Page content
Special Gift Opportunities
Support a special project
Challenge Grants
NEH $600,000 Grant for 3D Visualization Lab Endowment requires
Colonial Williamsburg to raise $1.8 million
Virtual reality offers new approaches for engaging present and future generations
in the study of the American Revolution, citizenship, and democracy. Colonial
Williamsburg plans to establish a 3D Visualization Lab within its Digital History
Center to spearhead the development of 3D virtual-reality technologies for public
education and research purposes. Creating Williamsburg as a virtual environment
involves modeling buildings, furnishings, objects, streets, gardens, and landscapes – all
of which will be fitted into a digitally-modeled terrain. Users will be able
to stroll down the Duke of Gloucester Street, enter buildings, visit backyards
and gardens, and tour public spaces, experiencing the town as it was when Thomas
Jefferson, George Washington, and Patrick Henry championed the cause for independence. The
grant with its matching requirement will create a $2.4 million endowment for
this initiative.
To complete the grant match requirements, Colonial Williamsburg must raise an
additional $260,000.
NEH $1 million “We the People” Grant for African American
History Endowment requires Colonial Williamsburg to raise $3 million
Over the years, Colonial Williamsburg has developed programming that demonstrates
the impact of African Americans in colonial Virginia. The NEH challenge grant
will establish a $4 million endowment to sustain and improve the Foundation’s
African American history interpretation for on- and off-site visitors. Funds
generated by the endowment will support a variety of projects including improved
technology and new program development, a research historian, and a research
fellows program. To date, the Foundation has received gifts totaling
$510,000 toward the $3 million match requirement. To
complete the grant match requirements, Colonial Williamsburg must raise an
additional $1.35 million.
Historic Area Exhibition Buildings and Gardens
Mosquito Curtains for the Governor’s Bedchamber
Funds needed: $10,825
In the Governor's Palace, the governor of Virginia needs mosquito curtains
for his bed! Writing
in 1764, a sleepless and frustrated Virginia planter observed that the “vile
musketoes [are] as plenty as bees in a hive.” In an era before
air conditioning and window screens, gauze bed curtains provided the only nighttime
relief from the biting insects. Accordingly, Governor Botetourt paid
a Williamsburg upholsterer one shilling, six pence for “puting [sic] up
muscato curtains in his room” at the Palace. In order to replicate
that 1769 order, new curtains will be fabricated from delicate green linen
gauze and hand sewn with all the appropriate trim.
Historic Area Costuming Accessories
Funds needed: $5,000 for one year of eyewear expenses, $61,000 for one
year of shoe expenses
More than 800 Colonial Williamsburg employees work in costume in the Historic
Area, taverns, period stores, and in special programs. Keeping them well
attired is the responsibility of the Costume Design Center. Interpreters
wear reproduction 18th-century clothing and accessories. Accessories
include new and replacement eyewear and shoes; the goal is authenticity of
appearance. Eyeglasses are plain with round lenses and wire frames and
cost about $150 from a specialized vendor. Shoes cost approximately $125
a pair; some are made by our shoemakers, while others are manufactured in England
and the U.S. Shoe styles vary to reflect the different life styles of
18th-century Williamsburg society.
Reproduction 18th-century Law Library at the Courthouse
Funds needed: $12,500 will underwrite 7-8 reproduction texts for Courthouse
display and for use as primary source materials for interpreters.
Colonial Williamsburg seeks to reproduce facsimile period books by purchasing
eighteenth-century law texts that will be bound by Master Bookbinder Bruce
Plumley to create a Courthouse law library similar to those of Virginia gentlemen-lawyers
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and others. The books will be displayed
in the courthouse and used as primary information sources by Courthouse interpretive
staff.
Garden
Endowments (3)
Funds needed to endow one of these gardens: $200,000
You can ensure that one of Colonial Williamsburg’s gardens continues
to delight guests for generations to come. Filled with the riotous color
of spring bulbs, the luxurious green of the summer months, or the blaze of
autumn leaves, Historic Area gardens are beautiful works of art as well as
illustrations of an important facet of 18th-century life. An endowment
for the gardens at the Coke-Garrett House, the James Geddy House (pictured),
or the Thomas Everard House will maintain your chosen garden at its present
level in perpetuity.
Historic Trades
Historic Trades Summer Internships
Funds needed for 4 summer interns: $20,000
Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Trades program, begun in1936, has evolved
to become the largest and most diverse museum-operated trades program in the
world and one of the most historically accurate, with a strong emphasis on
hands-on practice and documentary research. Colonial Williamsburg currently
operates 30 trades at 22 trade sites. Tradesmen and women represent the skills,
ingenuity, and dedication to excellence on which American society and our economy
were built. Funds will provide individuals with 3-month trade shop experiences
to learn about the trade(s), develop skills, gain public contact and service
experience, and acquire insights about museum and living history careers.
18th-century Type for the Print Shop
A gift of $5,000 will purchase type for reprinting special
booklet; other gifts of any size are welcome for purchasing type to have
on hand for future printing projects.
Historic Trades printers use traditional lead-based type to print reproduction
documents on their 18th-century-style press. With use, the type wears out,
requiring its replacement. While once a common material, this type is
no longer used commercially, and Colonial Williamsburg has only one source, Quaker
City Type Foundry in Pennsylvania, to supply us. While it is still available,
Colonial Williamsburg hopes to acquire as much type as possible. A recent
reprint, William Rind’s The
Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, Before an August Assembly, Relating
to the Repeal of the Stamp-Act, &c., has significance
for the newly reconstructed Charlton’s Coffeehouse, which opened near the
Capitol in November 2009.
Silk
Velvet for a Reproduction of the Blair Family Coat
Funds needed are an estimate, pending analysis of the fabric
by Lelievre: $20,000-25,000
Colonial
Williamsburg has in its collection a coat believed to have been made
for Governor’s Counselor John Blair (c. 1687-1771) in the 1730s
and refashioned some three decades later, possibly to be worn by his
son Williamsburg Mayor John Blair, Jr. (1731-1800). It is the only
surviving coat known to have been worn by a resident of the colonial
capital and possibly made by a local tailor. In order to reproduce this
remarkable garment, Colonial Williamsburg will partner with the French
silk firm Lelievre to hand-weave the complex patterned silk velvet fabric
neede. Lelievre (an official French National Treasure that has
reproduced fabrics for Versailles, Malmaison, and Fountaine Bleu) is
one of a small handful of silk mills remaining in the world that is capable
of producing this technical-masterpiece textile. Apprentice tailor
Neal Hurst will reproduce the coat as it survives and also reconstruct
its original appearance as his final projects to become a journeyman.
Historic Area Programming
Colonial Williamsburg Re-enactment Weekends Under the Redcoat: British Army’s Occupation of Williamsburg near the End of the Revolution
Funds needed to support 2010 re-enactment weekend: $15,000
Colonial Williamsburg draws hundreds of re-enactors to an annual 3-day weekend with British soldiers under General Cornwallis occupying Williamsburg in 1781 prior to the battle of Yorktown, the last major encounter of the American Revolution. Encamped in tents on Palace Green and near the Courthouse, British soldiers patrol the streets, keeping the patriot citizenry in line and illustrating the restrictions on personal freedom that accompanied the occupation. They perform military drills, replace the American flag at the Capitol with the Union Jack, and women camp followers demonstrate how they supported the troops by nursing, teaching, mending, sewing, and cooking for the officers.
Prelude to Victory: American and French Troops Preparing for the
Siege of Yorktown during the Final Days of the American Revolution
Funds needed to support 2010 re-enactment weekend: $15,000
Prelude to Victory is a three-day weekend that attracts hundreds
of re-enactors portraying members of the Continental Army. Working
together with Colonial Williamsburg interpreters, the re-enactors help visitors
understand the Continental Army’s late September 1781 preparations
for the siege of Yorktown, under the command of General George Washington. Special
programs include a re-created military field hospital at the Governor’s
Palace, the court-martial of a soldier accused of attacking and mortally
wounding his commanding officer, and a supply sergeant who faces the realities
of few supplies and less money. In addition, the weekend includes parades,
military music, and lively demonstrations of military tactics and weaponry.
Revolutionary City
Gifts of any
size are welcome.
Revolutionary City, Colonial Williamsburg’s award-winning interactive
street theater, opens its fifth season in March 2010. The new presentation
includes a tense re-enactment of a confrontation near Charlton’s Coffeehouse
over the despised Stamp Act of 1765. “The Next Disagreeable Thing” is
the new opening scene in “Revolutionary City: Collapse of Royal government,
1765-1776.” Offered three times a week, “Collapse of Royal Government,
chronicles growing outrage as colonists turn against their king and revolutionary
ideas ultimately compel residents to choose between monarchy and self-government.
The companion episode on alternate days, “Citizens at War, 177601781” reveals
the human dramas of war-torn Williamsburg. "How Far from the Scioto," will
be offered for three weeks in April with American Indian actors portraying
a Shawnee delegation in Williamsburg in 1774-75 as part of a peace bond ending
Lord Dunmore’s war against the Shawnee and other Indian nations. Your
support funds ongoing story development and the training and costuming of
the actor/interpreters.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library/Research
Research Fellowships
Funds needed: $100,000
The John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library has established a thriving program that
brings scholars from all over the country to make use of its collections. Based
on that success, an endowment is being created to support up to ten fellows
annually whose work focuses on the colonial period, the American Revolution,
and the early republic.
Archaeological Research Consulting
A gift of $2,000 will help us complete an analysis of plant remains.
An archaeobotanical study of microscopic plant remains recovered at the Ravenscroft
archaeology site in the Historic Area is currently underway. These deposits
of pollen and phytolyths (remains of plant cells) date from about 1730 and 1770-1780
and were removed from the cellar of Structure B. We hope to identify the
plants growing on and near the site when the building was constructed and later
destroyed.
Documents
of Freedom Fund
Funds requested: $10,000 or more for endowment fund
The collection of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library includes rare items
of great significance to the American Revolution in Williamsburg and Virginia—among
them a copy of William Stone’s 1823 facsimile of the Declaration of Independence;
a collection of autographs of the signers of the Declaration; published works
relating to the debate over American rights; and an original manuscript of
Patrick Henry’s 1765 Stamp Act Resolves. These materials are of
inestimable value in illustrating the importance of what took place in Virginia
and America from the 1760s to the 1780s. During this crucial period,
ideas were articulated that justified resistance to the British Crown and a
shift in colonists’ thinking transpired that ultimately led to the creation
of the new republic. By creating an endowment fund, Colonial Williamsburg
aims to strengthen this special collection by acquiring additional rare books,
manuscripts, letters, newspapers, treatises, broadsides, diaries, declarations
of rights, state constitutions, and other documents that illuminate British
and American views during this formative period in America’s history. With
funds on hand, Colonial Williamsburg will be able to respond quickly when a
document
becomes available.
Museums and Collections
Archaeological
Storage Equipment
Funds needed: $5,000
The Archaeological Collection at Colonial Williamsburg is one of the most complete
and important records of its kind. And, the collection keeps growing;
fragments of 18th-century Williamsburg appear every time our archaeologists
put spades to the ground. More than 300,000 artifacts were retrieved
in 2008 alone. We need specialized steel storage cabinets to safely
house these pieces of the past and make them available for study.
This Old Coffeehouse
Funds needed for exhibit installation: $27,000
The newly reconstructed R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse near the Capitol opened
in November 2009. This
complementary exhibition at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum
will use archaeological, architectural, archival, decorative arts, and trades
components to show visitors the “How do we know?” aspects of the
project. The process of developing the design, reconstructing the structure,
and furnishing the interior to create an accurate portrayal of the 18th-century
coffeehouse has provided a valuable learning and interpretive opportunity. The
exhibit shows the history of the site; what an 18th-century coffeehouse was
and how this one functioned; what the exterior of the coffeehouse looked like
and how Colonial Williamsburg rebuilt it; and what the interior looked like
and how it is furnished. The exhibition is scheduled to open in spring
2010.
18th-century
Mannequins for Displaying Gowns
Funds needed for two mannequins with specially
made wigs (plus cost adjustments relating to the exchange rate and mailing)
are estimated to be $7,000-$8,000.
Specialized mannequins are required when 18th-century women’s gowns are
displayed. Not only must the mannequins be made of materials safe enough to
be in contact with fragile antiques, the body shapes must be correct for the
period. Because 18th-century women wore stays that molded their bodies quite
differently from those of contemporary women, display mannequins need to have
conical torsos with high bust lines, narrow backs and shoulders, and very erect
posture in order to correctly support historic garments. The Kyoto Costume
Institute has developed just such mannequins shaped for specific eras
from
the 18th through 20th centuries. Colonial Williamsburg purchased four
female mannequins in 2001 for the exhibition, “The Language of Clothing.” Additional
mannequins are required to allow for future exhibitions that involve more dressed
female figures and to give flexibility in conservation and exhibit turn-around.
Educational Outreach
Teacher
Institute Scholarships:
A gift
of $1,900 plustransportation assistance will give one
teacher the opportunity to attend the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute,
a week-long professional development program that immerses teachers in early
American history. Lodging, meals, and a wealth of instructional materials
are included. To date, more than 5,800 educators
have completed the program, returning to their classrooms better prepared to
teach American history and citizenship.
Teaching American History Conferences
With a gift of $33,000, you can provide up to 75 teachers in your favorite
school district with this opportunity to increase their history knowledge and
acquire exciting lesson plans and classroom resources.
Help Colonial Williamsburg bring living history experiences to teachers in your
school district through 1- or 2-day conferences on teaching American history. In
workshops around the country, teachers are exploring historical content, analyzing
primary sources, participating in simulations, and role playing with Colonial
Williamsburg’s character interpreters. Each conference helps teachers
meet academic-content standards, learn innovative teaching strategies, and support
interdisciplinary studies. Teachers receive lesson plans, facsimile primary
sources, reproduction artifacts, and one live Colonial Williamsburg Electronic
Field Trip broadcast to their classrooms.
Special
Opportunity for Parents and Grandparents: Electronic Field Trips Make History
Come Alive!A gift of $500 provides your local school or other deserving school with the seven-program series offered during the school year.
Colonial Williamsburg’s annual series of Electronic Field Trips inspires students in grades 4-8 with the stories, people and events that created the American nation. Designed to engage and inform, these nationally broadcast programs allow participants to ask on-the-air questions of Colonial Williamsburg interpreters, historians, and educators and to interact with other students through Web sites that include projects, interactive Web adventures, primary source documents, and electronic bulletin boards. Registration also includes teachers’ guides with pre- and post-broadcast lesson plans.
Bringing Colonial Williamsburg to You: Podcasts/Vodcasts
Funds needed for a year of weekly podcasts: $20,000; gifts of any
size welcome.
Visitors to Colonial Williamsburg’s Web site can
sample the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries by downloading
podcasts,
15-minute audio programs. Using podcast software, such as iTunes or iPodder,
podcasts (audio interviews) and vodcasts (video interviews) are downloadable
at the listener’s convenience and played on a computer or portable
media player. Behind-the-scene interviews with historical interpreters, archaeologists,
musicians, tradesmen, curators, chefs, researchers, and scholars are conversational,
informational, and cover a wide range of topics. Guests share insights about
their work to preserve and interpret eighteenth-century American history
and bring it to a modern audience.
General Support
Unrestricted Endowment - Recognition on Donor Plaque at the Visitor
Center
Funds needed to establish a named endowment: $100,000
One of the most valuable ways to support the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
is through the establishment of an unrestricted endowment. Your fund
will help with the restoration and conservation of historic buildings, archaeology,
innovative programming, museums, educational outreach, costumes for interpreters,
carriages, preservation of rare animal breeds – in short, everything
Colonial Williamsburg does. If a particular aspect of Colonial Williamsburg’s
mission appeals to you, it is also possible to establish a restricted endowment
for that specific purpose. Endowment gifts are recognized on the Visitor
Center donor plaque and in Colonial Williamsburg’s annual report.
Kimball Theatre Programming Endowment Fund
Funding minimum for plaque recognition: $5,000
The Kimball Theatre offers excellent entertainment seven days a week. A first-rate
movie house for more than six decades, the theater has become a favorite venue
for Williamsburg’s artistic, educational, religious, and cultural events. Founding
and sustaining benefactors are publicly recognized on permanent plaques in the
theater’s lobby.
Matching Gifts Make Your Donation Go Further
If your company has a matching gift program, your donation to Colonial Williamsburg
may be doubled or even tripled. Find
out if Colonial Williamsburg qualifies for your company’s matching
gift program
Tickets
Hotels
Calendar
Historic Triangle
iCitizenForum