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Confederacy museum to have hearing on finding new home
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
A General Assembly subcommittee considering whether the Museum and White House of the Confederacy should find a new home will hear from five speakers at its meeting Monday.
Museum officials are considering a move because the historic museum and White House are being engulfed by the continuing expansion of Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU's latest project is a 16-story critical-care building, part of the medical campus.
Scheduled speakers at the meeting, to be held at 2 p.m. in the General Assembly Building, are Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources; Cynthia MacLeod, superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site; Edwin J. Slipek, professor of architectural history at Virginia Commonwealth University and teacher of architectural history at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School; Dr. Walter R.T. Witschey, director of the Science Museum of Virginia; and Robert H. Lamb, a Washington lawyer.
The House of Delegates set up the subcommittee a few months ago to examine the cost and feasibility of relocating the White House, a National Historic Landmark, and the 108-year-old museum.
Local historians want to keep the White House where it is. It has stood near 12th and East Clay streets since 1818 and was the Executive Mansion for the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865.
The subcommittee also will meet Sept. 26 and Nov. 21. For information, call (804) 786-3591. -- Janet Caggiano