Washington & Jefferson College

 

 

A Community Celebration

 

Join us for a day of events celebrating author Rebecca Harding Davis and the Washington Female Seminary. Registration includes lunch, admission to all symposium events, and a free copy of the journal Topic's special issue on Rebecca Harding Davis and Her World. The symposium has been organized by Washington & Jefferson College in cooperation with the Washington County Historical Society, the David Bradford House, and Citizens Library. Act 48 credit available for Pennsylvania teachers. 

Registration Categories: 

• $25, regular registration: online registration is closed; please register at the symposium.
• $20, senior citizens or students: online registration is closed; please register at the symposium. 
• Alumnae of the Washington Female Seminary (registration fee waived)
• W&J students with a meal plan registering without lunch (no cost)

 

April 12

• 4:30pm,  Poetry Reading: Rachel Loden, great-grandniece of Rebecca Harding Davis. Walker Room, U. Grant Miller Library. Registration is not required for this event.

April 13

• 9:00am, registration table opens with name tags and programs (open until 11am). Dieter-Porter Lobby.

• 9:30 – 10:15am,  Opening Address: "Rebecca Harding Davis: Uncommon Woman, Uncommon Tales" by Jean Pfaelzer, with Q & A. Dieter-Porter 100.

• 10:15 – 10:30am, coffee break. Dieter-Porter lobby.

• 10:35 – 11am, Special Address: "Rebecca Harding Davis and the Civil War," by Robin Cadwallader, with Q & A. Dieter-Porter 100.

• 11:10 – 11:55am, Dedication Ceremony: formal dedication of new historical marker featuring W & J president Tori Haring-Smith, Washington Mayor Brenda Davis, Davis's great-grandniece and poet Rachel Loden, and Rep. Robert F. Matzie, 16th Legislative District, on behalf of the Pennsylvania State Historical and Museum Commission. Location: near intersection of Strawberry Alley and Lincoln Street. Registration is not required for this event.

• 12– 1pm, Symposium Lunch. Registration table available outside lunch venue, Ballroom, Rossin Campus Center.

• 12:35 – 12:55pm, Lunchtime Performance: "Rebecca and James" an original one-act play about Rebecca Harding Davis and James G. Blaine written by Prof. Kay McEvoy; performed by Emsie Parker and Park Burroughs, directed by Damian Carrieri, costumes by Kathleen Mitchell. Ballroom, Rossin Campus Center.

• 1 – 3pm, Assorted Activities: participants can select from these activities.

Campus-wide and downtown activities (van transportation provided):

David Bradford House (Davis' birthplace) open, with display by W & J senior Rachel Shaw. 175 S. Main Street.

LeMoyne House open, with display on the Washington Female Seminary by W & J senior Alexis Geeza. 49 E. Maiden Street.

Walking Tour: "Reconstructing History: Student Life in the 19th Century," written and led by W & J senior Alex Sossi, 30 min. Leaves from Rossin Campus Center 1pm, ending at LeMoyne House. Leaves from LeMoyne House 1:45pm, ending at Swanson Science Center.

 

Swanson Science Center activities:

Book Table: books for purchase by Rebecca Harding Davis and symposium speakers.  From 1-1:30pm, Robin Cadwallader and Jean Pfaelzer will be available to sign books.

Book Launch: author Harriet Branton and co-editor Emsie Parker will launch their new book, Washington County Chronicles: Historic Tales from Southwest Pennsylvania.

Costume Display: early 19th Century Notable Women of Western Pennsylvania in miniature from the costume collection of Kathleen Mitchell.

Student Poster Session: a display of student projects and art narrated by the students.

Historical Display: historical books & materials from the Learned T. Bulman '48 Historic Archives & Museum of Washington & Jefferson College.

Genealogy and History Display: historical and genealogical materials from Citizens Library and Friends of Citizens Library.

Coffee Shop: beverages and snacks available from "Roasted," the student-run coffee shop.

                               

• 3:15 – 4pm, Closing Address: "Rebecca Harding Davis and American Literary Traditions," by Robert S. Levine, with Q & A. Dieter-Porter 100.

• 4pm - 5pm, Reception: a final reception sponsored by W.W. Norton & Company; Robert Levine and Rachel Loden will be available to sign books.  Salvitti Atrium in the Swanson Science Center.

 

Guest Speakers

	Robin Cadwallader is Associate Professor of English at Saint Francis University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches American literature and theory. She is a co-founder and president of The Society for the Study of Rebecca Harding Davis and Her World and co-editor of Rebecca Harding Davis's Stories of the Civil War Era: Selected Writings from the Borderlands. She is currently preparing an edited collection of Rebecca Harding Davis's business letters for publication.
	Robert S. Levine is the General Editor of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, and Professor of English and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the author of Conspiracy and Romance (1989), Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, and the Politics of Representative Identity (1997), and Dislocating Race and Nation (2008) and the editor of a number of volumes, including Martin R. Delany: A Documentary Reader (2003), Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables (2005), and The New Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville (forthcoming).
	Rachel Loden is the author of Dick of the Dead, which was shortlisted for the PEN USA Literary Award for Poetry and the California Book Award. Loden’s first book, Hotel Imperium, won the Contemporary Poetry Series and was selected as one of the ten best poetry books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and her work appears recently in A Poet’s Craft (Michigan) and elsewhere.
	Jean Pfaelzer is Professor of American Studies, Asian Studies, English and Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware.  She is the author of Parlor Radical: Rebecca Harding Davis and the Origins of American Social Realism, The Rebecca Harding Davis Reader, and Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans, which was named one of the 100 notable books of the year by the New York Times.  She is a contributor to the Huffington Post and The Globalist.

 

Helpful Information

Parking & Directions - parking is available for free on campus in Grant Street lots.  There is a bike rack for bicycle parking next to Lazear Hall (on the side facing Strawberry Alley and the Swanson Science Center).

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission - The State Historical Marker program is administered by the State Historical and Museum Commission.

Bookstore - Beginning in mid-February, the campus bookstore will have copies of books by Rebecca Harding Davis and symposium speakers available for purchase, and the new book Washington County Chronicles: Historic Tales from Southwest Pennsylvania by Harriet Branton.

Washington County Historical Society - Located in the LeMoyne House, the Washington County Historical Society provides many programs, activities, and services related to the history of Washington.

Topic: The Washington & Jefferson College Review is an interdisciplinary journal published by Washington & Jefferson College since 1961.  A free copy of the forthcoming Rebecca Harding Davis issue is included in the registration fee.

Sponsors

• Enid Parker Keen Poetry Fund
• McBride-McMaster Fund of the Washington County Community Foundation
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• Washington & Jefferson College
• W.W. Norton & Company

Questions? Contact Dr. Jennifer Harding at jharding@washjeff.edu.
Need help completing the iPay form?  View the iPay Screenshot for guidance.