get through my. my chapter here also my my work is really about competing national within indian country and how sometimes these national memories of george washington memories of indigenous city on clashing political purposes that evolved not only through the american revolution but over the course of the 19th century are imbued within native american objects. specifically in this case within corn planters, silver tomahawk as well as red jackets piece metal. so these objects you may recognize, right? they really best known as diplomatic gifts from george washington himself. fact any quick google of these objects as you're sitting here with your phones right now, will showcase kind of the washington miss. of both of these objects.

my work, however, shows how these indigenous memories not only survived the overwhelming association with george washington, but actually created the conditions that made that association with washington possible. and this was an association. this was a condition that, of course, would change over time. indigenous peoples over the course and, really in the early decades of the 19th century, eventually lost control of the more popular shape of these memories. but it was the stories that they themselves imbued into these objects that kept such potent histories. at the forefront of american memory, even as white americans sought and really tried as hard as they could to. forget them. okay, so let's focus for a moment on george memory, as in doubt here in red jackets, peace medal. this is possibly the biggest, most famous, most recognizable aspects of two objects in.

this case, it is the literal image of george washington who, by the end of the american revolution, coming into the turn of the 19th century, was already a folk hero. washington's memory was also endowed. these objects intentionally, as you can see on the left hand side here, this was red jackets, peace medal. this was an object created by the federal government that was delivered to indigenous people in vast quantities. we call this red jackets peace. he is far from the only person to receive this exact object. but what gave the new federal government in opportunity to do was to imbue these objects with, in this case, physical characteristics of george washington. because you can see here we go he is right here, the united states is first republican ized monarch. the most famous day of his age

is the very figure that is given to these given to indigenous peoples. and so these were really a matter of diplomatic necessity for united states, as the united states in its infancy was trying to shore up its borders. was it reeling from the financial as well as the political cataclysm that occurred during the revolution and then was to find its own footing as it expanded westward, thinking about adding new states, thinking about how to actually expand into places that were not theirs. these medals became really fundamental ways that the federal government could reach into iroquois country and indian country more broadly far beyond the scope that a single human being or a single diplomat would be able to do. and within this image, you can also see some pretty revealing aspects here. george washington is sharing a peace pipe with a stylized

indigenous man. it's a little hard to in the image here, but in his right hand, he's actually dropping a hatchet. this was the sort of metaphorical symbol of war. our modern metaphor of burying the hatchet when we're talking about conflict, whatever the case may be comes from this indigenous precedent. and then you may also notice in background, we have a pastoral imagery because we are not in fact, in indian country we are in a space that is supposed to be sort of the staging ground for american expansion. so what the washington administration in dallas within this medal is this project right here is the future of where the united states will be vis a vie indian nations. so we will return to reject it. don't worry, but let's talk about the other memory, the other memory that cohabitate within these objects is seneca iroquois memory.

this one in at least in the popular of the memory of these objects, their association with george washington is often ignored, but it reveals much about indigenous diplomacy, as well as memory making. so when the seneca, as well as other indigenous peoples received these gifts, they're not actually acknowledging that washing in centric american memory are. rather, these gifts were really a matter of diplomatic course indigenous diplomacy in the northeast since the really the moment of first contact depends gift giving gift giving was a part of the ritual start of diplomatic council or meeting gifts were both given as well as received by indigenous peoples were a sign of reciprocity of honorable diplomatic congress. countless times we many many examples of this. if your americans do not bring sufficient gifts at the start of a diplomatic summit. the summit would not take place

and you've done real damage to that political relationship. so, again, we'll talk about this in depth with red jacket. but these objects were also a powerful part of indigenous politics because they could be co-opted. they were leveraged in various ways to remind the united states of their promises of their treaties with indigenous peoples. scholars, in some cases, when talking about objects like these, love to use the word kind of decolonized, right meaning to remove those aspects of settler colonial thought, culture, motivation, get at what indigenous people in the past actually wanted for themselves and how were they were interpreting these objects. this project does not go down that alleyway, but it does use decolonizing methodologies as kind of a guiding light to begin to sort of tie some of these pieces of memory together. so this is really a way we can start thinking about these objects as being indigenous more. they are american, despite this overwhelming memory of washington, and that seems to kind of haunt these objects.

and that, of course, is even if that popular of these objects sometimes tells the opposite story. so this object caught through a silver pipe tomahawk may have heard this before, is famous for being a gift from george washington to corn planters supposedly delivered by hand in person, followed by a very brief handshake. story goes that corn planned to receive the tomahawk from washington sometime between 1790, 1794. you might not be to know that there is no record of this exchange ever occurring. while corn planter was visiting the in philadelphia. so a majority of the people who study this public historians and scholars alike think that this gift was given probably in 1792 at one of the largest diplomatic congresses in philadelphia when corn planter, red jacket and, dozens of other haudenosaunee iroquois and leaders were invited by washington and his administration to negotiate iroquois and peace during the united states's protracted war

against the miami chief. little turtle and his coalition force in the ohio territory. along the ugliest river. and so this diplomat summit was a really important moment for the united states because they were reeling from some truly embarrassing losses against turtles. coalition forces. and really the last thing that the washington administration needed was the iroquois, an empire long known as one of the most powerful allies, the british during the late revolution as their enemy again. so this diplomatic gifts have this have a double of importance, right. they really had meeting in that moment. so the united states in 92 as well as afterwards, needed peace to secure the region. and so despite the fact that, the iroquois essentially split in half during the american revolution, they were still major power players around the great lakes, people in the administration, like henry knox, the secretary of war, and

alexander hamilton treasury genuinely worried about yrigoyen involvement on new york's and ohio borders. and they were worried about the american project in these spaces. if the iroquois were not brought on board or in washington's immense imagination, as well as knox's imagination brought to heel. also, corn printers presence in philadelphia when he received this gift, was not actually unusual. he'd been a chief since the american revolution and had a very good relationship with american diplomats in pennsylvania. but to americans, he kind of had a kind of interesting, tension filled relationship because he had a reputation for resistance, for protecting the iroquois. sometimes, despite the cost, the memory was endowed. then in a tomahawk. at least the story goes, this traditional symbol of both war and peace complaints are fought against the americans during the american, as did the vast

majority of the senecas. he wielded the of ear coin military power frequently in his diplomatic congresses with the united states. he founded the alleghany territory. it's also known as the corn planter reservation. some of you from pennsylvania, from northwestern pennsylvania. corn planter reservation or tract. it is currently the vast majority of the corn planter tracts now buried under the floodwaters that were created by the kings were dam in 1965. so this was a reservation that corn planter led and created effectively, independently with the state of pennsylvania against federal wishes as well as federal policy. but corn planter also had a pretty tense relationship. red jacket himself. he presided over a trial of red jacket who he had accused of witchcraft and sought to strip him of his title amongst the senecas. and ultimately, because he disagreed with red jackets politics. corn planter had also overseen negotiations with the united states through the of the century before he pulls away

from the public eye. so this memory george washington giving the corn planter a tomahawk. this kind of physical symbol of peace and war, capturing this more or less tense relationship that he had long had with the united states, feels quite appropriate. right. it's really one of the reasons why we sort of hang this memory of washington on, uh, on hatchet region. on the other hand, very different legacy because his was more or less a legacy of peace or at least the message conveyance of international peace between the senecas and the new united states. he thought a peaceful relationship with the united states, having the two nations never again be at war with one another, was the only path forward. after the american revolution. he delivered this message so frequently, so often, and with

his trademark brilliant oratory that rejected himself. ultimately he kind of became something of peaceful folk hero. so this message of peace, that one that was so deeply desired by washington and promoted by red jacket, is ultimately the one that stuck. so if you're hearing a lot of this messaging, if you're hearing a lot of this washingtonian messaging embedded in corn planter, red jackets really are a reason why. also piece was something that he cultivated of course as much as he could. so during american revolution, he was at best, some historians say, a reluctant warrior. he was forever pursuing this narrative of peace, all costs. i was even accused corn planter as well as joseph brandt, one of their contemporaries of excuse me, of cowardice. he received peace medal in 1792 and was not the only one. but unlike corn planter, we have extend of documentation and record of reject yet never actually taking this thing off

when he appears in public in he does inns of public speeches that red jacket delivered during his lifetime until he dies in 1830. he is wearing this peace medal only ever speaking in the seneca language and wearing this piece medal. they really become the two ways that people can identify. red jacket from, a distance. even this portrait on the right hand side, one of the again, dozens that are created of him. again, quick google search will show how just how prominent red jacket and association with george washington is painted by robert w weir is featured prominently on his chest red jacket posed for probably 2 hours for this portrait once robert weir got to the bottom of the peace medal, red jacket went around the portrait, inspected the finished product, looked at them, looked at his head, looked at the peace medal, said, i absolutely love this. and then walked out the door. he's creating his own image by in by imbuing into this peace medal and making it a part of

his person. and this is because he understands the power of washington's memory. he's advocating on behalf of his own people. but he really is leverage this power. washington, of course, was right there, you know, endowed in the seven inch by five inch hunk of metal that he's at hanging around his neck all the time. but what he is doing is not bringing to the forefront this colonialist narrative. he's not really focused on the past awful imagery. he's not even really focused the dropped hatchet. rather, he's using the symbol of washington to shame americans for promises not kept utilizing the memory of the father of the country to shame americans for allowing squatters to illegally occupy seneca for the united states backing out of its of its treaty promises to protect iroquois country from exactly that sort of thing happened to shame them for. the united states backing out of its treaty obligations and he does this throughout the what

the jacksonian era. and he's also talking about many many many other iroquois and concerns particularly the expansion of the church into seneca country go so far even to separate from his wife and disown his son, because they both convert to christianity and he's blaming in a lot of ways early relationship with washington, that promise of peace that promise of a future where the two peoples could come together, at least in diplomatic congress. and he's holding she's trying to hold the united states accountable. so both objects, of course, endowed with this memory of washington. but we encounter something of a disruption with this. have washington emphasized memory through this man? this is a on the left hand side here circa 1850s image of ely as

parker is a seneca chief red jacket's great grandson corn planters grand, nephew. and as you see on the right hand side here, yes, he was the adjutant general, as well as military secretary to ulysses grant during the civil war, was actually the one who drafted the articles of surrender and delivered them to robert e lee at the appomattox courthouse. so ely parker comes in, in an interesting way, because he actually inherits both of these objects in the 1840s. well, after both men had died. so he inherited the peace medal. he inherited the civil war. sorry, the the silver pipe tomahawk, and was responsible for bringing both of these objects into american museums. so he's really one who did the most to preserve the physicality and really the memory of both these objects. but the connections to george

washington are a little unsteady because when ely parker is making this transfer happen in 1850, writes a letter to the new york state government to formalize his gift of corn planters silver pipe tomahawk to the state. and this is a letter that historians, everyone who has worked on this see as really the in the coffin that, yes, we may not have any record of corn planter receiving this tomahawk. but let's turn to ellie parker's letter, because he has this fan only memory. he has this 1 to 1 kind of personal transfer that that tells us this story. unfortunately, it doesn't say what a lot of historians have thought that says over the years. so in the letter, parker explains the provenance of how he had acquired the tomahawk, and he tells the story of what corn planter was really doing with it. and so he tells the story that corn planter had a vision in 1810, and the vision told planter that his time as a leader had come an end and that,

quote, to preserve the continued goodwill of the great spirit corn planter must remove removed from his house all vestiges or relics of the workmanship and invention white men. so corn planter complied. he took everything he had ever received from washington, and his success, sir john adams. and burn them in a conflagration out in the front lawn. this included a full uniform of an american officer from the american revolution, a silver sword, that he may or may not have gifted from the federal government in around 1805. i number of medals we think a few dozen medals were burned in this in this great conflagration together with some other, you know, symbols of what he called uly parker called national friendship. and so years after that planter eventually did remove himself from public office. so he gave a wampum belt, a silver pipe tomahawk, and his chiefly name given to saga to an ally named canada, who effectively took over in his

stead. so with that transfer of goods in his name, he resigned his position as chief and faded memory. so enter this mythology of the silver piece pipe tomahawk. we don't know. if this was the one that he ultimately gave to canada. it could be. but on the top of the lip, very hard to see here. but there are some images online that you can. eli parker headed it. he had it redone. and not only did he bring all of this beautiful silver inlay into the hearth he replaced it entirely. and on the top of this cap piece that keeps the ax head on top of the heft, ellie parker decided to sign his own on top of a corn planters silver pipe, tomahawk. so the real making here again

the the connections that that ellie parker didn't make to corn planters, silver type pipe tomahawk nevertheless was endowed with this washingtonian quality. but the real washington memory here is really imbued within red jacket's peace medal, which you see in the forefront. this is an image from the seneca iroquois national museum, which exists in salamanca, new york. both of these objects starting in 2017 and really within the past five years have been repatriated. they have effectively come home to the seneca nation and in these repatriation ceremonies, the senecas sort of embrace them as objects of iroquois and nationality of iroquois, in identity of iroquois in pride. washington is just kind of this vague piece, prominent provenance that doesn't ultimately matter and doesn't really affect the shape and scope of these objects and what they have meant to history.

so the former president of the seneca nation on giving speeches, accepting these projects really lays this out for us. they are symbols of what he called the ongoing sovereign between the federal government and, the seneca nation. and they have always maintained an inviolable place in our seneca memory. so the objects are a lot bigger than washington alone. and so they're more than just physical artifacts from our shared. they represent what lives each inside. each and every seneca person, the head, a sovereign and our rightful recognized. and as such. so the tomahawk in the peace medal. he said here together in the museum today. but despite their separation in the historical record, really almost the memory of george washington behind because they showcase this long iroquois and national memory and how these objects that were we all imagine them to be so closely associated with george washington. when you pull back the curtain on some of these things, they're

really and most importantly and most fundamentally objects of seneca national identity. thank you. while you're coming up, i just want thank everyone again for these fantastic tech papers and. i think you've gotten a sense from the range of topics today how broad the scholarship can become when looking at the same essential topic, washington's. can take so many different forms and and open up so many new avenues of research. so does anyone have a question to start us off? and if not, while people are thinking, i do have a few, but okay, we only have about minutes, so i want to check, but just go ahead and raise your hand when you do have one. well, i've got maybe one for lydia and derek and then a different one for melissa and

john. um, but lydia and derek, i have been about a couple of things that, you know, your project, but what struck me the most as you were speaking today was the massive scale of these endeavors. so chapman painting nine paintings, is that right? about washington's home and hands. i think, as you call them, lydia and and derek, the 11 volumes of washing curtains, writings that sparks has assembled. and i wonder how. scale and the breadth of these endeavors and massive accumulation of detail that, both this author and artist have put together was an important part to them of creating an authentic and worthwhile memory memorial to washington. so if you could talk about the scale and its relevance here to this this project, oh it's just

a little button. yeah. that. oh, i know. i might be the green light. oh, hello. derek's pretending like he doesn't know how to work his microphone, so he's making me go first. so this is this is good, because sparks is so engaged with, like, the littlest, tiniest detail as as is especially paulding more than chapman. he wanted every nugget. and there's i think there's this in both of these projects, there's this belief that a there's still nuggets find which obviously everyone in this room who works on george washington is like yeah still true there's still nuggets find and that there is immense value that somehow that's deep universals

talked about it value you of washington and knowledge about washington only works if you get to the bottom of every little detail and put it together. i mean what what chapman discovers about washington and the example that i put up is one of the more dramatic, you know, thinking about washington as a cruel, violent slave o is pretty wild in the 1830. so that was definitely new. but is it really revelatory. i don't i think it's kind of expected it certainly was from lawrence lewis and chapman but there's this belief that somehow only by washington completely can he reach that level of universal significance and value. as an example example. i think he got a service on it's great question and i have told a

really cool okay, we were advised do this. i think this theme of comprehensiveness is really and it's a lovely question about and meaning it might seem a bit foreign to, especially if we're taking an approach to the historical record that is like john's and thinking about oral history and family and a range of other objects as components of the historical record for sparks, the historical record, finite, it was massive. he could envision tens, thousands, perhaps documents of washington. but there was a concept that he held that leaders of historical societies and other collectors held that you could comprehend simply gather the past, that it all could be encompassed by an archive or perhaps within volumes. remarkable concept. one which i think many historians today would disagree with, perhaps, but one that he also did at a time when there was no federal infrastructure to do so.

and which is an important part of these these are individuals seeking to compile the past comprehensively, but without the infrastructure of the federal government, which historians like isaac benefit from in france. but i mean, just just too complicated a bit, though, for sparks and maybe for chapman to this idea of a comprehensive archive that could be conceived as an entity. one unity was in contrast with how many historians actually use archives as a bunch of individual pieces of evidence and sparked. got into quite a bit of trouble later in life for being accused of boldly arising kind of sprucing up some of washington's of phrases which became front page news, if you can believe it, by the 1850s or so. so there is that there's there's this idea of scope, but also this tension between the individual items in the historical record and the notion of a comprehensive record. interesting. well, in contrast to that dedication to accuracy, i think what struck me melissa and john about your papers was how mallya

bore washington could be. and washington's legacy. and i'm wondering, you know, how specific did the figures that you're talking about, how specifically did they define washington and think about him or is it true that maybe they they could morph him to their needs in the way i'm sensing from from what you all described? i think. they might. my first book. oh, yeah. everyone it everyone him for their own needs in 1860. absolutely. there's a washington everyone and there's a lot excellent books about it to for instance you know you reminded me i was like who pictures. there's a book. great book you might have seen if it gets in the bookshop called george washington's hair, in which like you can make meaning from anything related to george washington. so, yes, especially 1860, but

leading up to that to you could find it's it's essentially cherry picking what a lot of them did just try to find aspects of washington that would best fit their own political needs in order to paint themselves as the inheritors. washington and the revolution because was a civic god at this point. and there's some great works about his legacy in civic religion. and i showed you the church in the piece, them rolling the tomb, pretty much. but yeah, no, it's there's some fascinating stuff about his his legacy in that way. but then it's the funniest thing with south carolina. they actually have a lot of superficial language, a lot of beef with virginia, because they want be the true inheritors of the american revolution, the revolutionary spirit. and they think that virginia is kind of squandering it, a lot of them, one woman actually doesn't join the villa because she doesn't think that virginia will. and therefore, why would she invest in something that won't be a member of her new country

anymore? but yes. so is vying for we are the true americans as we choose to leave america, we are doing what washington wanted us to and we will no longer be slaves. no irony in that phrase that we will no longer be slaves. but yes, so washington's everyone for good and for that, i suppose. when it comes to know we're very smart. yes, yes, yes. digital. dances on the. thank you. hello. yes. so, yes, when it comes to the when it comes to the iroquois, when it comes to the sort of malleability of washington's memory, particularly in those years they receive these diplomatic objects, 1792 in particular, we during the american revolution, there's really only one actually image of george washington, and that is as the enemy, the shawnee

gave him a name town killer because he had ordered basically the scorched campaign that raged iroquois country that essentially burned to the ground few dozen towns, countless acreage of corn and some of the food stock of the haudenosaunee, not because the iroquois had actually declared war against the united states. they hadn't sided with the british yet. this was supposed to be a preemptive strike, effectively break the backs of of the haudenosaunee. so that name still exists. you go to the seneca iroquois national museum. that is how george washington is introduced to the public as as town killer. so that doesn't negate, however the capacity of people like red jacket to utilize george washington's imagery his memory, his his folk heroism. right that even though these things had occurred right. this prospect for peace is still this prospect for peace is

important. and that the ultimate goal of the iroquois moving moving forward is to secure peace with the united states. this image of washington is also really interestingly, an effort on the part of red jacket as well as corn planter. corn planter does not talk about it in the exact same way, using the same as red jacket, but to bring the united states under the imperial umbrella of the iroquois. this is this is part of a kind of bringing the united states under the great tree of peace. you see him and you see these two people kind of manifesting george washington for their own ends and doing this really kind of delicate balance between using the imagery of george washington, but also keeping them at enough of a distance. right. so that it is in keeping with the way the rest of the haudenosaunee are are thinking about washington and his memory. i feel like the way you both washington here underscores the point of folk hero or civic job

of quite different roles. yes. okay. we have a question right here in the middle, please. your questions until you have the mic. we're all right, everybody, please. do you have a mic? okay. you've all touched on how washington's been used by people to advance their own political and. so you all could answer. you've talked about of the antebellum period that washington though, writes about washington in this period and from a 21st century vantage point, we look at america as the world's only superpower. and that we have washington led this nascent really unimportant nation. but back in the 1800s.

people thought washington was despite america's relative unimportance in the world. how did washington gain such? i guess. great recognition in so short a period. it's a wonderful question, and i think it's one of the the complex days of early american history. on the one hand, as john has pointed to, to an extent, the early united was remarkably weak and remarkably vulnerable, but also perceived both by others and by itself as having extraordinary capacity to be a dangerous or a successful nation. so i think there's a sense of the continental capacity of the united states to expand and to conquer and make use of resources. but then there's also the ideological history of the period. the american revolution was not perceived as a lone event, but as a juncture.

the history of the world, even by some moving towards this new age of freedom. so within the age of revolution the american revolution can be seen as part of like this larger shift. and if washington's at the very center of that, that juncture, it helps to explain to an extent why across the ocean and in many other places, he was as so significant. i think that's that's maybe 1% of the answer to the great question. yeah. um, yeah. and that's right. that's and there's another element of this, particularly when you're thinking about it from the perspective of, um, the production of material culture. right. during washington's administration, there was a concerted effort to put george washington's face on everything red jackets, peace medal is not the only thing. it is probably just the furthest branch of what the federal government was trying to do. they were literally harnessing the visual of george washington

to to the american figure. he the great unifier he was the great republican. he was the great leader who had given up power during the american revolution. right. we can't really undersell the importance of that moment, particularly for this new nation. right. he was the thing that kings weren't. right. so all of this productivity and all of these attempts by really institutions in this case the federal government, with the power to actually literally physically create and print and manufacture these images. all of that was happening and is just feeding this continue narrative. and this idea that george washington larger than life know, perhaps even larger than than the country that he created, he was really tall and that helps when you're trying to convince people important to seriously i mean that's one of

the first things john adams says about why washington worked as a hero. he was a really tall person, but i say that facetiously. but to build on what you were just saying, john, one of the things i've realized in following chapman and spalding in the 1830s and then into the 1840s, is only were so many being produced of washington and but this early 19th century antebellum period is also when all these new technology is are being developed to produce images, especially and to reproduce them and to get them in front of more people. and so if you're developing a new technology, say, engraving, printmaking with, biography, photography. you want to produce images that you know people want to see and that people will go, oh, yeah, i know. that is, even though i have no idea how this image was made, i know what it's of. i know the subject and. so washington was an ideal

subject. mount vernon is an ideal subject act as those technologies developing. so not only is it quality d, but it's constantly images and images that are recognizable from not just i know what i know who that person is, but i know what this particular image means. i was thinking about the little cows behind behind washington in the meadow. i mean, that's that's part of the cincinnatus imagery that's developed in very early in washington's mythology, visual mythology. so that i think that technology has a lot do with it as well. we we've a question over here. i was wondering right now we're celebrating lafayette's return to back to the united states. his triumphal tour and i wondered if his influence in france had anything to do as

knew washington when he went back to france. if there was any connection, with him. and so as he did the was interested in doing the translation. i think it's a great question and it helps to shine some light on the great question before about america's perception in the wider world. in the 1800s, america and its revolution. all these admirers, some of them like lafayette, physically put their bodies on the line in the american revolution. others admired the united states from abroad, and they became boosters in a way of the united states like like public diplomats. lafayette continued to keep the memory of washington alive. he himself maintained a lot of papers that he had exchanged with washington sparks and others tried to have access to those i don't know about his relationship with, gizo but i'll look into it because that would be an interesting connection to.

like. any other questions? oh, right here in front. we'll take one more. probably our last question question. is there anyone else? no, you go ahead to follow up on sparks again, could you please remind me at the beginning of your talk did you say that the sparks did have sort of beef or complaint with? the linguistic translation or how the meaning shifted? yes, it's a great and nuanced question by reading sparks as diaries and other notes. i don't sense that he was especially fluent in french. he kept very meticulous diaries throughout these years, and he, it seems, transcribed letters that keizo had sent through george tickner to him. but his transcriptions of those letters have all these errors in french in it, which i'm sure

keizo didn't make. and so my guess is that that sparks his fluency was middling i don't think he spoke german well either. and so he didn't take any particular issue with the translations. we know that keizo did. who didn't actually translate the french himself. he farmed it out and he went away for the summer to the french countryside as as one does. and when came back he read these translations of papers and was he said they were heavy handed, they were kind of like awkward but that's what went to press so you know the grammatical and the stylistic were not perfect and but i don't think sparks knew one way or the other. he was pleased. go back to your initial question, dealt with the entity that the whole thing had been translated rather than individual details. as i understand. okay. yeah good. thank you. i thought maybe that it was somehow sparks who was, but i was wondering. well, how could he possibly have known unless someone said, oh, no this is not at all what you

meant. so i should just note in the german translation in which i didn't talk about was translated in full by a german woman named, dorothy atik, who is well known for shakespeare's works into german. so that was probably a much more stylistic version. interesting though, not surprising, perhaps her name appeared nowhere on the german version, but friedrich's friedrich's did. well, i hope you'll bring more to our panelists in the break that about to have which stephen might say a word. and then throughout the rest of the symposium, join me in thanking them all again.