The Library of Virginia will host a free virtual talk at noon Wednesday, Oct. 8, featuring Donovan Schaefer, a Virginia Humanities fellow, on his research project “Nationalism & Cosmopolitanism in the Creation of Richmond’s Confederate Monuments.” Registration is required at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com. 

Schaefer, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, spent time earlier this year at the Library of Virginia studying records related to Confederate commemoration in Virginia. His work combines archival research, public storytelling and a digital archive highlighting Black press responses to Confederate symbols, known as the “False Image of History” project. 

The talk will explore how public monuments influence democratic society and shape who feels safe in shared spaces. Schaefer will focus on the library’s holdings, particularly the records of the Lee Monument Association, to show how white Southerners after Reconstruction used global art networks to assert their vision of the nation. This approach culminated in the selection of French sculptor Antonin Mercié to create the Robert E. Lee statue, installed on what became Monument Avenue in 1890.