Q & A with Kelly Hancock

ACWM Public Programs Manager

What part of your job do you enjoy most?

I enjoy my job most when I am interacting with the public. Whether I’m giving a Brown’s Island Tour to senior adults, performing a mock amputation for a group of students, or welcoming visitors to one of our programs, I’m inspired by people’s desire to learn.

What’s your favorite artifact in the Collection?

It’s really difficult to name a favorite artifact; we have such a wonderful collection. I like artifacts that I can image people using — such as Elizabeth Van Lew’s china. I can see her serving coffee in her Church Hill home, perhaps to a Confederate official to gain valuable information. I’m also drawn to Brigadier General Lewis Armistead’s sword; I can picture him holding it high charging up Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg. Hair intrigues me, too — how people saved it and even worked it into wreaths and jewelry to memorialized loved ones. Seeing someone’s hair can help to create a better mental image of a person. I remember the first time I saw Sally Tompkins’s hair how surprised I was. Judging from her photograph, I assumed she had hair as dark as mine, but it was actually fairly light, a sort of honey brown.

Do you and your spouse (ACWM Collections Director Robert Hancock) talk shop at home?

Our goal is to leave work at the office. We try very hard not to talk shop, but occasionally we do. When we do, it’s usually my fault.

Where is the most memorable location you’ve traveled to?

Every place that we have been holds special memories — whether it was touring Lord Nelson’s ship Victory at Portsmouth, exploring Antica Ostia outside of Rome, hiking Logan’s Pass at Glacier National Park, or watching the Lipizzaners at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Naming a most memorable place is difficult, but I’ll quote Audrey Hepburn and say, “Paris is always a good idea.” We have a strange connection to the city that I can’t quite explain. It’s more than the history, the art, the food, or the people; it’s je ne sais quoi.

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading A Tale of Two Cities. I read it years ago but decided to revisit it. Dickens is one of my favorite authors, so I return to him when I’m in between books.

If you could have coffee with someone featured in an ACWM exhibit, who would you pick?

I would pick Susie King Taylor. She was a courageous woman of strength and determination with an incredible story. Susie was born into slavery on a farm outside of Savannah, Georgia, but for some unknown reason, she was allowed to live with her grandmother in the city where she leaned to read and write in secret. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Susie seized her freedom and escaped to one of the Sea Islands that had been occupied by the U.S. Army. She was really a girl, only about 14, but the army put her in charge of a school. Then, she married Edward King, a soldier in a volunteer regiment that later became the 33rd United States Colored Troops. She traveled with him; and in spite of signing up as a laundress, she spent much of her time nursing soldiers. After the war, Susie lost her husband in an accident and had to provide for her son on her own. She encountered the evils of racism, but maintained an optimistic outlook in spite of all she endured. Susie eventually moved to Boston, remarried and wrote her memoirs. They are still in print today and provide an amazing window into the Civil War Era.