Parsons Newman Lecture: “Witnessing Revolution” and “Cultivating Independence”: An expanded tour with Heritage Frederick’s Archivist Jody Brumage
July 30 @ 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Join Heritage Frederick’s Archivist Jody Brumage on an in-depth, small group tour of our 250th focused exhibits! These connected exhibitions explore Frederick County’s role in the Revolutionary War and its place in an emerging nation, ranging from the colonial settlement of the county to the nation’s centennial celebration in 1876. Highlights include items from the family of Maryland’s first elected governor Thomas Johnson; the journals of prolific Frederick diarist Jacob Engelbrecht; and handwritten letters from John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Frederick’s own signer of the Declaration of Independence. Participants will have an up-close view of additional artifacts that reveal even more about the people and stories featured in the exhibits. Take advantage of this opportunity to be guided through these stories by the person who conceptualized, researched, and designed the exhibit!
An overview of the exhibits featured on this tour:
In Cultivating Independence, discover Frederick County’s indigenous and colonial history and learn how its position in the backcountry during the French and Indian War planted the first seeds of resistance that unified a diverse population in the build up to the Revolution. The leaders among the founding generation who hailed from Frederick County will be featured alongside the everyday farmers, merchants, and laborers, free and enslaved, who worked to feed, supply, and serve the Continental Army throughout the war.
Witnessing Revolution examines how the struggle for liberty and equality that galvanized the fight for independence continued in the century after the founding of the United States. Visitors will discover lives and stories that have been overlooked in traditional treatments of Frederick County’s history as well as reexaminations of the complex legacies of more well-known figures who played consequential roles in shaping the idea of who possesses the rights promised in our nation’s founding documents. Witnessing Revolution reveals these stories through the perspective of an ordinary man, Jacob Engelbrecht, using entries from the voluminous diary he maintained over two-thirds of the 19th century. Together, these words and stories reveal the local context to a national story and witness the ongoing revolutions that continue to define the American experience.
These lectures are FREE, but RSVPs are appreciated!
