The December meeting of the Historical Society will be held at the Surry Recreation Center on Monday, December 13, 1999 at 7:00 p. m. Please mark your calendar.

NEWS OF IMPORTANCE AND INTEREST

Report on the September meeting: Cathy Wright, Executive Director of the Chippokes Plantation Foundation presented an exciting program on this jewel of Surry County. Included were slides of Chippokes and wonderful displays of artifacts and pictures of Mrs Victor W. Stewart who gave this great gift to the State of Virginia. Members also enjoyed viewing a significant collection of Pre and Civil War mementos and records of Surry County. A special Thank You to Thad Williams for sharing them.

The December meeting: We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Edgar A. Toppin as our speaker for this meeting. Dr. Toppin is a renowned historian and will speak on the Civil War and the little understood Reconstruction era after the war. He received his undergraduate and master's degrees from Howard University and a doctorate from Northwestern University. Dr. Toppin served on the faculty of Virginia State University for thirty years, and retired as dean of the graduate school in 1993.

Today, he teaches at Virginia State as distinguished research professor of American and African-American history and serves Virginia Commonwealth University as visiting professor in the history department and African-American studies program.

Dr. Toppin served on the board of trustees of the Virginia Historical Society for six years and currently is a board member of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. He is author of five books and has co-authored five more. His calendar of speaking engagements would intimidate a person half his age.

Dr. Charles F. Bryan Jr., director of the Virginia Historical Society said is a recent article about Dr. Toppin,, "He is recognized and acknowledged as one of the great authorities in African-American history." Don't miss this opportunity to hear this outstanding historian!

Yes! We will have displays. You are in for a real treat this month! Lee Fudge will bring pictures, an old family Bible and mementos from the Poole family near Bacon's Castle. Clarence and Lily Fields are bringing Clarence's grandfather, Adam Boykins', papers and mementos from his service in the Union Army in the Civil War. These are the originals, not copies.