Tag: Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society

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Saying goodbye: Margaret O’Bryant on 30 years at the historical society

After more than 30 years of managing its vast historical collection, Margaret O’Bryant has bid the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical society adieu. PC: John Robinson

For most of her life, Margaret O’Bryant has called the library home. After receiving a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she worked in libraries at Ferrum College, Lenoir-Rhyne College, and UVA, later moving to the reference department at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.

While at the public library in 1987, O’Bryant also volunteered with the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, helping to move its collection from a space on Court Square to the former McIntire Library on Second Street SE, where the society planned to dedicate a room to its archival collection. A year later, the society received funding from the city and county to create a formal librarian position, which O’Bryant eagerly applied for—and got.

Now, after more than 30 years of managing its vast historical collection, O’Bryant has bid the society adieu. She officially retired at the beginning of this month, and is now working on clearing out her things and preparing the library for whoever takes her place. We sat down with her to reflect on her time there. (Responses have been edited for length and clarity.)

C-VILLE: How has Charlottesville changed since you started working at the society?

Margaret O’Bryant: I think the nature of historical attention has changed over this period, in ways that are good, and that are a little more disconcerting in ways to some people. There’s been more attention given to a whole spectrum of history in the community.

What’s the strangest inquiry or request you’ve ever gotten?

This isn’t necessarily strange, and I don’t mean this negatively. But we get roughly 1,300 to 1,500 people per year who come here in person to do research, and the largest percentage of those people are here to do genealogical research. It’s always been interesting how things are passed on in a family about their background or history…and it’s frequently not entirely accurate. It can be amusing, and sometimes can be a little more difficult for people. They have to deal in one way or another with the fact that things are not always what they had thought it had been. It’s an interesting phenomenon.

What’s your favorite memory of working at the society?

I will always remember fondly the reception the society and JMRL put together in December, when the society named the reading room here after me…it was quite moving.

What will you miss the most about your job?

It’s usually the people that you work with that you miss more than anything else. I’ve certainly had a lot of wonderful relationships with the people that I work with and for, and also the people who come here to do research…I’ll also miss the whole process of looking for things, trying to see where they can be found, and finding whatever it is that may be helpful.

Now that you’re retired, what are you going to do next?

I told my husband I don’t want to make any specific plans for several months…but I would like to do some additional travel, both within the country and some foreign travel. As far as locally…I may do some things at the society as a volunteer. That would only be if the new librarian and director are comfortable having me around!

Margaret O’Bryant, in brief

Education: Bachelor’s degree in classical languages from the College of William & Mary, master’s degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

First job in Charlottesville: Drove volunteers around for Charlottesville’s retired senior volunteer program.

Famous use of the society’s resources: “Finding Your Roots,” a PBS genealogical documentary series hosted by acclaimed historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.

 

Correction February 19: the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society receives around 1,300 to 1,500 visitors per year, not 13,000 to 15,000 as originally reported.

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Grappling with the past: Historical society struggles to find its way

The historical society receives a subsidized lease from the city for its space in the former McIntire Library, across from Market Street Park. For the next three years, the society will pay $9,000 a year for the building, whose market value is estimated at $114,000 a year. PC: Staff Photo

By Ben Hitchcock

“I feel like I’ve been training for this one job for 30 years,” said Coy Barefoot when he took over as executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society in April of 2018. In an interview with ilovecville.com, the local author and media personality expressed his desire to rebrand the organization and create “a whole constellation of museums that will offer really rich experiences.”

Eighteen months later, Barefoot had resigned from the position. The society released a statement on October 12 thanking him for his work as executive director over the last year and a half.

Multiple members of the society’s board of directors declined to comment directly on Barefoot’s resignation, citing a policy that forbids discussing personnel decisions, and Barefoot did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He told at least one person, who later described the conversation to C-VILLE, that his pay was being cut amid fundraising difficulties.

Barefoot’s departure is the latest shake-up at an institution with a tumultuous recent past.

In 2017, the historical society found itself in an unwelcome spotlight when UVA professor Jalane Schmidt, hoping to conduct research in advance of the June Ku Klux Klan gathering in Charlottesville, was stymied in her request to view a collection of KKK robes and membership certificates owned by the society. “Just a few days before the Klan was coming, these people were so recalcitrant,” she recalls.

The society declined to reveal the names of the owners of the robes in its collection (they were finally revealed in May of this year). And it came under more criticism for failing to respond to the August Unite the Right rally that happened right outside its front door.   

At around the same time, the society was seeking to renew its lease. Since the 1990s, the organization has been given a deal on rent at 200 Second St. NE, a column-fronted hall (formerly a whites-only library) owned by the city, just a few yards from the statue of Robert E. Lee. ACHS’ rent is well below market rates, and that generous lease raises the stakes for everything that happens at the society.

The increased scrutiny over the lease renewal revealed years of dysfunction and declining membership. At a City Council meeting that September, Councilor Kathy Galvin called the nonprofit “an absolute mess,” and a local historian accused the society of having an antagonistic relationship with the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

“It’s a shame that we basically have a black historical society and a white historical society, but that’s the way it’s played out,” former ACHS executive director Douglas Day later told C-VILLE, referring to the Jefferson School and ACHS.

The ACHS “just served as a genealogical society for white people, that’s what it seemed like,” Schmidt says.

Director Steven Meeks abruptly resigned in February 2018, and Barefoot was hired that April.

Under Barefoot, the historical society met nine of 10 goals set for it by City Council, and in February of this year agreed to a three-year lease with two one-year renewal options.

The market value for the building is estimated at around $114,000 per year. The historical society will pay just $9,000.

The current physical condition of the premises reflects an institution in transition. A recent visit revealed an empty exhibition room, maintenance equipment scattered around the main hall, and a cart of stackable plastic chairs in the middle of the lobby. The artifacts on display include a rusty cavalry spur from the Civil War skirmish at Rio Hill and a 1920s doll owned by a girl who died of pneumonia.

That collection doesn’t stand out in Charlottesville’s crowded historical tourism landscape. Shelley Murphy, who was elected chair of the board six months ago, conceded that it has been difficult for the society to attract visitors and philanthropy dollars. “Not that it’s competitive, but it is competitive,” Murphy says. “There’s I think 800 or more nonprofits in the area. For people coming in from out of town or even local, you have Monticello here, you’ve got Montpelier here, and you also have Highland.”

Despite these problems, there are reasons to believe that the organization can be turned around. The last two years have seen a near-total overhaul of the society’s board of directors. In addition to Meeks’ resignation, notable departures include Ken Wallenborn, a retired doctor who spent years arguing that Thomas Jefferson did not father the children of Sally Hemings.

“There seem to be more bona fide historians being asked to be involved, like Phyllis Leffler, Shelley Murphy…Certainly more women and people of color,” Schmidt says of the recent changes.

UVA history professor John Edwin Mason says he’s been “unofficially invited” to join the board. “I think that the society can play an important role in the reexamination of our history—something that’s happening in many places right now,” he says. “There’s tremendous energy out there at the moment.”

In order to survive, the historical society will need to shed its image as an insular and inaccessible club.

Barefoot made motions towards that end, renaming the institution the Charlottesville Center for History and Culture and launching a new website. But the site’s featured blog has not been updated since October 2018, and the sign in front of the building, as well as the Facebook page, still say Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.

Board chair Murphy says Barefoot “started that change movement” and the society will build from there. “My hope coming in to the future is that we’re building local community partnerships,” she says. “We don’t want to just be sitting here and not serving.”

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In brief: Barefoot is history, first-gen funds, Daily Progress staff unionizes, and more

Barefoot is history

The executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has resigned less than two years into his tenure. Coy Barefoot, a well-known local author and media personality, was hired in March 2018 after his predecessor Steven Meeks resigned amid questions of mismanagement.

 Coy Barefoot

Barefoot told at least one person, who later described the conversation to C-VILLE, that his pay was being cut among fundraising difficulties. Shelley Murphy, who’s serving as interim executive director, declined to comment on why Barefoot resigned, and C-VILLE was unable to reach Barefoot by press time.

“ACHS has accepted the resignation of Mr. Coy Barefoot, with appreciation for his work as Executive Director over the past 18 months as well as his contributions to our understanding of local, state, and national history over the past 3 decades,” the society wrote in a Facebook post.

In February, the historical society was granted a three-year extension of its subsidized lease by City Council. According to the January 22 meeting agenda, the city agreed to rent the society its space in the McIntire Building across from Market Street Park for $750 per month, costing the city $105,090 per year when compared to market value. The city has the option to cancel the lease after this year.

Per the February 4 meeting minutes, Mayor Nikuyah Walker had suggested a one-year lease instead, so the agreement could then be discussed with the new city manager, but Barefoot pushed for a three-year commitment in order to meet the requirements of a grant.

Rise in crime reports at UVA

Reported incidents of burglary, rape, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking increased at the University of Virginia from 2017 to 2018, according to the school’s annual safety report. A total of 141 incidents were reported to the University Police Department, including 28 rapes—with 20 occurring in student housing. 

The rise in reported sexual assault and domestic violence can be attributed “in part to outreach and education efforts by many University offices,” says University Spokesperson Wes Hester. The University has worked to make the reporting process more accessible by allowing students to submit a Title IX complaint over the phone, in person, or through the online Just Report It system.

The University’s new LiveSafe safety app also allows students, faculty, and staff to report incidents, suspicious behavior, and emergencies; communicate with police officers; and alert a friend when they have arrived safely at their destination.

In the coming weeks, the University will be publishing its AAU Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey results, as well as updated Title IX statistics.

Quote of the week

“Ironically, the reporters covering the area’s affordable housing needs don’t even make enough to live here.” — Nolan Stout, the Daily Progress’ local government reporter, in a statement about the unionization of the paper’s journalists

In brief

Read all about it

The staff of the Daily Progress has announced its plans to unionize, citing poor pay and increased workloads. Since the Daily Progress was acquired by billionaire Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group seven years ago, staff has noticed cuts across the board. The union, Blue Ridge Guild, hopes to increase the bargaining power of the staff, and gain greater pay equity and better working conditions. The union will either be voluntarily recognized by BH Media, or it can seek recognition from the National Labor Relations Board.

Closer look

This winter, the Department of Neighborhood Development Services will conduct a survey of the 10th and Page neighborhood. Funding from both the state and city will back the study of the historically black neighborhood—one of the last in the area to be surveyed. The project brings with it the possibility of a historic designation, which could result in increased funding to the neighborhood.

First-gen funds

New York real estate mogul David Walentas and his wife, Jane, have donated $100 million to UVA, with $75 million going toward scholarships and fellowships for first-generation college students, according to a university announcement. Walentas, who attended UVA (Class of ‘61) on an ROTC scholarship, was the first in his family to go to college, and told the Washington Post that UVA “completely changed” his life. The university plans to roll out the program by 2022.

That’s a mouthful

UVA announced on October 11 that it has established the Democracy Initiative Center for the Redress of Inequity Through Community-Engaged Scholarship—or the Equity Center, for short. Headed by law professor Dayna Bowen Matthew, the center seeks to bolster town-gown relations and address racial and socioeconomic inequity through sustained collaboration between the university and its surrounding community. The Equity Center plans to open its doors November 14 or 15.

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In brief: School walkouts, vegan dating, butt whupping and more

Students at Charlottesville High school were among thousands of teenagers who participated in the March 14 National School Walkout to demand gun control legislation. Eze Amos

Walking the walk

Exactly one month from the day that a gunman shot 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, local students and their peers across the nation said they wouldn’t stand for that—so they walked.

March 14 marked the first National School Walkout, where thousands of students left their classrooms at 10am to demand gun control legislation.

As a seemingly endless current of teenagers streamed out of Charlottesville High School, 17 students lay motionless with their eyes shut tight, while holding signs made of red paper and black letters that spelled out the names of each victim of the Parkland shootings.

“We’ve become numb to the fear,” said senior Fré Halvorson-Taylor into a bullhorn to about 700 of her peers. She was reading from a statement that she wrote with Albemarle High School student Camille Pastore, and that representatives from Monticello and Western Albemarle high schools approved.

“The idea was that it would be read at all the surrounding schools or otherwise disseminated to the Charlottesville community,” Halvorson-Taylor says.

Over at Monticello High, teenagers also flooded out the front doors of their school, but the students who organized their walkout asked for 17 full minutes of silence as the group walked, one minute for each person killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

And as those same names were read at Albemarle High School, an all-female acapella group sang Coldplay’s “Fix You.”

Among the many signs held there, several said the same things: “Enough is enough. Arm us with books, not bullets,” and “We care, but do you?”

Students at AHS remind that they’re the school massacre generation. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

Several local students are organizing buses to Washington, D.C., for the March For Our Lives this weekend.

A dozen area activist groups, such as the local chapter of Moms Demand Action and the Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention, have organized a sister event at the Sprint Pavilion from 2-4pm on March 24 to demand that the lives and safety of young people in schools become a priority.

“I don’t know what to say but that. That was a thorough butt-whupping.”—UVA Coach Tony Bennett after the historic loss of his No. 1-seeded Cavaliers to No. 16 seed UMBC in the first round of the NCAA tournament

City settles FOIA lawsuit

Charlottesville will give freelance reporters Jackson Landers and Natalie Jacobsen redacted copies of police operational plans for August 12 as part of a settlement of their Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit. The reporters also asked for Virginia State Police plans, but the state argued March 13 in court against turning plans over because they may reuse them. Because they worked so well the first time?

Legislative success

While the General Assembly killed all bills that would allow Charlottesville to better control another Unite the Right rally, it did pass a bill carried by Delegate Steve Landes that will allow Albemarle to regulate parking on secondary highways.

Meat market

New research from meal delivery service Food Box HQ says Virginia singles are among the least likely in the nation to date vegans. In a recent survey, 38 percent indicated that they would not consider dating someone with a diet sans animal products.

New historical society head

Coy Barefoot File photo

After Steven Meeks abruptly resigned as executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society last month, the organization’s board of directors named journalist, author and historian Coy Barefoot as his successor.

Jogger dies

Andrew J. Yost, a 49-year-old who was struck by a sedan while out jogging around 8:30pm February 19 in Barboursville, succumbed to his injuries at the University of Virginia Medical Center on March 10. Driver Guy Wilde, also 49, was charged with one felony count of hit and run.

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Steven Meeks has left the building

Steven Meeks' abrupt resignation from the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society comes at a time the city is questioning the organization's subsidized rent in the McIntire Buidling. Photo Eze Amos

The controversial president of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society abruptly resigned February 11 after cleaning out his office in the city-owned McIntire Building.

In a “hastily written note,” says Will Lyster, a historical society director, Steven G. Meeks resigned from the organization he’s headed for about a decade. The board asked Lyster to step in as interim president February 14.

“We realized that in the past couple of months, Steven had done nothing,” says Lyster, including the “10 easy things the city wanted done to renew the lease.” And Meeks’ departure comes at a time when the city is reconsidering its lease for the historical society, whose membership has dropped by half during his tenure.

Meeks drew scrutiny last summer when the historical society stalled a UVA professor’s access to its collection of Ku Klux Klan robes. At a September City Council meeting, planning commissioner Genevieve Keller said the society’s leadership had been “antagonistic” toward the Jefferson School African American Center, and Councilor Kathy Galvin called the nonprofit “an absolute mess.”

“We have a lot of housekeeping,” says Lyster, who is working on the city’s demands, including a more diverse board and inventory of the society’s assets.

Meeks did not return phone calls from C-VILLE.

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Secret history: Is the Charlottesville historical society a thing of the past?

Privately, many former Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society members pin the decline of the organization on its current president, local historian and Scottsville landlord Steven Meeks. Photo by Eze Amos

By John Last

There’s an open secret among Charlottesville’s historians: Something is very wrong at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.

Under the near-singular control of an amateur historian, plagued by infighting and, now, facing eviction by the city, even some lifetime members are saying the 77-year-old society should meet its demise.

Conversations with more than a dozen current and former staff, volunteers and board members reveal an organization in deep dysfunction.

The ACHS keeps no current public record of board members or directors, though it is considered standard practice for charitable organizations. Paul Jones, until recently a listed director in the society’s State Corporation Commission filings, seemed unaware of any obligation to make public disclosures about the society.

None of the named current directors who responded to repeated requests could provide basic public documentation, such as the society’s articles of incorporation or bylaws. Will Lyster, a current director, says he does not have them, despite having sat on the board for more than a year. Several former directors stated they had never seen them.

Astonishingly, at the time of this writing, none of the current or previous directors could even name the other members of the board or remember the last time the board met in full. Ken Wallenborn, a current board member, says he could not disclose their names as he “did not want to step on toes.”

“They should release it, not me,” he says, declining to elaborate.

The ACHS has been the subject of renewed public scrutiny as its lease with the city comes up for review. Headquartered at 200 Second St. NE, across from Emancipation Park, the ACHS pays a reduced rent of $185 per year, representing a significant public subsidy.

But when the issue was brought before council on September 18, no informed director was present. Questions about the society’s poor documentation had to be answered by Lewis Martin, a real estate lawyer with limited knowledge of the organization.

“This is a mess, an absolute mess, and it’s been going on for some time,” said City Councilor Kathy Galvin.

Just a decade ago, the ACHS was a vibrant organization with more than 500 members, a newly renovated headquarters and a visible presence in the community. How the organization has come to its current point is a subject of much gossip in Charlottesville’s interconnected nonprofit community.

Privately, many former members pin the decline of the ACHS on its current president, local historian and Scottsville landlord Steven Meeks.

Asked for comment, Meeks said he was not answering questions and hung up.

Though the bylaws once called for a maximum term limit of six years, Meeks has been president of the society for almost a decade. After he led a campaign for the termination of former executive director Douglas Day, he also held that position until it was eliminated in 2013.

Day’s firing, say former board members, was the culmination of years of subpar fundraising and management. But it was also the fruit of months of mudslinging that saw Meeks level unsubstantiated allegations of theft against him, according to several former board members from that time.

“Doug came just short of being abused by Steve,” says former board member Don Swofford. “They just slandered him.”

Meeks took over the executive directorship on an interim basis, and was elected president later that year by a vote of the board. Though the bylaws at the time required it, Meeks did not seek a replacement executive director, although financial records suggest the society would have run a deficit had they staffed the paid position.

In 2011, discontent on the board was growing. Meeks was re-elected in a highly contentious election, in which he appeared at the vote with his personal attorney, Maynard Sipe, and began to rule critics out of order, according to Swofford and Bobby Montgomery, another former director and Meeks’ opponent at the time.

“Steve was inventing his own parliamentary law,” says Swofford.

Records show for the final vote, Sipe ruled out a secret ballot, and several members abstained. Sipe then became a regular fixture at board discussions, despite never holding a formal position at the society, according to meeting minutes.

In response, ACHS secretary Jarrett Millard suggested multiple amendments to the bylaws to make the president’s role more accountable. But by the end of the year, the amendments had not been passed, and the majority of the board had resigned.

By 2013, the situation had deteriorated further. A letter to the board signed by eight former members, including Millard, Swofford and Montgomery, detailed several violations of the bylaws, including the appointment of directors without a vote of the membership.

“We are writing to you today…because of our desperate concern,” reads the letter.

In response, the board changed the bylaws to remove term limits and obligations to consult with members.

In conversations with former directors, none doubt Meeks’ deep commitment to history, and many are grateful for his stewardship in returning the society to profitability after its financial reserve was shrunk by half in the 2008 recession.

“At that time, we needed the strong hand of a rigid autocratic-type leadership to bring us back from the brink of collapse,” wrote Swofford in his 2011 resignation letter. “You have taken the Society through tumultuous waters, and you have done a very good job. Now you need to step aside.”

Since that time, the society has become more insular. Membership has dropped by more than 50 percent, and fewer meetings are held.

A public spat over access to Ku Klux Klan robes with UVA professor Jalane Schmidt, together with the society’s refusal to disclose the donor of the robes, set it at odds with Charlottesville’s increasingly progressive historical mainstream.

This perception was cemented by the organization’s complete silence on the August 12 events, despite them taking place on its literal doorstep.

“I met and talked with black people in Charlottesville who said they would never darken the door [of the ACHS],” says Day, the former executive director, “because they knew what it stood for.”

Housed in a former whites-only children’s library, it has at times tried to shake its image as an old, white man’s club with exhibits on African-American history.

But in a statement to City Council, local historian Genevieve Keller said the society’s relationship with the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center had been “actually antagonistic.” Keller and the Jefferson Center did not respond to requests for comment.

“It’s a shame that we basically have a black historical society and a white historical society, but that’s the way it’s played out,” says Day.

There may be some substantial change coming. In agreeing to a conditional six-month extension of the society’s lease, city councilors inserted a requirement that one-third of the board be appointed by the city.

In addition to requirements to increase transparency and accountability that were not met in the 2013 lease, the society must demonstrate “racial and ethnic diversity” in staffing.

Currently, there is one black member of the board—local Realtor Angus Arrington, appointed in 2014.

Society members see this fight as personal.

“I think that these are bitter people,” says Wallenborn.

“I think some of the city councilors have a personal grievance,” says Jones. “None of the City Council are even members.”

“I don’t want it to die,” says City Councilor Kristin Szakos. “But I’m not the one killing it.”

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In brief: Monolithic tendencies, hysterical society and more

Monolith on West Main

What wasn’t quite clear from renderings of The Standard, the deluxe student apartments now under construction across from The Flats on West Main Street, was just how massive and Soviet Bloc-looking the 499-space parking garage is.

This is what The Standard will look like in a year or so. Mitchell/Matthews

Good news: It’s going to be covered by the building and won’t be a stand-alone monstrosity.

According to Chris Engel, the city’s director of economic development, the “parking being built is solely to support the building,” which has 189 units and commercial and retail on the first of its six floors.

Developer Landmark Properties, based in Athens, Georgia, is “redefining the college living experience,” according to its website. The complex is shooting for a fall 2018 move-in.

The Standard garage back in July. Staff photo

“It’s kind of an eyesore,” says Flats resident William Rule. The construction noise, too, has been a problem, he says.

Mel Walker, owner of Mel’s Cafe, is not perturbed about the construction down the street or the upcoming influx of students. “They’ve got to eat somewhere,” he says.

 

 

 

CPD’s August 12 bill

Photo Eze Amos

Charlottesville police spent nearly $70,000 for the Unite the Right rally, including almost $44K on overtime and a $565 pizza tab from Papa John’s. The bill includes $3,300 for Albemarle sheriff’s deputies, $2,400 for jailers and $750 for the services of clinical psychologist Jeffrey Fracher. The city spent $33,000 for the July 8 KKK rally.

“Solidarity Cville rebukes the ‘Concert for Charlottesville’ as a show of false unity.”—Statement dropped about the same time the Dave Matthews-led concert was beginning September 24.

Art installation erased

A group of residents worked through the wee hours September 24 to transform the Free Speech Wall to the Solidarity Wall. Little more than an hour later, a man erased their efforts.

Where’s the gas?

Charlottesville’s first Sheetz opens September 28 on the Corner. The petroleum-less convenience store is a new concept for Sheetz and the fourth it’s opened in the middle of a college town. It features USB phone charger ports every three feet, and is open 24/7, which means rush hour around 2am on weekends.

Historical Society under fire

Steven Meeks. Photo Eze Amos

For years the tenure of Steven Meeks as president of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has brought grumblings from former board members and a loss of half its dues-paying membership. Now the city is citing leadership and transparency issues in its proposal to up the rent for the McIntire Building, where the nonprofit is housed, from $182 a month to $750, according to Chris Suarez in the Daily Progress.

 

 

 

Accused murderer arrested

Huissuan Stinnie, the 18-year-old on the lam since being accused of the September 11 murder of New York man Shawn Evan Davis on South First Street, was arrested in Fluvanna September 25. He faces charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

Store it in style

Lifelong mountain biker and Charlottesville resident Eric Pearson was frustrated by the hassle of having to back his car out of his garage each time he pedaled home and needed to hang his bicycle back on the hook over his workbench, so he committed to buying an outdoor storage container for his two-wheeler.

“I quickly discovered that no elegant product existed,” he says, and decided to build a device for those who also wanted an aesthetically pleasing way to keep their bikes from becoming one of the 1.5 million stolen in the country each year. Thus, the Alpen Bike Capsule was born.

Courtesy Alpen

Each slim silver cylinder uses an integrated Bluetooth lock to provide secure access, is waterproof, lightweight, durable and bolts to any surface. While Pearson says his capsules look great outside any home or apartment, or on the back of an RV, we think it looks like it came straight off a Star Wars set—and we’re okay with that.

The product should hit the market by mid-2018, he says. And though it’ll set customers back about $1,000, Pearson says early orderers can expect significant discounts.

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Skeletons in the closet: Historical society displays KKK robes, keeps owners secret

Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society president Steven Meeks points out details in the emblem on a 1920s KKK robe to onlookers Wes Bellamy, Jalane Schmidt and Jane Smith. Photo Eze Amos

 

After several weeks of prodding by a UVA researcher, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society produced two of the 26 Ku Klux Klan robes in its collection, but its president refused to reveal which of the city’s citizens wore those robes in the 1920s.

The yellowed robes were stretched out in the exhibit hall of the historical society July 6 for a private viewing that included the media, UVA researchers and members of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces.

Two of the 26 KKK robes in the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society’s museum collection saw the light of day two days before the Loyal White Knights of the KKK hit Charlottesville. Photo Eze Amos

The robes were discovered in a shed in the eastern part of the city in 1993, according to the historical society. The Klan apparel was stored in a crate and had been exposed to dirt, heat, humidity and wear.

The resident who discovered and donated the robes did not request that his or her identity be concealed, nor did the donor request that the original owners of the robes remain anonymous, says historical society president Steven Meeks.

“Due to the sensitive nature of these artifacts, and in the interest of protecting the privacy of the descendants of both the donors and the original owners of the artifacts, at this time the society is not disclosing the address where the artifacts were found, nor the identity of the donor or the names of the two Klan members associated with this collections,” says Meeks.

Along with the robes was a KKK certificate of knighthood dated June 1, 1926. A facsimile of the certificate was enlarged and the name of the Klansman was redacted.

Meeks did not attempt to contact the donors, he says. He cited the impending visit of the Loyal Knights of the KKK as the reason for protecting the owners and their descendant

That decision caused some concern among the historians and members of the blue ribbon commission present.

UVA Associate Professor Jalane Schmidt, who is researching UVA’s ties to the KKK, which donated $1,000 to Memorial Gym in 1921, says she filed a research request with the historical society in mid-June to view the robes and received no response.

UVA prof Jalane Schmidt compared seeing the robes to going to a funeral, where you know someone died, but there’s still a heaviness in actually seeing the casket. Photo Eze Amos

She believes the robes should be displayed and the owners revealed. “This is not good practice for a historical society,” she says.

John Edwin Mason is a UVA history professor who served on the blue ribbon commission. If the historical society displays the robes, as Meeks suggested it might, to understand them fully, its job would be to interpret the artifacts, says Mason, “You can’t do your job as a historical society without the provenance being attached to the display of this archive. It just can’t be done.”

Mason questioned protecting the identity of owners “who are long since dead.” Knowing who wore the robes “is essential to understanding the role of the Ku Klux Klan in Charlottesville society,” he says.

Meeks did say the wearers of the two robes displayed “were neither one prominent members of the town.”

Steven Meeks. Photo Eze Amos

But a June 28, 1921, Daily Progress article on the newly organized Klan chapter and its inaugural cross-burning at Monticello says the event was attended by “hundreds of Charlottesville’s leading business and professional men.”

And a 1922 Progress story notes that robed and masked Klan members showed up with a floral tribute with three Ks spelled out in white flowers at the funeral of Albemarle Sheriff C.M. Thomas.

“I think [Meeks] is being overly cautious when it comes to the people who at the time were associated with the Klan,” says Mason. He says he’s much less bothered with keeping the names of the donors secret.

But Don Gathers, who chaired the blue ribbon commission, says what the Klan members stood for is “morally wrong,” and the fact that the donors did not request anonymity “raises the question why” Meeks would take that stance.

Doug Day, former executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, says he displayed the robes in 2005 or 2006. “At the time, the provenance was already smudged,” he says. The garments were found in Belmont when someone bought a house there, he adds.

Day says he would have “real reservations” about releasing the names of the owners and donors. “Why expose them? To what end?” he asks. “It’s perfectly in the purview of the historical society to withhold the names.

Attorney and lifelong Charlottesville resident Lewis Martin says Meeks discussed the issue with him. “It wasn’t so much a legal decision as about where we are now,” says Martin. “The historical society didn’t want to expose any descendants” of Klan members, nor discourage anyone who might want to donate artifacts to the organization.

 

 

 

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of October 26-November 1

Danger! Zombies! Run! 5K takes place Sunday, October 30, starting at the Downtown Mall.

Family
Animal Connection Anniversary Party
Saturday, October 29

Get Fido and Fifi ready to party in celebration of Animal Connection’s 15th anniversary. There will be free treats and goody bags, plus opportunities to sit for sessions with a pet portrait artist, a pet photographer and an animal communicator. Free, 9am-4pm. 1701-E Allied St. 296-7048.

Nonprofit
Spirit Walk
Saturday, October 29

Tour the Old Albemarle Jailhouse courtesy of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, and learn the stories of some of the inmates held behind its bars between 1876 and 1974. Old Albemarle Jail, 409 E. High St. $8 children, $12 adult, 30-minute tours given from 6-9pm. albemarlehistory.org.

Food
Apple tasting
Saturday, October 29

Today’s supermarkets provide but a small slice of the world’s thousands of apples—so join Monticello gardeners to taste, savor and rate some of the more uncommon varieties. Woodland Pavilion, Monticello, 931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. $24, 10am-noon. 984-9800.

Health & Wellness
Danger! Zombies! Run! 5K
Sunday, October 30

Escape the undead as a human, or run as a zombie and chase humans to turn them into zombies by taking their lives, er, ribbons on their backs. Humans get a 90-second head start, but the zombie with the most kills, er, ribbons, wins. Downtown Mall. $20-50, 8:30am. badtothebone.biz.

Categories
Arts

Early male impersonator Kathleen Clifford had Charlottesville origins

The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society’s Kathleen Clifford exhibit captures her career as a vaudeville male impersonator, Hollywood actress, costume designer and writer. Courtesy Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society

One of the earliest ordinances against cross-dressing was passed in Columbus, Ohio, in 1848, making it illegal for someone to appear in public “in a dress not belonging to his or her sex.” While police enforced such laws on public streets and jailed offenders, the impersonation of women by men, and men by women, became a popular routine on the vaudeville stage, a precursor to today’s variety show. And it so happens that in the early 1900s, one of the most renowned male impersonators was a Charlottesville native.

Kathleen Clifford was born in Charlottesville in 1887. Hailey Stoudt, who researched and designed an exhibit about Clifford’s life that is currently on display at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, says there are discrepancies between the historical record and the information Clifford presented to the public about her life.

Because British performers were popular at the time, Clifford purported to be from England, despite her Virginia birth. And because being a performer was not exactly a reputable thing to do, especially for a woman, there is no information available about Clifford’s family, possibly because she took a stage name. While an origin story pinpoints her entrance into the performing arts at age 15, when she met American producer Charles Frohman at age 15, (who then cast her to star in a musical comedy called Top o’ the World), Stoudt says this is likely the glamorized Hollywood version. Clifford probably had more humble beginnings and had to work her way up from minor parts to center stage.

As a male impersonator doing vaudeville, Clifford wore a top hat, coattails and a monocle. Her smart fashion sense earned her the nickname “the Smartest Chap in Town.” The exhibit explains there were two generations of male impersonators. In the first generation, which performed from 1860 to 1900, the goal was to present a realistic portrayal. According to historian Marybeth Hamilton, female impersonators at the time were billed as illusionists, which made them appear less of a threat to traditional gender roles. But in the second generation of male impersonators, from the 1900s to 1930s, actresses were purposefully more feminine, no longer trying to pass for male as vaudeville hoped to attract a more middle-class audience, including women and children, and a convincing drag performance would have been considered vulgar.

Clifford continued to perform in vaudeville up to the 1930s, even as she was cast in Broadway productions and silent films. The only film Stoudt found intact was When the Clouds Roll By, a 1919 comedy in which Clifford stars as the romantic leading lady, an artist named Lucette Bancroft, opposite Douglas Fairbanks as Daniel Boone Brown, a young man being driven mad by his psychiatrist.

“It is the only one [of her films] still currently available,” Stoudt says. “A lot of silent films were actually destroyed. It’s kind of sad that we don’t have them to look at now. The performance is over the top and exaggerated to get the point across, but she was definitely talented.”

While she continued to act, Clifford also opened a florist business in Hollywood in the late 1920s. But five years after the first feature film with sound, Clifford appeared in a short talkie called The Bride’s Bereavement (1932), and then she disappeared from film. Her appearances in vaudeville, too, began to wane in the 1930s, as the novelty and popularity of the talkies eclipsed such live-performance shows.

Her passion for the written word, however, did not diminish. In 1945, she published The Enchanted Glen: Never Trod by the Feet of Men, a children’s book that was illustrated by Howard “Kim” Weed, a contributing illustrator to Disney’s Fantasia (1940). Ten years later, Clifford published the novel It’s April… Remember?, inspired by her time in Hollywood, a place she described as “perhaps the most romantic city in the world of romantic dreams.”

“It’s a farce that looks at Hollywood’s personalities and outrageous characters,” Stoudt says. In the foreword to the novel, Clifford reminds her readers that it is a work of fiction, asks them not to superimpose themselves on her characters and even jokes about being sued for libel. Yet she writes a sincere and nostalgic tribute to the “fabulous people” of Hollywood and credits them with their unbiased generosity and selflessness.

“She was such an interesting woman,” Stoudt says. “She was famous for being a male impersonator in vaudeville, making all her costumes, writing her own songs and material. She was definitely a hardworking woman and this translated later in her life when she ran her own business and wrote her stories and novels. I’m excited to see, as more information becomes available, what we can uncover about her.”

The exhibit will be on display through the end of the year, and an article on Stoudt’s latest findings on Clifford is forthcoming in The Magazine of Albemarle County History.