An interview with Director of Institutional History Lynn Rainville

By Eric Herrera ‘20,

Dr. Lynn Rainville recently joined the Washington and Lee University community as inaugural Director of Institutional History. Given our long history as the ninth oldest institution of higher learning in the country totaling 270 years, it is not an exaggeration to say that history shaped (and continues to shape) the Washington and Lee University we know today. Dr. Rainville, former dean of Sweetbriar College, is an accomplished scholar, anthropologist and archaeologist who hopes to curate this history for the W&L Community. Dr. Rainville joined the Spectator for an interview to discuss a few topics of current student interest: the future of Lee Chapel, the new history museum, and our ongoing discussion about our history with slavery.

Eric-What does the future of Lee Chapel look like next few years? Will it still host speakers, will the honor presentation at the beginning of the year still be held there?

Dr. Rainville – 

“In terms of the honor board and the EC that is completely out of my control. As you know that is run by students for the students, so I have comment on that, because it’s not my business to intercede in that. 

However, in terms of university functions, while my position is new, I’m building off years of work done by the commission, the Board of Trustees, the President and those decisions. As they stated explicitly, the decision of the President and the Board of Trustees, is that the chapel will continue to be used for university events. There’s no change. It’s in writing and that’s the future of Lee Chapel.”

And the museum will still continue?

“The museum is little more complicated, only because with the new museum of history and culture. There certainly will come the moment of needing to refresh that exhibit. You would not refresh it identically to what it is right now because so many of those storylines are going to go in the new museum. One of the things I’ll be working on in the next few years is figuring out the appropriate storylines from an exhibit prospective. Asking, what is the most compelling story to tell in that space? 

 To make sure we’re differentiating correctly, in the basement there’s obviously the crypt which remains undisturbed, there’s a Museum space which will be part of reimagining the new museum. But Lee’s office will not move. I can’t imagine a moment where that will move because it’s not just interpreting his office, that was where his office was. That would be a very strange thing to move. 

 However, the exhibits behind the gift shop is over 10 years old now. And you know in museum parlance, it’s time to refresh, but it’s just a question of balancing it. It’s certainly an ongoing part of our conversation. There are so many parts of our history, it could never fit in one museum. There are too many storylines, too many time periods. We will still be using with the new museum spaces on campus to interpret our history. In that case the museum will still be part of that.”

 So, you mentioned the museum. What’s it’s goal, where is it going to be and realistically where when can we expect it. 

 “Well, about five years. Realistically because I have to raise the money, then work with many partners to design the building, the exhibits within the building, collect the information, and collect artifacts. 

 We do have a large corpus of material we can use, but it’s almost impossible to imagine that we can design this museum with all the exhibits without trying to solicit some artifacts to fill in the gaps, and that will take years.”

 So, the museum will be over-arching, it’s not just going to be a history museum?

 “It’s a history of W&L, recognizing W&L and its alumni contributions within American history. 

But because I am myself an anthropologist, archaeologist, historian, it’s not just going to be an old-fashioned history museum. It’s not just the case after case of documents or typological artifacts of one type. It it’s not just going to be a whole bunch of teapots together!

 It will be an intradisciplinary approach which will include not just anthropology, archaeology, history, but geology, chemistry, art history, environmental science. All of these different disciplines that have had a bearing on our history and different lines of evidence. We also need input from all the disciplines and programs to understand our history. 

 For example, I’m thinking of modern languages, like Spanish. One of the things in the curriculum right after the Civil War was the offering of modern languages. And in many other universities modern languages would be French, German maybe Italian, but not Spanish unlike today. This is in part, I think, to Lee’s background in the Mexican-American War and his experience. We have a very early Spanish program here. It’s some of these unexpected twists and turns in our curricular identity that are very interesting. 

 Really every department and program has its own history to tell. 

 I’m also working with Hillel house and Maggie Shapiro collecting stories from Jewish students over the different decades. It’s really everything from the Greek system to athletics. All of these are part of our history. It’s our DNA that creates this unique environment here. The museum is about telling those stories and why we care part, it not just about telling stories, [but] what impact on education it’s had and alumni contributions things like that.”

 Dr. Rainvillealso mentioned the potential for partnership opportunities with other historic sites like Mount Vernon, Stafford Hall, Arlington House. 

 Recently, Georgetown University announced that it has conducted a genealogical survey to identify descendants of slaves sold by the university and held a referendum to establish a reparation fund in which the students voted on to increase their tuition to pay reparations fund($27.20/semester). Would something like that happen at W&L, or could we expect that in our future? 

 “Well the first step is always reaching out to the descendent community, and here before you reach out to a community you obviously have to figure out who they are. And then it’s a dialogue with that community 

 I did this kind of research at Sweetbriar University for 20 years in located dozens and dozens of family and descendants. 

 And doing so, I found out that some people are very interested, some people are embarrassed by the history, some people don’t want to talk about. It’s a negative chapter in American history and I was always trying to be very respectful of that when doing my research. I’m not just assuming that all one of the descendants want to talk about this and want their names identified. 

 There is no doubt in my mind that in this community there are direct descendants [ of former slaves at W&L]. I would want to start by identifying who they are, talking to them and figuring out their issues and their questions regarding their family. 

 What you’re seeing now in Georgetown as a result of almost 10 years of research that was initially started by outside researchers. Now there are internal researchers, conducting parallel lines of research. 

 Here, and a long-standing professor put it best, “W&L does change, but it changes at its own pace, on Washington and Lee time. In other words, it is done in a very thoughtful and deliberate manner, not as a reaction to something. 

 Framing the question on the Georgetown 272 is not so much my model, that would be reactionary, saying we have to do this because Georgetown did this. That’s not my model, I work internally with the cultural specifics of the place that I am in, and I’m here, not in Georgetown. 

 I wouldn’t backwards engineered this and say here is the results, let’s talk about it. It’s first let’s continue the work of the working group which was established in 2013 under President Ruscio. Some of the faculty and the students on that have been doing the necessary and important work into for example the enslaved individuals held by Robinson, but even still, it’s only part of this puzzle.”

 The Spectator would like to thank Dr. Rainville for taking the time to discuss these topics and would wish her the best of luck as she continues to help preserve and present the history that makes Washington and Lee the alma mater loved by so many generations of current and former students.