The Vermont Academy of the Arts and Sciences (VAAS) on Saturday, Oct. 26, will bring together nationally known scholars, Civil War buffs and local experts for a conference at the St. Albans Historical Museum.
The event is free and open to the public.
Among the speakers will be Howard Coffin, a Civil War historian and author who at 9:15 a.m. will discuss “Vermont in the Civil War: 1863.”
A slide show about the influential Smith family of St. Albans will be presented at 10:30 a.m. Local historian Jim Murphy will describe the St. Albans of the 1860s at 10:45 a.m.
Afternoon events include a presentation on the history of Immaculate Conception Church (St. Mary’s) in St. Albans, an organ recital, and museum and historic building tours.
Coffin, who has conducted St. Albans Raid walking tour in St. Albans previously, this time will focus on 1863, the year of the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation and of the Battle of Gettysburg. He will place Vermont’s participation in the war within this framework.
Coffin’s ancestors served in Vermont Civil War regiments and he is the author of numerous books including “Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War (1993)” and “Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont (2013).” Coffin’s talk is co-sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council.
VAAS President Connell Gallagher said the event is for the whole family. He said the conference would include presentations about Vermont during the Civil War and St. Albans at that time. He added, “People will also have a chance to learn about the oldest standing Roman Catholic Church in Vermont and hear an organ recital at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. There will be guided historical tours of St. Albans and of the Museum.”
The 2014 event, the St. Albans Raid 150th Anniversary Commemoration will take place from Sept. 18 to 21.
The Oct. 28 event this year is free and open to the public. There is also a free boxed lunch for those who wish one.
For more information contact VAAS president Connell Gallagher at (802) 899-3034 or via e-mail (cbgallag@uvm.edu.), or P.O. Box 240, Underhill, VT 05489.
The schedule for the conference is as follows.
Vermont Academy of Arts & Sciences
Fall Conference, Saturday Oct. 26, 2013
St. Albans Historical Museum
Church Street, St. Albans, VT
- 8:30 – Registration and coffee
- 9:00 – Welcome
- 9:15 – Howard Coffin “Vermont in the Civil War: 1863, the Decisive Year.”
- 10:15 – Coffee break
- 10:30 – Slide Show on the Smith Family of St. Albans
- 10:45 – James Murphy “St. Albans in the 1860s”
- 11:30 – Box lunch
- 1:00 – Rev. Brian O’Donnell “Hist. of Immaculate Conception Church”
- 1:30 – Dr. William Tortolano ‘Organ recital”
- 2:00 – Tour of St. Albans OR Historical Museum
- 3:00 – VAAS Annual Members Meeting
- 3:30 – Free Time
