Contact: Maridith Geuder
For the second year in a row, the national Ulysses S. Grant Association is holding its annual meeting at Mississippi State University.
During the Sunday-Tuesday [May 2-4] gathering, the board of directors and participating members will conduct business, hear presentations from a variety of distinguished guests and tour the Vicksburg National Military Park, among other activities. (For a history of the MSU Libraries-Grant Association collaboration, visit http://library.msstate.edu/USGrant/.)
The group officially will be welcomed by President Mark Keenum and first lady Rhonda Keenum during a 7:30 p.m. Sunday [the 2nd] dinner in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library. Association president Frank J. Williams and two Grant descendants will be joined by members from as far away as Canada and England.
Guest speaker for the opening event is National Park Service historian Pam Sanfilippo, who since 1995 has served as historian for the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri. Her topic is "White Knight and Drunken Butcher: Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant in American Memory."
Other events of potential media interest:
--Sunday afternoon. Participants will be shuttled to the Starkville Civil War Arsenal, a private collection of artifacts accumulated over more than 30 years by local historian and Civil War re-enactor Duffy Neubauer. Included in the collection are cannons, artillery, period tools, photographs, and other items. [This tour will follow registration and a Grant Collection tour.]
--Tuesday [the 4th], 9:30 a.m., Grisham Room. Larry and Connie Clowers of Gettysburg, Pa., will portray Ulysses and Julia Grant in a dramatic interpretation. Larry Clowers has portrayed Grant in more than 3,500 presentations over more than 20 years, including appearances on "Good Morning, America" and ABC World News Tonight, among others.
For more information or to arrange interviews with key participants, telephone Frances Coleman, dean of libraries, at 662-325-7661; or John Marszalek, Grant Association executive director, at 662-325-4552.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.