MUSEUM PROGRAMS

An Evening with the Presidents

Saturday, Feb. 18 Sunday, Feb. 19 7 - 8pm | Hennage Auditorium | $19 per adult, $12 per children 12 and under Join George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison this Presidents’ Day weekend for a special evening event. The Presidents will explore how their administrations navigated party, faction, and the vast differences that challenged America during their times. Recognizing that throughout our history, the United States has been a nation divided politically with different opinions and points of view—in our infancy as it is today. Hosted by Alvin D. Hall.

A Public Audience with First Lady, Martha Washington

Saturday, Feb. 18 3:30 - 4:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Join Mrs. Washington as she speaks about being the first President’s wife and the expectations placed upon her while the new Nation watches on.

Art Stop

Friday, Jan. 6 Friday, Feb. 10 Saturday, Jan. 7 Saturday, Feb. 11 Friday, Jan. 13 Friday, Feb. 17 Saturday, Jan. 14 Saturday, Feb. 18 Friday, Jan. 20 Friday, Feb. 24 Saturday, Jan. 21 Saturday, Feb. 25 Friday, Jan. 27 Friday, Mar. 3 Saturday, Jan. 28 Saturday, Mar. 4 Friday, Feb. 3 Friday, Mar. 10 Saturday, Feb. 4 Saturday, Mar. 11 2 - 4pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Portraits, quilts, prints, and sculptures provide great ideas for your own crafts. After exploring the galleries, drop by the Education Studio to create a work of art inspired by an object on exhibit. Monday, Jan. 2 Monday, Feb. 6 Wednesday, Jan. 4 Wednesday, Feb. 8 Friday, Jan. 6 Friday, Feb. 10 Saturday, Jan. 7 Saturday, Feb. 11 Monday, Jan. 9 Monday, Feb. 13 Wednesday, Jan. 11 Wednesday, Feb. 15 Friday, Jan. 13 Friday, Feb. 17 Saturday, Jan. 14 Saturday, Feb. 18 Monday, Jan. 16 Monday, Feb. 20 Wednesday, Jan. 18 Wednesday, Feb. 22 Friday, Jan. 20 Friday, Feb. 24 Saturday, Jan 21 Saturday, Feb. 25 Monday, Jan. 23 Monday, Feb. 27 Wednesday, Jan. 25 Wednesday, Mar. 1 Friday, Jan. 27 Friday, Mar. 3 Saturday, Jan. 28 Saturday, Mar. 4 Monday, Jan. 30 Monday, Mar. 6 Wednesday, Feb. 1 Wednesday, Mar. 8 Friday, Feb. 3 Friday, Mar. 10 Saturday, Feb. 4 Saturday, Mar. 11 11:30 - 11:50 am | Art Musems of Colonial Williamsburg Saturday, Jan. 7 Saturday, Jan. 14 12:30 - 12:50pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsbug Join us on a 20-minute guided tour and enjoy some Museum favorites at a glance.

A Taste of Freedom

Saturday, Jan. 14 Saturday, Feb. 18 Saturday, Feb. 2 Saturday, Feb. 25 Saturday, Feb. 11 1:30 - 2:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Before Juneteenth and the Emancipation Proclamation, thousands of formerly enslaved men, women, and children gained freedom and sanctuary by escaping to Union camps in the South after Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker, and James Townsend secured their liberty at Fort Monroe. Learn about one of those men, Americus Weston, and his journey to freedom in this performance developed to commemorate Juneteenth. Tuesday, Jan. 3 Tuesday, Jan. 24 Tuesday, Jan. 10 Tuesday, Jan. 31 Tuesday, Jan. 17 11:30am - 12pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Explore the hidden stories behind the objects on display, such as paintings, ceramics, textiles, and more. Discover who made the object, why, and how it wound up in the Colonial Williamsburg collection.

Behind Closed Drawers

Wednesday, Jan. 4 Wednesday, Feb. 8 Wednesday, Jan. 11 Wednesday, Feb. 15 Wednesday, Jan. 18 Wednesday, Feb. 22 Wednesday, Jan. 25 Wednesday, Mar. 1 Wednsday, Feb. 1 Wednesday, Mar. 8 2 - 3pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Drop in and peer into the textile study drawers to examine antique clothing, accessories, and household textiles from Colonial Williamsburg’s collections.

Clothing Enslaved People in Colonial Williamsburg

Wednesday, Feb 1 4:30 - 5:15pm | Hennage Auditorim This lecture will explore some of the complex relationships between apparel, labor, identity, and enslavement.

Disaster Strikes! The Cost of Dressing in 1769

Saturday, Mar. 11 4:30 - 5:30pm | Hennage Auditorium Disaster strikes! It’s 1:00 a.m., and you’ve just escaped your burning house with only

Handicapped-accessible Separate ticket required

KEY

Museum admission required Family program Special Event Please note that programming is subject to change. Always check our website — colonialwilliamsburg.org — for the most current information.

the nightclothes on your back and the slippers on your feet. What would it take to rebuild the “average” woman’s wardrobe? How many pieces might that include? What would those pieces cost? Using a 1769-70 merchant’s account book from Louisa County, VA, the milliners and mantuamakers will demonstrate the layers of a woman’s everyday outfit and discuss the number of garments and other pieces that might compromise her entire wardrobe.

Domestic Diversions

Friday, Jan. 27 Friday, Feb. 24 Friday, Feb. 10 Friday, Mar. 10 2:30 - 2:50pm | 3:00 - 3:20pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Imagine the musical homes of 18th-century Williamsburg and listen to the pieces best suited for these intimate settings on the organized piano, a rare organ-piano hybrid instrument built in 1799. Presented in the exhibition “Making Music in Early America” in the Leckie Gallery.

From Excavation to Interpretation

Wednesday, Feb. 1 Wednesday, Feb. 22 Wednesday, Feb. 8 Wedneday, Mar. 1 Wednesday, Feb. 15 Wednesdsay, Mar. 8 1:30 - 2:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Join one of our Nation Builders and a Colonial Williamsburg Archaeologist as they discuss their historic figure’s perspective on Williamsburg and the most recent archeological findings. Learn how they connect and how we all work together to tell the diverse and difficult stories of our nation’s history.

Good Stories about Great Stuff

Friday, Feb. 3 Friday, Feb. 24 Friday, Feb. 10 Friday, Mar. 3 Friday, Feb. 17 Friday, Mar. 10 10:30 - 11:15am | Hennage Auditorium Every object in our collection has an interesting back story. Discover who created the object, who owned it, and how it ended up in our collection. A curator, educator, or conservator will examine an object each week.

How Did They Survive?

Wednesday, Feb. 8 4:30 - 5:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Join Ayinde Martin, Journeyman Carpenter, to discuss enslaved people in colonial Virginia and their survival techniques and skills.

Let’s Get Crafty

Tuesday, Mar. 7 2 - 4pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg | $25 per person Celebrate National Craft Month at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Join us each week for a craft inspired by a piece in our collection. Supplies included. Limit of 12 participants.

March 7 | Canvas Painting Mrs. Glines wears a flower brooch, the inspiration for this acrylic canvas painting class.

Phillis Wheatley and the Music of Freedom

Friday, Feb. 3 Friday, Feb. 24 Friday, Feb. 10 Friday, Mar. 3 Friday, Feb. 17 Friday, Mar. 10 4:30 - 5:30pm | Hennage Auditorium Phillis Wheatley was named after the slave ship that brought her to the colonies as a child and for her enslaver. The Wheatley’s soon saw the great talent and potential she possessed and began to give her schooling over and above that of their other enslaved servants. At an early age, she was reading the hardest passages in the Bible. She began to write poetry that garnered the attention of George Washington, who became a strong proponent of her poetry, which brought out the irony that the freedom and equality that the white gentry was fighting for did not apply to the enslaved. Phillis was eventually manumitted. Join the Governor’s Musick in a musical exploration of the paradox of freedom as seen through the poetry of Phillis Wheatley.

Pictures of West Africa

Wednesday, Feb. 22 4:30 - 5:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Join Harold Caldwell, apprentice carpenter, as he shares a pictorial of the connected 18th-century African and Virginian history, while tying it to a modern understanding.

Pop-Up Archaeology!

Tuesday, Jan 3. Thursday, Feb. 2 Thursday, Jan. 5 Tuesday, Feb. 7 Tuesday, Jan. 10 Thursday, Feb. 9 Thursday, Jan. 12 Tuesday, Feb. 14 Tuesday, Jan. 17 Thursday, Feb. 16 Thursday, Jan. 19 Tuesdsay, Feb. 21 Tuesdsay, Jan. 24 Thursday, Feb. 23 Thursday, Jan. 26 Tuesday, Feb. 28 Tuesday, Jan. 31 2 - 4pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Join us for a special pop-up archaeology exhibit in the museum! Archaeologists will be on hand to talk with guests about our ongoing excavations at the Custis Square, First Baptist Church, and Powder Magazine archaeology sites. We’ll show off some of the recently unearthed artifacts discovered at each. Talk with archaeologists about the history of these exciting sites and hear

Handicapped-accessible Separate ticket required

KEY

Museum admission required Family program Special Event Please note that programming is subject to change. Always check our website — colonialwilliamsburg.org — for the most current information.

about what’s next! This exhibition will be open for free-flow visitation.

Public Hospital Visit

Monday, Jan. 2 Monday, Feb. 6 Monday, Jan. 9 Monday, Feb. 13 Monday, Jan. 16 Monday, Feb. 20 Monday, Jan. 23 Monday, Feb. 27 Monday, Jan. 30 Monday, Mar. 6 11 - 11:45am | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Tour the reconstructed Public Hospital of 1773 and chat with a historian about Mental Health Care in the 18th century. Free reservation required. Space is limited for this program. To book your reservation, please visit a ticket office or call our Guest Services at (888) 965-7254.

(re) educate

Friday, Feb. 3 Friday, Feb. 17 Friday, Feb. 10 Friday, Feb. 24 1:30 - 2:15pm | Hennage Auditorium In this theatrical performance, free and enslaved Black students like Isaac Bee, Molly, John, Mary Ashby, and their teacher Ann Wager share lessons learned at the Williamsburg Bray School and the various legacies of those lessons. Through multiple perspectives from the students and their teacher, guests will consider the varied ways in which freedom, education, and agency manifested for black children in 18th-century Williamsburg. The program follows scholars of the Bray School and their teacher from the opening of the school in 1760 to its closing in the late 18th century.

Ring Out the Old Year

Saturday, Jan. 7 3:30 - 4:30pm | Hennage Auditorium Long before Williamsburg was founded, January 6 marked the end of the holiday season. This tradition, also known as Epiphany and Old Christmas, continued well beyond the colonial period into modern times. Join Lynn and Barry Trott for songs and stories from 17th-century England to 20th-century Appalachia to bring your holidays to a joyous close.

The Art of the Stuff Maker

Wednesday, Mar. 1 4:30 - 5:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Join us for an introduction to women’s shoes in the late 18th century. Discover the popular fashions and typical construction techniques that made women’s shoemaking a separate branch of the trade.

Thomas Jefferson and John Hemmings: A Collaboration

Wednesday, Feb. 15 4:30 - 5:15pm | Hennage Auditorium Through this lecture, discover the design, construction, and development of a unique style, “The Blue Ridge Directoire,” showing influences from French, Classical, and Provincial designs. After his retirement, Jefferson returned to Monticello, relying to a great extent on the skills of his enslaved and free local tradespeople to build and decorate Monticello. His principal African American joiner was an enslaved woodworker named John Hemings.

Works by Black Artists & Artisans

Tuesday, Feb. 7 Tuesday, Feb. 28 Tuesday, Feb. 14 Tuesday, Mar. 7 Tuesday, Feb. 21 11am - 12pm | Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg Tour the museum galleries, including the “I Made This” exhibition, to explore decorative arts and folk art made by Black artists and artisans. Free reservation is required. To book your reservation, please visit a ticket office or call our Guest Services at (888) 965-7254.

Handicapped-accessible Separate ticket required

KEY

Museum admission required Family program Special Event Please note that programming is subject to change. Always check our website — colonialwilliamsburg.org — for the most current information.