Museum of The Confederacy - History of The Museum

History of The Museum

Opened as the Confederate Museum on February 22, 1896, it was housed for many years in the former White House of the Confederacy. The Museum of the Confederacy was founded by influential Richmond society ladies, starting with Isabel Maury who was later joined by Ann Crenshaw Grant, and Isobel Stewart Bryan. Isabel Maury was the founder of the Museum of the Confederacy but she also was the first Regent of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. Today, the Isabel Maury Planned Giving Society continues the spirit of Mrs. Isabel Maury, daughter of Robert Henry Maury, whose work with the Relics Committee was instrumental in securing much of the Museum's current collection. Mrs. Isabel Maury was a cousin to Matthew Fontaine Maury, the naval officer and scientist credited as the father of modern oceanography. Matthew Fontaine Maury lived in Robert Henry Maury's house in the early part of the American Civil War and would walk the two blocks to the White House of the Confederacy on a daily basis. It was in this house that Matthew Fontaine Maury first worked with burning underwater fuses for torpedoes in a tub of water. Today there is both the old and a new plaque on the building that testifies to this. It is presently owned by Virginia Commonwealth University Mrs. Grant was the sister of Lewis Crenshaw, who owned the house just prior to the war, and was married to James Grant, a wealthy tobacconist who also lived within the neighborhood. Mrs. Bryan was the wife of Joseph Bryan, a wealthy businessman and publisher, whose family is still associated with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

By the centennial anniversary of the Civil War, the Museum's governing board determined that it wanted to see the Museum evolve from a shrine to a more modern museum. In 1963, the CMLS hired its first museum professional as the executive director, and in 1970, changed the name of the institution to "The Museum of the Confederacy."

The Museum houses the largest and/or most comprehensive collection of artifacts, personal effects, and other memoriabilia related to the Confederacy. Among the thousands of other important pieces found there are items owned by Jefferson Davis, Robert Edward Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, John Bell Hood, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Simon Bolivar Buckner, J.E.B. Stuart, Joseph Wheeler, Wade Hampton, Lewis Armistead, and Raphael Semmes. The provisional Confederate Constitution and the Great Seal of the Confederacy are also housed there.

Of particular note is the Museum's collection of over 500 original, wartime, battle flags that were carried by the Confederate Army. Some of the flags were donated by veterans in the early years of the Museum. Others, regimental flags that were captured during the war that were originally housed in the archives of the U.S. War Department, were formally transferred to the Museum either by Act of the U.S. Congress or by Act of the Virginia General Assembly, depending on the level of unit identification of the flag.

A newer building to better preserve and exhibit the Museum's collections was built and opened in 1976 immediately adjacent to the White House, on its remaining 3/4 acre (3,000 m²) property. The anchor of the first ironclad warship, CSS Virginia which fought the USS Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, is prominently displayed in front of the Museum.

The White House was closed in 1976, to be fully restored to its wartime appearance. The milestone restoration project was completed in 1988, gaining high marks from the preservation community for its accuracy and richness of detail. Reopened for public tours in June of that year, the White House featured extensive reproduction wall coverings and draperies, as well as significant numbers of original White House furnishings from the Civil War period.

Since the Museum opened in 1896, it has been visited by roughly five million visitors from all over the world. Among the many famous world leaders who have visited the Museum are U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, British Prime Ministers David Lloyd George and Margaret Thatcher, and even the leader of the 2006 military coup in Thailand, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin. It is also a popular attraction for many celebrities who visit Richmond, including actors Robert Duvall and Sam Neill, musicians from Bob Dylan to The Black Crowes, and sports figures such as two-time Daytona 500 champion driver Sterling Marlin and NASCAR two-time Sprint Cup champion crew chief and current NASCAR on Fox commentator Jeff Hammond (who conducted the Marlin interview in 2002 in the museum; Marlin is a Civil War buff), among others.

Notable past and present exhibitions include: The Confederate Years: Battles, Leaders, and Soldiers, 1861–1865; Women in Mourning; Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South; Embattled Emblem: The Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag, 1861 – Present; A Woman’s War: Southern Women, Civil War, and the Confederate Legacy; R. E. Lee: The Exhibition; The Confederate Navy; and Virginia and the Confederacy: A Quadricentennial Perspective.