The Permanent Resident: Excavations and Explorations of George Washington’s Life

National Archives Museum
Online

NEW DATE

No figure in American history has generated more public interest or sustained more scholarly research around his various homes and habitations than has George Washington. In The Permanent Resident, Philip Levy discusses the principal archaeological sites of Washington’s life, revealing what they say individually and collectively about him. Levy also derives fascinating insights about how slavery changed and was debated at Washington’s famous home of Mount Vernon. Levy considers the fates of Washington statues and commemorations to understand how they have functioned as objects of veneration—and sometimes vandalism—for more than a century and a half. Two hundred years after his death, at the sites of his many abodes, Washington remains an inescapable presence. The Permanent Resident guides us through the places where Washington lived and in which Americans have memorialized him, speaking to issues that have defined and challenged America from his time to our own. Joining the author in conversation will be Ryan K. Smith, professor of history, Virginia Commonwealth University.