Historic Mount Vernon Selects Inaugural Class of Washington Scholars

The Mount Vernon Estate recently selected seven scholars to serve as the inaugural class of fellows for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington.

The fellowship program is a key objective of the library, which is set to open this fall. The library is intended to serve as a “presidential library” for George Washington, housing many of his original books and manuscripts and inspiring new scholarly research.

The scholars will reside and study at the estate between September 2013 and August 2014. During their tenure in residence, the scholars will live on site at the DeVos House while embarking on new research on the life, leadership, and legacy of Washington.  They will also explore topics related to early America and engage in ground-breaking historic preservation-focused studies inspired by the enterprising efforts of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. 

“With the establishment of the National Library, we have an unprecedented opportunity to expand scholarship about George Washington and the Founding Era, and to make those findings available to new audiences,” Mount Vernon President and CEO Curt Viebranz said in a statement. “Our fellows have submitted proposals that are creative and compelling, and we look forward to supporting their research.”

The seven scholars were selected after a review by an independent jury of five prominent scholars who met at Mount Vernon in December. The scholars range from doctoral candidates to seasoned scholars from across the country.

The following scholars will study at Mount Vernon beginning in September 2013:

• Dr. Lydia Brandt, University of South Carolina: “Making Mount Vernon Anew”
• Trenton Cole Jones, Doctoral Candidate, The Johns Hopkins University: “Deprived of Liberty: Enemy Prisoners and the Culture War in Revolutionary America, 1775-1783”
• (Recipient of the Amanda and Greg Gregory Family Fellowship)
• Dr. James Martin Kirby, University of Houston: “George Washington: The Greatest Character of the Age” (recipient of the James C. Rees Fellowship on the Leadership of George Washington)
• Dr. Edward Larson, Pepperdine University: “George Washington’s Role in Shaping the Constitution”
• Dr. Sandra Moats, University of Wisconsin, Parkside: “George Washington and the Advent of American Neutrality as a Post-Revolutionary Concept, 1776-1779”
• Dr. Jon E. Taylor, University of Central Missouri: “Genesis of America’s Historic Preservation Impulse: Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association”
• Gwendolyn K. White, Doctoral Candidate, George Mason University: “Commerce and Community at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 1754-1799” (recipient of the James C. Rees Entrepreneurship Fellowship funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation)