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Special Gift Opportunities

Opportunities to Support Colonial Williamsburg with a Special Gift

Gifts from Donors Make a Substantial and Lasting Difference to Colonial Williamsburg

Challenge Grants

NEH $600,000 Grant for 3D Visualization Lab Endowment requires Colonial Williamsburg to raise $1.8 million
Virtual reality offers new approaches for engaging present and future generations in the study of the American Revolution, citizenship, and democracy. Colonial Williamsburg plans to establish a 3D Visualization Lab within its Digital History Center to spearhead the development of 3D virtual-reality technologies for public education and research purposes. Creating Williamsburg as a virtual environment involves modeling buildings, furnishings, objects, streets, gardens, and landscapes – all of which will be fitted into a digitally-modeled terrain. Users will be able to stroll down the Duke of Gloucester Street, enter buildings, visit backyards and gardens, and tour public spaces, experiencing the town as it was when Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Patrick Henry championed the cause for independence. The grant with its matching requirement will create a $2.4 million endowment for this initiative. To complete the grant match requirements, Colonial Williamsburg must raise an additional $260,000.

NEH $1 million “We the People” Grant for African American History Endowment requires Colonial Williamsburg to raise $3 million
Over the years, Colonial Williamsburg has developed programming that demonstrates the impact of African Americans in colonial Virginia. The NEH challenge grant will establish a $4 million endowment to sustain and improve the Foundation’s African American history interpretation for on- and off-site visitors. Funds generated by the endowment will support a variety of projects including improved technology and new program development, a research historian, and a research fellows program. To date, the Foundation has received gifts totaling $510,000 toward the $3 million match requirement. To complete the grant match requirements, Colonial Williamsburg must raise an additional $1.35 million.

Historic Area Exhibition Buildings and Gardens

Mosquito Curtains for the Governor’s Bedchamber
Funds needed: $10,825
In the Governor's Palace, the governor of Virginia needs mosquito curtains for his bed! Writing in 1764, a sleepless and frustrated Virginia planter observed that the “vile musketoes [are] as plenty as bees in a hive.” In an era before air conditioning and window screens, gauze bed curtains provided the only nighttime relief from the biting insects. Accordingly, Governor Botetourt paid a Williamsburg upholsterer one shilling, six pence for “puting [sic] up muscato curtains in his room” at the Palace. In order to replicate that 1769 order, new curtains will be fabricated from delicate green linen gauze and hand sewn with all the appropriate trim.

Historic Area Costuming Accessories
Funds needed: $5,000 for one year of eyewear expenses, $61,000 for one year of shoe expenses
More than 800 Colonial Williamsburg employees work in costume in the Historic Area, taverns, period stores, and in special programs. Keeping them well attired is the responsibility of the Costume Design Center. Interpreters wear reproduction 18th-century clothing and accessories. Accessories include new and replacement eyewear and shoes; the goal is authenticity of appearance. Eyeglasses are plain with round lenses and wire frames and cost about $150 from a specialized vendor. Shoes cost approximately $125 a pair; some are made by our shoemakers, while others are manufactured in England and the U.S. Shoe styles vary to reflect the different life styles of 18th-century Williamsburg society.

Reproduction 18th-century Law Library at the Courthouse
Funds needed: $12,500 will underwrite 7-8 reproduction texts for Courthouse display and for use as primary source materials for interpreters.
Colonial Williamsburg seeks to reproduce facsimile period books by purchasing eighteenth-century law texts that will be bound by Master Bookbinder Bruce Plumley to create a Courthouse law library similar to those of Virginia gentlemen-lawyers Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and others. The books will be displayed in the courthouse and used as primary information sources by Courthouse interpretive staff.

Garden Endowments (3)
Funds needed to endow one of these gardens: $200,000
You can ensure that one of Colonial Williamsburg’s gardens continues to delight guests for generations to come. Filled with the riotous color of spring bulbs, the luxurious green of the summer months, or the blaze of autumn leaves, Historic Area gardens are beautiful works of art as well as illustrations of an important facet of 18th-century life. An endowment for the gardens at the Coke-Garrett House, the James Geddy House (pictured), or the Thomas Everard House will maintain your chosen garden at its present level in perpetuity.

Historic Trades

Historic Trades Summer Internships
Funds needed for 4 summer interns: $20,000
Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Trades program, begun in1936, has evolved to become the largest and most diverse museum-operated trades program in the world and one of the most historically accurate, with a strong emphasis on hands-on practice and documentary research. Colonial Williamsburg currently operates 30 trades at 22 trade sites. Tradesmen and women represent the skills, ingenuity, and dedication to excellence on which American society and our economy were built. Funds will provide individuals with 3-month trade shop experiences to learn about the trade(s), develop skills, gain public contact and service experience, and acquire insights about museum and living history careers.

18th-century Type for the Print Shop
A gift of $5,000 will purchase type for reprinting special booklet; other gifts of any size are welcome for purchasing type to have on hand for future printing projects.
Historic Trades printers use traditional lead-based type to print reproduction documents on their 18th-century-style press. With use, the type wears out, requiring its replacement. While once a common material, this type is no longer used commercially, and Colonial Williamsburg has only one source, Quaker City Type Foundry in Pennsylvania, to supply us. While it is still available, Colonial Williamsburg hopes to acquire as much type as possible. A recent reprint, William Rind’s The Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, Before an August Assembly, Relating to the Repeal of the Stamp-Act, &c., has significance for the newly reconstructed Charlton’s Coffeehouse, which opened near the Capitol in November 2009.

Silk Velvet for a Reproduction of the Blair Family Coat
Funds needed are an estimate, pending analysis of the fabric by Lelievre: $20,000-25,000
Colonial Williamsburg has in its collection a coat believed to have been made for Governor’s Counselor John Blair (c. 1687-1771) in the 1730s and refashioned some three decades later, possibly to be worn by his son Williamsburg Mayor John Blair, Jr. (1731-1800). It is the only surviving coat known to have been worn by a resident of the colonial capital and possibly made by a local tailor. In order to reproduce this remarkable garment, Colonial Williamsburg will partner with the French silk firm Lelievre to hand-weave the complex patterned silk velvet fabric neede. Lelievre (an official French National Treasure that has reproduced fabrics for Versailles, Malmaison, and Fountaine Bleu) is one of a small handful of silk mills remaining in the world that is capable of producing this technical-masterpiece textile. Apprentice tailor Neal Hurst will reproduce the coat as it survives and also reconstruct its original appearance as his final projects to become a journeyman.

Historic Area Programming

Colonial Williamsburg Re-enactment Weekends
Under the Redcoat: British Army’s Occupation of Williamsburg near the End of the Revolution
Funds needed to support 2010 re-enactment weekend: $20,000
Colonial Williamsburg draws hundreds of re-enactors to an annual 3-day weekend with British soldiers under General Cornwallis occupying Williamsburg in 1781 prior to the battle of Yorktown, the last major encounter of the American Revolution. Encamped in tents on Palace Green and near the Courthouse, British soldiers patrol the streets, keeping the patriot citizenry in line and illustrating the restrictions on personal freedom that accompanied the occupation. They perform military drills, replace the American flag at the Capitol with the Union Jack, and women camp followers demonstrate how they supported the troops by nursing, teaching, mending, sewing, and cooking for the officers.

Prelude to Victory: American and French Troops Preparing for the Siege of Yorktown during the Final Days of the American Revolution
Funds needed to support 2010 re-enactment weekend: $20,000
Prelude to Victory is a three-day weekend that attracts hundreds of re-enactors portraying members of the Continental Army. Working together with Colonial Williamsburg interpreters, the re-enactors help visitors understand the Continental Army’s late September 1781 preparations for the siege of Yorktown, under the command of General George Washington. Special programs include a re-created military field hospital at the Governor’s Palace, the court-martial of a soldier accused of attacking and mortally wounding his commanding officer, and a supply sergeant who faces the realities of few supplies and less money. In addition, the weekend includes parades, military music, and lively demonstrations of military tactics and weaponry.

Revolutionary City
Gifts of any size are welcome.
Revolutionary City, Colonial Williamsburg’s award-winning interactive street theater, opens its fifth season in March 2010. The new presentation includes a tense re-enactment of a confrontation near Charlton’s Coffeehouse over the despised Stamp Act of 1765. “The Next Disagreeable Thing” is the new opening scene in “Revolutionary City: Collapse of Royal government, 1765-1776.” Offered three times a week, “Collapse of Royal Government, chronicles growing outrage as colonists turn against their king and revolutionary ideas ultimately compel residents to choose between monarchy and self-government. The companion episode on alternate days, “Citizens at War, 177601781” reveals the human dramas of war-torn Williamsburg. "How Far from the Scioto," will be offered for three weeks in April with American Indian actors portraying a Shawnee delegation in Williamsburg in 1774-75 as part of a peace bond ending Lord Dunmore’s war against the Shawnee and other Indian nations. Your support funds ongoing story development and the training and costuming of the actor/interpreters.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library/Research

Research Fellowships
Funds needed: $100,000
The John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library has established a thriving program that brings scholars from all over the country to make use of its collections. Based on that success, an endowment is being created to support up to ten fellows annually whose work focuses on the colonial period, the American Revolution, and the early republic.

Archaeological Research Consulting
A gift of $2,000 will help us complete an analysis of plant remains.
An archaeobotanical study of microscopic plant remains recovered at the Ravenscroft archaeology site in the Historic Area is currently underway. These deposits of pollen and phytolyths (remains of plant cells) date from about 1730 and 1770-1780 and were removed from the cellar of Structure B. We hope to identify the plants growing on and near the site when the building was constructed and later destroyed.

Documents of Freedom Fund
Funds requested: $10,000 or more for endowment fund
The collection of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library includes rare items of great significance to the American Revolution in Williamsburg and Virginia—among them a copy of William Stone’s 1823 facsimile of the Declaration of Independence; a collection of autographs of the signers of the Declaration; published works relating to the debate over American rights; and an original manuscript of Patrick Henry’s 1765 Stamp Act Resolves. These materials are of inestimable value in illustrating the importance of what took place in Virginia and America from the 1760s to the 1780s. During this crucial period, ideas were articulated that justified resistance to the British Crown and a shift in colonists’ thinking transpired that ultimately led to the creation of the new republic. By creating an endowment fund, Colonial Williamsburg aims to strengthen this special collection by acquiring additional rare books, manuscripts, letters, newspapers, treatises, broadsides, diaries, declarations of rights, state constitutions, and other documents that illuminate British and American views during this formative period in America’s history. With funds on hand, Colonial Williamsburg will be able to respond quickly when a document becomes available.

Museums and Collections

Archaeological Storage Equipment
Funds needed: $5,000
The Archaeological Collection at Colonial Williamsburg is one of the most complete and important records of its kind. And, the collection keeps growing; fragments of 18th-century Williamsburg appear every time our archaeologists put spades to the ground. More than 300,000 artifacts were retrieved in 2008 alone. We need specialized steel storage cabinets to safely house these pieces of the past and make them available for study.

Charlton’s Coffeehouse – A Lesson in Time
Funds needed for exhibit installation: $27,000
The newly reconstructed R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse near the Capitol opened in November 2009. This complementary exhibition at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum will use archaeological, architectural, archival, decorative arts, and trades components to show visitors the “How do we know?” aspects of the project. The process of developing the design, reconstructing the structure, and furnishing the interior to create an accurate portrayal of the 18th-century coffeehouse has provided a valuable learning and interpretive opportunity. The exhibit shows the history of the site; what an 18th-century coffeehouse was and how this one functioned; what the exterior of the coffeehouse looked like and how Colonial Williamsburg rebuilt it; and what the interior looked like and how it is furnished. The exhibition is scheduled to open in spring 2010.

18th-century Mannequins for Displaying Gowns
Funds needed for two mannequins with specially made wigs (plus cost adjustments relating to the exchange rate and mailing) are estimated to be $7,000-$8,000.
Specialized mannequins are required when 18th-century women’s gowns are displayed. Not only must the mannequins be made of materials safe enough to be in contact with fragile antiques, the body shapes must be correct for the period. Because 18th-century women wore stays that molded their bodies quite differently from those of contemporary women, display mannequins need to have conical torsos with high bust lines, narrow backs and shoulders, and very erect posture in order to correctly support historic garments. The Kyoto Costume Institute has developed just such mannequins shaped for specific eras from the 18th through 20th centuries. Colonial Williamsburg purchased four female mannequins in 2001 for the exhibition, “The Language of Clothing.” Additional mannequins are required to allow for future exhibitions that involve more dressed female figures and to give flexibility in conservation and exhibit turn-around.

Educational Outreach

Teacher Institute Scholarships:
A gift of $1,900 plustransportation assistance will give one teacher the opportunity to attend the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute, a week-long professional development program that immerses teachers in early American history. Lodging, meals, and a wealth of instructional materials are included. To date, more than 5,800 educators have completed the program, returning to their classrooms better prepared to teach American history and citizenship.

Teaching American History Conferences
With a gift of $33,000, you can provide up to 75 teachers in your favorite school district with this opportunity to increase their history knowledge and acquire exciting lesson plans and classroom resources.
Help Colonial Williamsburg bring living history experiences to teachers in your school district through 1- or 2-day conferences on teaching American history. In workshops around the country, teachers are exploring historical content, analyzing primary sources, participating in simulations, and role playing with Colonial Williamsburg’s character interpreters. Each conference helps teachers meet academic-content standards, learn innovative teaching strategies, and support interdisciplinary studies. Teachers receive lesson plans, facsimile primary sources, reproduction artifacts, and one live Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip broadcast to their classrooms.

Special Opportunity for Parents and Grandparents: Electronic Field Trips Bring History Alive!
A gift of $500 provides your local school or other deserving school with the seven-program series offered during the school year.
Colonial Williamsburg’s annual series of Electronic Field Trips inspires students in grades 4-8 with the stories, people and events that created the American nation. Designed to engage and inform, these nationally broadcast programs allow participants to ask on-the-air questions of Colonial Williamsburg interpreters, historians, and educators and to interact with other students through Web sites that include projects, interactive Web adventures, primary source documents, and electronic bulletin boards. Registration also includes teachers’ guides with pre- and post-broadcast lesson plans.

Bringing Colonial Williamsburg to You: Podcasts/Vodcasts
Funds needed for a year of weekly podcasts: $20,000; gifts of any size welcome.
Visitors to Colonial Williamsburg’s Web site can sample the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries by downloading podcasts, 15-minute audio programs. Using podcast software, such as iTunes or iPodder, podcasts (audio interviews) and vodcasts (video interviews) are downloadable at the listener’s convenience and played on a computer or portable media player. Behind-the-scene interviews with historical interpreters, archaeologists, musicians, tradesmen, curators, chefs, researchers, and scholars are conversational, informational, and cover a wide range of topics. Guests share insights about their work to preserve and interpret eighteenth-century American history and bring it to a modern audience.

General Support

Unrestricted Endowment - Recognition on Donor Plaque at the Visitor Center
Funds needed to establish a named endowment: $100,000
One of the most valuable ways to support the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is through the establishment of an unrestricted endowment. Your fund will help with the restoration and conservation of historic buildings, archaeology, innovative programming, museums, educational outreach, costumes for interpreters, carriages, preservation of rare animal breeds – in short, everything Colonial Williamsburg does. If a particular aspect of Colonial Williamsburg’s mission appeals to you, it is also possible to establish a restricted endowment for that specific purpose. Endowment gifts are recognized on the Visitor Center donor plaque and in Colonial Williamsburg’s annual report.

Kimball Theatre Programming Endowment Fund
Funding minimum for plaque recognition: $5,000
The Kimball Theatre offers excellent entertainment seven days a week. A first-rate movie house for more than six decades, the theater has become a favorite venue for Williamsburg’s artistic, educational, religious, and cultural events. Founding and sustaining benefactors are publicly recognized on permanent plaques in the theater’s lobby.

Matching Gifts Make Your Donation Go Further
If your company has a matching gift program, your donation to Colonial Williamsburg may be doubled or even tripled. Find out if Colonial Williamsburg qualifies for your company’s matching gift program

For more information on how you can support
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,
please call the Development Office at 1-888-CWF-1776
or e-mail gifts@cwf.org

To make a direct donation now, please click here.