Back in 2007, the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown was big news. It was a National Geographic cover story, was featured on ABC and CBS News, got coverage in the New York Times and a slew of other media venues. And Queen Elizabeth even paid a visit to Jamestown. And as the archeological dig of the first permanent English settlement continues, prize finds are still being made—like the slate that was unearthed in May.
The man behind the Jamestown Rediscovery Project is archeologist Dr. William Kelso, and he’s coming to the Academy in August to give a free public lecture and lead a teachers’ workshop. If you missed all the fanfare two years ago, you may be surprised to learn that the Jamestown Rediscovery Project has revealed that, as National Geographic says, “Much of what we learned in grade school about the New World encountered by the colonists at Jamestown turns out to be wrong.”
Kelso will lead the Academy’s annual free Art and Life in Colonial America Teacher Workshop on Aug. 29. All educators are welcome but priority will be given to fifth-grade teachers. To register, call 532-8728.
Then on Aug. 30 at 1pm, Kelso will give the free public lecture “Sea Captains, Islands, and the Northwest Passage”—an archeological and historical look at early English settlement/first native contact in Virginia, Canada and Hawai‘i. We guarantee it will be fascinating. Seating is first come, first served.
Watch William Kelso on PBS Hawaii’s Time Team Special Edition—the fascinating archeological series. This special edition sees Time Team pay a visit to Jamestown, and of course Kelso is featured. The show airs Saturday Aug. 29 at 8pm—then go to the Doris Duke Theatre on Sunday to see Kelso in person!
Props to the Hawaii Council for the Humanities and the We The People initiative of the National Endowment for Humanities who made these events possible.