Fulton Chauncey's guest appearances

Fulton Chauncey

Virginia Historical Society Podcasts

Barack Obama

Lawrence Jackson

James Madison

Douglas Brinkley

Woodrow Wilson

Robert E. Lee

Cokie Roberts

Jeremy Black

Patrick Henry

Louis Brandeis

John Brown

John Grady

Edward Lee

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Richard Byrd

OwlTail

William M. Kelso

On July 19 at 5:30 p.m., Dr. William M. Kelso delivered the Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture entitled “Jamestown, the Truth Revealed.” What was life really like for the band of adventurers who first set foot on the banks of the James River in 1607? Important as the accomplishments of these men and women were, the written records pertaining to them are scarce, ambiguous, and often conflicting. And those curious about the birthplace of the United States have had little to turn to except dramatic and often highly fictionalized reports. In Jamestown, the Truth Revealed, William Kelso takes us literally to the soil where the Jamestown colony began, unearthing footprints of a series of structures, beginning with the James Fort, to reveal fascinating evidence of the lives and deaths of the first settlers, of their endeavors and struggles, and new insight into their relationships with the Virginia Indians. He offers up a lively account, framed around a narrative of the archaeological team's exciting discoveries. William M. Kelso is the Director of Archaeology for Jamestown Rediscovery at Historic Jamestowne. He holds a Masters Degree in Early American History from the College of William and Mary, a Ph.D. from Emory University, and he has been awarded an honorary degree of chivalry from Queen Elizabeth II: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He is the author and coauthor of several books, including Jamestown, the Buried Truth; Jamestown Rediscovery, 1994–2004; Kingsmill Plantation, 1619–1800: Archaeology of Country Life in Colonial Virginia; Archaeology at Monticello; and Jamestown, the Truth Revealed.

Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture - "Jamestown, the Truth Revealed," by William M. Kelso

Terry Alford

John Wilkes Booth

On June 11, Terry Alford delivered the 2015 Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture, entitled "Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth." With a single shot from a pistol small enough to conceal in his hand, John Wilkes Booth catapulted into history on the night of April 14, 1865. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln stunned a nation that was just emerging from the chaos and calamity of the Civil War, and the president's untimely death altered the trajectory of postwar history. But to those who knew Booth, the event was even more shocking-for no one could have imagined that this fantastically gifted actor and well-liked man could commit such an atrocity. In Fortune's Fool, Terry Alford provides the first comprehensive look at the life of an enigmatic figure whose life has been overshadowed by his final, infamous act. Terry Alford is a professor of history at Northern Virginia Community College. He is the author of Prince Among Slaves, which was made into a PBS documentary in 2007, and Fortune's Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth

2015 Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture - "Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth," by Terry Alford

Elizabeth R. Varon

On June 5, Elizabeth Varon delivered the Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture entitled "Lee at Appomattox." Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House evokes a highly gratifying image in the popular mind—it was, many believe, a moment that transcended politics, a moment of healing, a moment of patriotism untainted by ideology. But as Elizabeth Varon reveals in her latest book, this rosy image conceals a seething debate over precisely what the surrender meant and what kind of nation would emerge from war. In Appomattox, she deftly captures the events swirling around that well remembered—but not well understood—moment when the Civil War ended. Did America's best days lie in the past or in the future? For Lee, it was the past, the era of the founding generation. For Grant, it was the future, represented by northern moral and material progress. They held, in the end, two opposite views of the direction of the country—and of the meaning of the war that had changed the country forever.

Lee at Appomattox by Elizabeth R. Varon (Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture)