Museum of the Confederacy
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The Museum of the Confederacy is located in Richmond, Virginia. The museum includes the former White House of the Confederacy and maintains a comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts and photographs from the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War (1861-1865).
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[edit] White House of the Confederacy
The White House of the Confederacy is a gray stuccoed neoclassical mansion built in 1818 by John Brockenborough, who was president of the Bank of Virginia. It was home to a succession of wealthy families throughout the antebellum period. From 1861 to 1865, the building was the Executive Mansion of the Confederate States of America. Not only the official residence of President Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina and their children, the house was also the social, political and military center of the Confederacy.
[edit] History: Confederate Museum
Opened as the Confederate Museum on February 22, 1896, it was housed for many years in the former White House of the Confederacy about 3 blocks north of the Virginia State Capitol building. The Museum of the Confederacy was founded by Isabel Maury after the war. She lived nearby with her father, Henry Maury, a cousin to Matthew Fontaine Maury, a naval officer and scientist who frequently walked to the Confederate White House. The Isabel Maury Planned Giving Society is named in her honor
A newer building to better preserve and present the museum's collections was built and opened in 1976 immediately adjacent to the 3/4 acre (3,000 m²) site. The anchor of the first ironclad warship, C.S.S. Virginia which fought the U.S.S. Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 is prominently displayed on the front lawn.
[edit] Location near Virginia State Capitol
The Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House are located immediately adjacent to the Medical College of Virginia hospitals of Virginia Commonwealth University, and the neighbors have shared parking facilities for many years. The neighboring and expanding hi-rise medical facilities have stirred debate about possible relocation of the Museum and possibly the historic White House building. Recent visitors have commented that the time warp effect was not detrimental to their experience, and the 3 block walk from the Virginia State Capitol was actually accomplished under shelter by cutting through the hospital complex. The museum does receive some foot traffic from the nearby Valentine Richmond History Center on Clay Street.
[edit] Criticism
James McPherson, a noted Civil War scholar, and Ed Sebesta were interviewed in 1999 by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on the liberal Pacifica Radio network's Democracy Now! program. The topic of the interview was then-candidate George W. Bush's support for the Museum of the Confederacy. McPherson stated his opinions about the museum:
But I do think that the Museum of the Confederacy is now a research and professional museum in the same category as other highly regarded museums around the country. Some of its supporters, I'm sure, some of its sponsors, some of its members of the Board of Trustees are undoubtedly neo-Confederate. I do know that back in 1992 and 1993 the Museum of the Confederacy had a special exhibit on slavery and on the relationship of slavery and the Civil War which the old guard in Richmond, who identified with the Confederate heritage, were very angry about because that exhibit made all the same kinds of points that either Ed Sebesta or I would make about the Civil War, that slavery was at the root of the conflict that led to the War, that slaves played a major part as labor force for the Confederacy but also a major part as soldiers for the Union.[1]
