C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience
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The Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is an institute at
Location and history
The Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is headquartered in Chestertown’s Custom House, a building constructed in the 1740s by Samuel Massey as a residence for the Ringgold family and known for its detailed Flemish bond brickwork with glazed headers.,
Events, programs, and projects
The Starr Center hosts numerous public events, including talks by visiting authors, museum programs, concerts, panel discussions and public conversations on American culture. Recent speakers have included Senators
The “History on the Waterfront” multimedia program, launched in 2009, is a free thirty-minute audio-guided tour recreating the sights and sounds of an 18th-century working waterfront.
The Riverfront Concert Series, which debuted in 2010, offers free musical performances throughout the summer on the riverfront lawn of the Custom House. Performers in the 2010 series included singer-songwriter Bob Zentz and acoustic guitar duo Mac Walter & John Cronin.[13] The series builds on the Starr Center’s longstanding interest in the musical traditions of Chesapeake Bay and its rich heritage of storytelling.
The Poplar Grove Plantation, near Centreville, Maryland, is the location of the Poplar Grove Project, an ongoing exploration of the Emory family’s papers, some dating back as far as the 17th century. Starr Center director Adam Goodheart began initial excavations at Poplar Grove in 2003 with the Archaeology Field School at Washington College, and in 2008, one of his students discovered the collection of papers. In conjunction with the Maryland State Archives, the Poplar Grove project seeks to preserve, document and study this large collection. Current Poplar Grove owner James Wood, a descendant of the Emory family, has been a source of information for Goodheart’s students as they participate in the project.[14] His mother, Mary Wood, published a book about the Emory women called My Darling Alice: Based on Letters and Legends of an Eastern Shore of Maryland Farm – 1837 – 1935. To date, over 28,406 documents have been recovered and scanned into digital files that will be published online.[15]
The George Washington Book Prize recognizes the year's best books on the nation's founding era, especially those with the potential to advance broad public understanding of American history. Sponsored by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and administered by the Starr Center, the $50,000 award is one of the largest literary prizes in America. In 2005, the inaugural book prize was awarded to Ron Chernow for his biography Alexander Hamilton.[16] Other winners have included Richard Beeman (2010) for Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution,[17] Annette Gordon-Reed (2009) for The Hemingses of Monticello,[18] Marcus Rediker (2008) for The Slave Ship: A Human History,[19] and Stacy Schiff (2006) for A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.[20] In 2011, Pauline Maier was awarded the prize for her book Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution. 1787–1788.[21]
The Patrick Henry Writing Fellowship offers a nine-month residency to authors doing innovative work on America’s founding era and its legacy. Launched by the Starr Center in 2008, the fellowship is permanently endowed as part of a $2.5 million challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “We the People” initiative.
The Patrick Henry Fellows’ Residence, known traditionally as the Buck-Chambers House, has strong connections to three centuries of American history. Its past owners include a British merchant active in the convict trade to Chesapeake Bay, a
The Hodson Trust – John Carter Brown Fellowship supports work by academics, independent scholars and writers working on significant projects relating to the literature, history, culture or art of the Americas before 1830. The fellowship is also open to filmmakers, novelists, creative and performing artists, and others working on projects that draw on this period of history. The award supports two months of research at the
References
- ^ "The Starr Foundation". Retrieved October 2, 2011.
- ^ "Edward L. Widmer Named New Director of John Carter Brown Library". Brown University. January 10, 2006.
- ^ "About The Center". Washington College. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "James Wood Poplar Grove Collection". Maryland State Archives. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ Buckley, Michael. "Skipjack Event at Washington College: April 25, 2010" Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Christopher White Books. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "National Trust Names Chestertown, Md., One of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations" Archived 2011-10-29 at the Wayback Machine. Chestertown, Maryland. March 7, 2007.
- ^ a b Janson-La Paime, Robert J. H. "Chestertown: An Architectural Guide" Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine. Chestertown, Maryland. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ Ostrowski, Carl (2000). "James Alfred Pearce and the Question of a National Library in Antebellum America" (subscription required). Libraries and Culture 35 (2): 255.
- ^ "Programs and Events". Historical Society of Kent County. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011.
- ^ "Chestertown Historic District, Chestertown, Maryland". The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings. National Park Service. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "History on the Waterfront Audio Tour" Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine. Maryland Office of Tourism. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "Voices of the Bay". WRNR-FM. Empire Broadcast System. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ Goddard, Andy (July 17, 2010). "WC Riverside Concerts Start July 27 with Chesapeake Bay's Bob Zentz". Chestertown Spy.
- National Public Radio.
- ^ Papenfuse, Edward C. "Poplar Grove A. M. Hemsley Emory Correspondence". MDhistory.net. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ Wyatt, Edward (May 9, 2005). "Arts, Briefly; Prize for 'Hamilton' Author". The New York Times.
- ^ Atkinson, Steven G. (May 20, 2010). "Richard Beeman Wins George Washington Book Prize". Delmarva Town Crier.
- ^ "Another Prestigious Literary Honor for Rutgers University, Newark, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed: the 2009 George Washington Book Prize for 'The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family'". Rutgers University. May 29, 2009.
- ^ White, Patricia Lomando (June 9, 2010). "Award-Winning Pitt Historian Marcus Rediker Receives George Washington Book Prize". Pitt Chronicle. University of Pittsburgh. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010.
- ^ Van der Gaag, Chelsea (May 24, 2006). "$50,000 George Washington Book Prize Awarded To Pulitzer-Winner Stacy Schiff; Dinner at Historic Mount Vernon honors best book on the founding era". The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Archived from the original on April 4, 2010.
- ^ "Pauline R. Maier". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "2007 We the People Grants" Archived 2010-07-17 at the Wayback Machine. We the People. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "Henry Wiencek: Named Washington College's First Patrick Henry Fellow". George Mason University's History News Network. July 22, 2008.
- ^ Smith, Jay. "Interview: Marla Miller". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of History. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012.
- ^ "The Patrick Henry Fellows' Residence: A Short History". Washington College. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "The JCB Fellowship Program" Archived 2013-05-28 at the Wayback Machine. The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Retrieved May 15, 2013.