Richard III Society American Branch
1996 Annual General Meeting
September 27-29, 1996
Sheraton Society Hill Hotel
Schedule of Events
Friday, September 27
3:30-4:30 p.m.--Manuscript on Display, Free Library of Philadelphia. Many Philadelphia institutions hold manuscripts with Ricardian connections. This is one of the finest: Lewis Ms. E201, a 19-foot scroll, a propaganda genealogy of Richard's older brother, King Edward IV. The Rare Books Department has agreed to have this magnificent manuscript on display for viewing by Ricardians during this time. While you're there, enjoy their other special exhibition, From Bibles to Bibelots: Book Ownership and Collecting from the 14th to the 19th Centuries. Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street. Easily reached from the conference hotel by public transportation.
5:00-6:00--Registration. Pick up your registration packets, including committee reports for Saturday's meeting, and meet and greet your fellow members.
6:00-8:00--Reception with cash bar. Ricardian fellowship gets into full swing. Pick up your registration packet if you haven't already...browse the raffle items table and the sales table....take a guided tour of Ricardian cyberspace on a laptop computer. As a special treat, Jeffrey Collins, former ranger at Independence Park, will give a talk on Philadelphia sites to see within a five-minute walk of the hotel, in America's most historic square mile.
Dinner On Your Own. There are over 50 restaurants within three blocks of the hotel--something for every palate and every pocketbook. And, remember, you're in America's safest downtown, so relax and enjoy yourself!
Saturday, September 28
8:00-9:00--Sip and Shop. Enjoy breakfast beverages while shopping for books and other items at the American Branch sales table. Registration packets will be on hand for latecomers, and you can still buy Schallek Raffle Tickets.
9:00-9:50--"Foreign Ambassadors and Continental Intrigue: Richard III's Foreign Policy, 1483-1485." American Branch Research Officer Sharon D. Michalove examines a Ricardian ambassadorial appointment letter, part of Philadelphian Simon Gratz's autograph collection and now in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and sets the letter in the context of Richard III's difficult foreign policy choices.
10:00-10:50--"Philadelphia's Loss, Ohio's Gain--The Life and Work of Paul Murray Kendall. When Philadelphia-born Shakespearean scholar Paul Murray Kendall turned his attention to the history of the history plays, he turned Ricardian scholarship on its ear, and set a new standard in scholarship for popular history. American Branch chair and fellow Ohio University faculty member Compton Reeves leads us in a look at the Kendall legacy.
11:00-11:50--"Pedigrees as Propaganda: Lewis Ms. E201 and the Yorkist PR Machine." For those Ricardians who couldn't make it to the Free Library, or for those who'd like to investigate this manuscript in more depth, American Branch vice chair Laura Blanchard gives an illustrated lecture on this elaborate heraldic genealogy of Edward IV.
12:30-4:00--Luncheon and Business Meeting. Following lunch, our keynote speaker, Michael T. Ryan, will tell us about Philadelphia's history as a vibrant intellectual and cultural center in the nineteenth century, focusing on a group of gentlemen scholars/collectors who brought these resources to the city and the culture that gave them birth. The business meeting will follow Dr. Ryan's talk, and will end with the Branch's traditional raffle to benefit the Schallek Scholarship Fund. This year's grand prizes include:
The Complete Historical Novels of
Sharon Kay Penman (donated by the author, who will personalize them for the raffle winner)
Rose-en-Soleil embroidered pullover
(donated by Laura Blanchard)
Matted and Framed AGM Artwork
(donated by Susan Dexter)
(Remember, you need not be present
to win any of the grand prizes!)
4:00-6:30--Free Time. Sightsee, socialize, or simply rest up for the evening.
6:30-7:30--Reception with cash bar.
7:30-9:30--Medieval Banquet. Bring your best medieval bib and tucker and plenty of film for the camera. Our special guests for the banquet will be Bob and Barbara Kriner. Bob is a widely-known and well-respected craftsman of reproduction armor. He will show function and construction of each piece of a reproduction Wars-of-the-Roses-style harness, crafted for Southeastern Pennsylvania Ricardian Dave Macool. But you don't have to dress up in period costume to join the fun!--revelers in modern dress are warmly welcomed. (Separate ticketed function.)
Sunday, September 29
8:00 a.m.--noon: "The Fifteenth Century at the Philadelphia Museum of Art." Continental breakfast with lecture, followed by trip to the Museum's medieval galleries.
See Jasper Tudor's book of hours...fifteenth-century Nottingham alabasters...northern European masterworks including Rogier van der Weyden's unforgettable and newly restored Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John and Jan van Eyck's St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata. Proceeds from this ticketed function benefit the Schallek Scholarship program.
Keynote Speakers/Workshop Leaders
Laura Blanchard is vice chairman of the American Branch and maintains the Society's world wide web site. She is also executive director of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries.
Sharon Michalove, research officer of the American Branch, is assistant to the chair in the Department of History and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Use this link to reach her recent paper, "The Reinvention of Richard III."
A. Compton Reeves, chairman of the American Branch, holds a Ph.D. from Emory University and is a professor of history at Ohio University.
Michael T. Ryan, Director of Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania Library, holds a Ph.D. from New York University. He has also served as Director of Special Collections at Stanford University and as Assistant Curator of Special Collections and University Archivist, University of Chicago.