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Exhibit: “Revolution Close to Home” at the Torggler Center (Newport News)
June 6 - October 25
In honor of the Virginia 250 commemorations, Revolution Close to Home: Hampton Roads and the Struggle for American Independence explores the history and enduring legacies of the Revolutionary era in Hampton Roads. This multi-gallery exhibition brings together artifacts, immersive digital technology, and original research to reframe the American Revolution as a lived experience shaped not just by generals and battles, but by everyday people, places, and objects.
The exhibition is organized into three themes:
• The Spirits of Revolution: Taverns, Political Dissent, and Community in Hampton Roads
• A World at War: Revolutionary Lives of Soldiers and Civilians in Hampton Roads
• Documenting Commemoration: The Making of Revolutionary Memory in Hampton Roads.
In addition, in an area titled “A Digital Revolution,” visitors will be invited to go beyond the gallery walls by connecting them to student research and digital exhibits on the website Explore History, by exploring an augmented reality recreation of a Continental Army encampment on the Ferguson Field, complete with 3D renderings of artifacts discovered in Hampton Roads, by immersing themselves in a virtual reality experience based on the Battle of Yorktown, and by listening to a Past is Prologue podcast episode on the Revolutionary Era’s founding families.
The museum exhibtion and full VA250 programming schedule is sponsored by the Institute for Public Humanities, the Public History Center, and the School of the Arts, in cooperation with the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center.
The exhibition is free and open to the public in the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center at Christopher Newport University, Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (closed Sundays, Mondays, and July 4th). Most of the special events programming occurs on Mondays in the Torggler Lecture Hall unless otherwise noted on the full VA250 schedule, which can be found at cnu.edu/iph.
