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As Thanksgiving approaches, we all look back a bit over the
last year and acknowledge all for which we feel grateful.
There are certainly a host of reasons why this has been an
especially good year for the park.
I want to acknowledge all of the staff, partners and
volunteers who give of themselves daily to take care of this
important place as well as welcome over 1 million visitors
annually. On our own, we could not extend the range of
programs, events, educational activities, and maintain our
facilities without the assistance of many individuals and
organizations that represent this community.
This past year,
over 50,000 hours of volunteer time were donated to the
park. Volunteers take part in all aspects of park operations
including living history programming, park watch, trails
maintenance, non-native invasive plant management, education
programs, assist in operating the visitor center, and a host
of other tasks that cannot be listed here.
Our partners have been instrumental in bringing new
resources to the park, helping us to expand special events
and growing community support.
The Friends of Valley Forge Park and the Encampment Store
contributed to the revitalization of the Washington's
Headquarters area by supplying needed funding for exhibits
in the train station and in the landscape. |
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IN THIS
ISSUE |
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Superintendent's Message |
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The Army Arrives! |
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Deer Management Update |
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Save America's Treasures |
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Baky Fellow At Valley Forge |
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Fall Films |
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The Numbers are In! Public
Lands Day Recap |
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Upcoming Programs and Events |
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The Friends of Valley Forge
Park |

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In addition, the Friends provided funding
that was matched by the federal government to complete the
trail connection between the Joseph Plumb Martin Trail and
the Valley Creek Trail. Our partners at REI, EMS and
Unilever provided funding and support for our large scale
community volunteer events, National Trails Day and National
Public Lands Day.
The Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau is the key
partner for the Revolutionary Run: this year, despite the
floundering economy, they were successful in providing over
$30,000 in proceeds from the event back to us for trails
maintenance. In the past four years, through this event,
they have raised over $95,000 for trails maintenance.
While additional funding is always welcome, these partners
go beyond simple financial assistance through sponsorship of
programming, volunteering at events or in maintaining the
park and keeping the communities engaged in this place that
so many love and use throughout the year.
Thanks to all, we appreciate the support and look forward to
seeing you in the park.
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Annual March-In of the Continental Army
Saturday, December 19, 2009, 6pm to 8pm
Join living history interpreters for candle light tours and
a "march" to up to Muhlenberg's Brigade. The 6th
Pennsylvania regiment along with park staff and volunteers
in period clothing demonstrate camp life.
Colonial revelers
and refreshments in the Welcome Center, holiday shopping and
free gift wrap at the Encampment Store.
Free and open to the public.
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The National Park Service has approved the Record of
Decision (ROD) for the Final White-tailed Deer Management
Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Final plan/EIS) at
Valley Forge National Historical Park.
The deer management
plan addresses browsing by an increasing number of deer over
the past two decades. Excessive browsing has led to the
inability of forests to regenerate into the future and the
loss of habitat for other animal species. Mike Caldwell,
Superintendent, said "We look forward to a future that
provides high quality habitat for all wildlife species at
Valley Forge."
Click
here for more information about the White-tailed Deer
Management Plan
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Save
America's Treasures is a national effort to protect
"America's threatened cultural treasures, including historic
artifacts, works of art, maps and journals that document and
illuminate the history and culture of the United States."
Established by Executive Order in February 1998, Save
America's Treasures was originally founded as a
public-private partnership that included the White House,
the National Park Service and the National Trust for
Historic Preservation.
Dedicated to the preservation and
celebration of America's priceless historic legacy, Save
Americas Treasures provides grants that will go toward the
recognition and rescue of the enduring symbols of American
tradition that define us as a nation.
Valley
Forge National Historical Park is a repository for several
thousand artifacts that survive from the American
Revolution, which help us to better understand the past.
Among these artifacts are documents, and it is through their
words that we can gain the greatest knowledge. This project
will allow for the conservation and preservation of these
documents in order to help them survive so that future
generations will be able to analyze our founders’ own words.
The Save America's Treasures grant is a matching grant. Once
we received notice that we were awarded a grant of $ 61,299
the Friends of Valley Forge Park began the campaign to raise
the required match of $ 61,300. The goal of this project is
to preserve 42 documents and manuscripts that were in urgent
need of conservation.
Professional conservators and
technicians will carry out the conservation and re-housing
of all items involved in this project. Many of the objects
involved in this project- including manuscript pages,
official documents, and the pages of the orderly books and
account books- consist of 18th century paper with iron gall
ink. These paper documents will be washed, cleaned,
flattened, and repaired. The 18th century books with printed
text rather than iron gall ink will be surface cleaned and
repaired.
All
documents will be available digitally and printed
manuscripts that are not already available electronically
through the World Wide Web will be scanned. These digital
images will not only allow for remote access by scholars
unable to come to the park but will serve as a method of
preservation.
Over time, first hand examination of the
originally document can result in damage or loss of the
document. But even with conservation, documents are still
vulnerable to light and climate change, so any display would
be for short periods such as with a changing exhibit.
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This
September, Philip Mead became the inaugural Bruce Baky
Fellow at Valley Forge. Mead, a PhD candidate from Harvard
University was awarded the fellowship, created by the
National Park Service and The Friends of Valley Forge Park,
in partnership with the McNeil Center for Early American
Studies of the University of Pennsylvania.
The fellowship was designed for a PhD candidate specializing
in military history during the American Revolution and
honors the late Bruce Baky, former Chairman of the Friends
and advocate of strengthening connections between the
academic community and the park. Between September and June,
Mead will "develop and present public programming at the
park, work with park staff, and develop at least one
research or educational project."
Given the underlying purpose of the fellowship, Mead
believes it is important for university and public
historians to come together to produce "fruitful new
scholarship on both sides" that will benefit the public.
"I think history is most enjoyable and real to people when
it seems to have a kind of human complexity, when people's
lives that are described on a billboard or a book have the
surprises - and the twists and turns of fortune - that we
know from our own lives," said Baky. "Together, university
and museum historians can express these common experiences
and make the story of the revolutionary soldier as rich as
possible for the public."
Therefore, Mead is currently working with park staff to
develop several projects aimed at improving the park's
visitor programming. Mead is organizing a series of guided
readings with park interpretation rangers, designed to
introduce park staff to recent scholarly interpretations of
Revolutionary history.
These seminar-style meetings will
focus on specific historic and academic themes including
army demographics, military manuals and contemporary rules
and regulations in the Continental Army. The purpose of this
program is to introduce new scholastic material and
interpretation to the park, which will ensure cutting-edge,
updated visitor programming.
In addition to his work with park rangers, Mead will also
assist the park with various projects and will be the
Friends' lecture series speaker on January 21. In addition
to his contributions to the park, Mead has also been
"working furiously" to finish his dissertation sometime next
year.
During his candidacy, Mead has studied over 200
diaries and journals of Revolutionary War soldiers in order
to explain "how exposure to wartime landscapes hardened
regional, ethnic, and racial prejudices that soldiers
brought to the war experience."
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Brought to you by
The Encampment Store, Valley Forge will be showing
movies about the American Revolution on Friday nights
through November. Movies are free and family friendly,
Friday Nights at 7 PM in the Park Theater. Call 610-783-1074
for more information.
November 20: 1776 The Musical (PG- for
language) 166 min. with one short intermission
Adapted from the hit Broadway Musical -see our
founding fathers as never before -raucously
debating the issue of independence, bashing each
other's egos and then breaking out into musical
numbers! |
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November 27: The Crossing (Not Rated- movie
contains some language and instances of violence
equivalent to PG or PG-13) 89 min.
The daring Christmas Day crossing of the frozen
Delaware and the attack on Trenton saved the
cause of American independence. Jeff Daniels
stars as General George Washington in a movie
about our nation's darkest hour and greatest
triumph. |
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Over 300 volunteers came out to support Valley Forge
National Historical Park in what is called America's largest
one-day outdoor volunteer service, National Public Lands Day
on Saturday, September 26, 2009.
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Land Beautification at
Washington's Headquarters |
Volunteers of all ages rolled up their sleeves to assist
with projects that included tree planting, weeding, fence
building and repair, invasive plant and crayfish removal,
painting the exterior of park structures, trail renovation
and much more.
Community members continue to turnout for this special event
- now celebrated for its 6th year at Valley Forge National
Historical Park can be attributed in part to the growing
emphasis on service and a growing recognition of the
importance of public lands for recreation, travel,
rejuvenation and health.
President Barack Obama issued a proclamation, calling
National Public Lands Day a time to "affirm our resolve to
conserve...cherished spaces for our enjoyment and for that
of future generations."
Of course another big reason National Public Lands Day
continues to be a big success and has grown so much is the
numerous volunteers and partners that work hard to make each
event as successful as the last.
Special thanks to all our sponsors and to all of you who
came out to give time to your National Park. Your time and
energy is appreciated. Thank you!
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Mark Your Calendars!
Upcoming Programs and Events |
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Date |
Time |
Event |
Location |
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November 20 |
7:00 PM |
Movie Night!
1776 The Musical |
Valley Forge NHP Theater |
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November 27 |
7:00 PM |
Movie Night!
The Crossing |
Valley Forge NHP
Theater |
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December 19 |
4:00 - 5:30 PM |
Save
America's
Treasures Preview |
Education Center |
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December 19 |
6:00 - 8:00 PM |
March-In of the Continental Army |
Visitors
Center |
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January 2 |
11:00 AM - Noon |
Join the Continental Army |
Visitors Center |
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January 18 |
9:00 AM - 1:00
PM |
Martin Luther
King Day of Services |
Throughout
Park |
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January 21 |
7:00 PM |
Friends Lecture Series with Phil Mead |
Washington Memorial Chapel |
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Sign Up Today!
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The Friends sponsor educational,
interpretive and awareness programs, foster and encourage
conservation, and assist in the collection and preservation
of historically significant artifacts and structures. The
Friends assume this role as a means of support to ensure
that Valley Forge will continue to remain a significant
historical event and place in our country's history.

Learn more and how to join at
www.friendsofvalleyforge.org
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The official newsletter of
Valley Forge National Historical Park -
Fall 2009
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