On the road again!: Charlottesville: research, lecture, January 26

Today we had a sumptuous breakfast at the Inn - all homemade. Strudel, eggs, sausage, breads, fruit.....Wow.

No need to eat the rest of the day! (But, we did)

We headed into Charlottesville, about 30 miles away, and found the Albemarle Historical Society and an archivist, Mrs. O'Bryant. (We were lucky to be able to park with all the snow banks, but Mark's handicapped placard came in very handy.) We are on the hunt for photos of Charlottesville around the time that Anna Gardner lived there - from 1865-1871. We found some great photos in books, but will need to find out who owns them and if they are digitized. We did not have the time to do as much digging as was really necessary, but did get some leads.

Old Charlottesville

Then, we picked up fellow researcher Gayle Shulman who helped me out in 2004 when I got a grant to research Anna's trail in the south. Gayle has written quite a lot about the black community in Charlottesville and at slavery at the University of Virginia. The three of us went to the Jefferson School which has a new and exciting exhibit about the Jefferson School which has only been up about 3 months. The room about the school has an entire wall devoted to a wonderful photo from the Boston Public Library showing Anna with her students at her Jefferson School. The original photo is less than 3 inches wide, so to see it on an entire wall was amazing. We met the director of the project, Andrea Douglas who was very informative about where we can find photos. So, that was very exciting.

Gayle and Barbara going to Jefferson School exhibit

Quote at exhibit by Anna Gardner

Not the building that Anna Gardner taught in, but still the school that she started. It is now a wonderful community center with an exhibit dedicated to the legacy of the school.

Then we took Gayle back home, drove out to Nellysford and had a quick Mexican lunch at Margarita's.
We drove into Charlottesville (lots of traffic) and managed to find our way to CitySpace to give my lecture on Anna Gardner. It was a lovely event sponsored by a chapter of the African American Genealogical and Historical Society here. Caruso Brown gave a lovely introduction and Gayle Schulman introduced me. Mark, as usual, beautifully choreographed my slides with the lecture. It was not a big crowd. The streets here are still quite a mess from the snow which was probably part of it. Anyhow, I made some great contacts and am really glad to have done the event.

Caruso Brown introducing me and Mark ready to coordinate slides

Lecturing

Afterwards Gayle and Arthur took us to Bizou, a wonderful restaurant. And, it was Restaurant Week so there were wonderful 3-course specials. It was all delicious and we had great conversation. (Mark had Pot au Feu and I had trout.)