This book traces the intertwined histories of the Philippines and the United States along the streets of Washington, from the end of the Spanish American War in 1898 through Philippine independence in 1946, and the many years since. West Potomac Park was inspired by Manila's Luneta, and District streets are named after pivotal Philippine battle grounds. These landmarks are often unmentioned in guidebooks. Hidden in plain sight are the stories of the fascinating figures that once inhabited these spaces. Erwin R. Tiongson is a professor at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. He teaches economics and writes about Philippine history. His essays have appeared in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Magazine, New York Times, Positively Filipino, Slate, Washington Post, Washingtonian, and White House History Quarterly. He is cofounder of the Philippines on the Potomac (POPDC) Project.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Jeanette Irby, retired Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge and former Leesburg Town Attorney will discuss how to use court records and other resources for data that are frequently overlooked in genealogical and historical research. Irby will demonstrate how to mine court records for clues that can be used to collect information for genealogical research. Examples of these records include real estate records, chancery suits, estates, and indexes. Jeanette Irby has researched land records dating from the 1700s and participated in genealogical seminars sponsored by the Warrenton Court House Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of which she is past Regent. Irby currently serves as secretary of District VI of the Virginia DAR Chapters. She holds a BS from Central Michigan University and a JD from Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, MI.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL will be presenting two lectures: After the Courthouse Burns: Rekindling Family History through DNA and DNA and the Golden Rule: The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy.

Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist®, is a genealogist with a law degree who provides expert guidance through the murky territory where law and family history intersect. An internationally-known lecturer and award-winning writer, she holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer℠ from the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. Her blog is https://www.legalgenealogist.com.

Cost per person is $30 for members; $40 for nonmembers; and, if seating is available $60 at the door.

To register, complete the attached registration form. Email it to balchlib@leesburgva.gov or mail or deliver it to: Thomas Balch Library, 208 West Market St. Leesburg, VA 20176 Legal Genealogist Registration Form

Presented by Friends of the Thomas Balch Library

Attendance is limited to 65 – advance registration is encouraged to ensure a spot. Lunch not included.

For registration information or questions contact 703-737-7195 or balchlib@leesburgva.gov

Do you know how to spot the difference between a Georgian house and a Federal house? Or why “haunted houses” are always shown as Victorian style homes? In this engaging class, Morven Park’s Director of Preservation & History, Jana Shafagoj, will teach participants how to identify the various historic architectural styles found in Leesburg and the cultural movements that lead to common architectural trends. Jana Shafagoj has over twenty-five years’ experience in researching, documenting, and restoring historic buildings in Virginia and abroad. She holds a MA in Archaeology of Historic Buildings from the University of York, UK and a BA in Historic Preservation from Mary Washington College.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Arthur Jordan and Elvira Corder were young and unafraid, but their love was doomed. He was Black, she was white and this was Virginia in 1880. When Elvira became pregnant, the couple fled Fauquier County to live in Maryland. But her father found them and recruited neighbors to help kidnap them. Four nights later, a mob dragged Arthur from the county jail in Warrenton and lynched him. Elvira, taken to a hotel in Williamsport, Maryland, was never heard from again. Stories of lynching are all too common in the postbellum South, but this one tells a unique tale of a couple who were willing to sacrifice everything to be together—and did. Author Jim Hall tells a classic tale of forbidden love, one of hope crushed by hate. 

Jim Hall is an award-winning journalist and popular speaker on lynching in Virginia. His book The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia: Seeking Truth at Rattlesnake Mountain was published by The History Press in 2016. His newest book, Condemned for Love in Old Virginia: The Lynching of Arthur Jordan, was published by History Press in July 2023. He has a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a former adjunct instructor at the University of Mary Washington. A native of Virginia, he is retired and lives now in Fredericksburg.

 Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Property research can be a powerful tool for exploring your family tree. Library Associate Travis Shaw will give a step-by-step introduction to a series of online tools that allow the user to access property records in the state of Maryland. Using these resources you can research deeds, plats, and other records from the 17th century to today from the comfort of the Thomas Balch Library or your own home. Shaw is a public history professional with nearly two decades of experience in historic preservation, archaeology, and museum education. He joined the staff at the Thomas Balch Library in 2015, and also serves as the Director of Education at the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

The 28th Annual Meeting and Election of Directors will be on Sunday, January 7 at 2 PM at the Thomas Balch Library. The snow date will be Sunday, January 21. This year’s program is Oral History Series: a Conversation with Betty and Robert Lowenbach

Wynne Saffer, author of Loudoun County Virginia 1860 Land Tax Map, who has previously presented classes on deed research and Northern Neck Land Grants, will show how to convert a metes and bounds survey to a plat of the property. He will show examples of plats and how to identify their location by using roads, streams, and other landmarks and will demonstrate use of current parcel maps to locate ancient property lines.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

In Traveling through Time, author John E. Ross will discuss how we can travel back to the earliest European discovery of America and settling of Virginia through readily available historic maps. He’ll show examples from extensive portfolios of online maps dating back to Diego Riberio’s 1529 sketch of coast of the western hemisphere. We will see how colonial Virginians were certain that seas of China and the Indies lay just beyond the Blue Ridge. Ross marvels at the accuracy of Louis Michel’s 1707 map of the Shenandoah Valley and the 1751 Jefferson-Fry map of Virginia that were with achieved instruments no more sophisticated than compass and pen. “Old maps allow us to see history where it happened,” Ross says. “We are extremely fortunate to have Eugene Scheel’s maps and books to help us understand how Northern Virginia came to be the place we appreciate so much today.”

Ross is the author of the bestselling natural and cultural history from the University of Tennessee Press: Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time. He is currently at a work on a similar book: Beyond the Blue Horizon: Virginia’s Great Valley and Ridges to be published in late 2024 by the University of Virginia Press. He and his partner, Meredith Whiting, live in Middleburg, Va. and are deeply involved in a number of preservation and conservation initiatives.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Thomas Balch Library Advisory Commissioners will present the 31’st annual Loudoun History Awards on Sunday, 5 November 2023, 2 PM. This event honors individuals who have made significant contributions to preserving Loudoun’s past through collection of county documents and memorabilia, preservation of historic landmarks, visual arts, writing, and long-time commitment to local history organizations. For s brochure or information on nominating individuals, contact the Library Director at 703/737-7196.

The popular Thomas Balch Library of History & Genealogy Civil War walking tour of Leesburg offered each March with local historian Rich Gillespie will be complemented in 2023 by an American Revolution equivalent on November 4, 2023.  Leesburg, Loudoun, and the American Revolution, a leisurely two-hour history exploration of Leesburg and Loudoun’s past, will begin at the Balch at 10:00 a.m.  A long-time history teacher in the county, Gillespie is also the Historian Emeritus for the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area.

The tour leaves from Thomas Balch Library parking lot at 10AM. Note: This tour requires good walking shoes.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Have you come across accounting or financial records in your research? Are you tempted to skip them? Don’t! Alison Herring, a former Audit Senior Manager in a global accounting firm, will discuss historic financial records and how you can use them to shed light on genealogy and other research projects. These records, while often tedious, can be a marvelous source of information on the lives of the people you study, the economic conditions they lived in, and the decisions they made. Alison will demonstrate some practical ways to approach these documents and share examples of the insights you can learn. Alison is currently researching the Powell Family Papers, which are held at Swem Library at William & Mary.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Meet in the parking lot of Thomas Balch Library by 1:45PM. Eric S. Larson, Historic Records Manager for the Clerk of the Circuit Court, will lead a tour of the Clerk’s Office and the Historic Court Building. He will discuss the extent of Loudoun County’s records holdings, where to look for records of births, deaths, marriages, and deeds, and how to use these records in research. You will need to pass through security so the group will leave the library promptly at 1:45PM.

Reminder: Cell phones and cameras are not allowed in the Court House.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Public libraries play a fundamental role in communities providing free educational resources, boosting literacy and knowledge, and serving as a place of refuge. Despite this, many libraries were inaccessible during the Jim Crow era to Black residents, as they continued to resist integration even after the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education. Discover the truth about barriers imposed on the Black community and learn about citizens turned activists who used protests and lawsuits to achieve more equitable library services. Their legacy resonates today, as libraries continue to evolve and embrace more inclusive practices. Join Fairfax County librarians as they investigate the overlooked and little-known history of segregated library services in Northern Virginia and discuss their book.

Chris Barbuschak, a Fairfax County native, is an archivist/librarian at Fairfax County Public Library’s Virginia Room. A graduate in history from Loyola University Chicago, he received his MLIS from Dominican University. Suzanne S. LaPierre is a Virginiana Specialist Librarian for Fairfax County Public Library in Virginia. Her writing has been published in national and international journals. In addition to a MLIS from University of South Carolina, she holds an MA in Museum Studies from The George Washington University and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

The Burning Land! is book two in Stewart’s fictional Overstreet Saga which takes the reader back in time to tell uniquely American stories—full of adventure, excitement, heartbreak, and a tapestry of richly developed characters. This book follows the love of Henry Overstreet of the Twentieth Maine Regiment through Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the battles of 1864 and of Katie Nash of Maine whom Overstreet’s marries on the Fourth of July 1864 while on a two week leave. Their lives are upended by the tragedies of the American Civil War and then of their westward migration to Chicago, both inflict excruciating trials and loss.

After many years as a trial and appellate lawyer, David O. Stewart became a bestselling writer of history and historical fiction. His first novel, The Lincoln Deception, about the John Wilkes Booth conspiracy, was called the best historical novel of 2013 by Bloomberg View. Sequels include The Paris Deception, set at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and The Babe Ruth Deception, which follows Babe’s first two years with the Yankees. Stewart’s histories explore the writing of the Constitution, the gifts of James Madison, the western expedition and treason trial of Aaron Burr, and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In February 2021, Dutton published Stewart’s George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

James Roberts, a native of Leesburg, former member of Thomas Balch Library Advisory Commission, 2008 recipient of a Loudoun History Award, and recognized in 2011 by Loudoun Laurels, will lead a walking tour of Leesburg. The tour is an insider’s commentary of local people, places, and points of interest both in and around Leesburg. Particular detail is paid to how Leesburg has grown and evolved through the years architecturally, economically, and racially. Factual, historical, and anecdotal information is intertwined and presented in storytelling fashion as only someone who lived through it and thoughtfully observed it, can do.

This unique tour will leave from Thomas Balch Library parking lot at 9AM. Note: This tour requires good walking shoes.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents (Tour limited to 30 people)

The authors, Susan and Shawn Dilles, have been Fairfax County residents and active members of the Northern Virginia Jewish Community for almost 40 years, including at Congregation Olam Tikvah, Congregation Beth Emeth, and the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia. Susan supports activities of several charities in the area. Shawn is a volunteer with JewishGen and has coordinated the translation of Yizkor (Remembrance) books on the Jewish history of Zinkov, Ukraine and Hrubieszow, Poland.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Gabrielle Sanchez, Contract Archivist and former Library Reference Associate at Thomas Balch Library, will introduce participants to the basics of preservation and discuss the best ways to house and protect personal archives. Topics will include proper ways to handle letters, books, photographs, and other media; common conservation needs; threats to paper and electronic media; and the dangers of non-archival storage products.

 Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

In her new book Clarke County, Virginia: History Through Architecture, architectural historian Maral Kalbian introduces the reader to Clarke County’s history from the first people known to have lived in the area through development of roads and communities, to exploring architectural styles found throughout Clarke. Organized chronologically, with illustrations and historic resources, the book traces the history of Loudoun County’s neighbor from its early 18th century history as part of Frederick County, through its establishment in 1836 and post-Civil War development including a boom in business and population growth and the establishment of Black communities built by freed slaves. Both Kalbian’s research and the publication of Clarke County, Virginia was funded through a Certified Local Government grant from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, funds from the Clarke County Conservation Easement Authority, Clarke County Historical Association, and the Clermont Foundation. Kalbian, a historic preservation specialist, has practiced in the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont areas of Virginia for 34 years. Her publications include Clarke County, Virginia (2011), and Frederick County: History Through Architecture (1999). 

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

The destruction of Washington in 1814 by the invading British challenged President James Monroe and architect Benjamin Latrobe with the task of rebuilding the government edifices that had been destroyed. As symbols of the aspirations of the republic, these buildings had to be more than functional—they had to be beautiful. The building material they discovered and used to beautify the new Capitol was Potomac marble, which exists in abundance on both sides of the Potomac River, from Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia, to Montgomery and Frederick Counties in Maryland. Local historian Paul Kreingold details Latrobe’s and Monroe’s search for the ideal stone and their fight to use it to rebuild the chambers of the House and Senate.

Paul Kreingold is a thirty-eight-year resident of Leesburg, Virginia, where he and his wife have raised two children. He is currently the president of the Banshee Reeks Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists and the conservation director of the Izaak Walton League, Loudoun County Chapter. His interest in geology and history dates back to his college days, but after a long career in computer system design, he has devoted his time in the last five years as a researcher and educator. Besides public lectures throughout Loudon, Montgomery and Frederick Counties, Kreingold regularly leads “expeditions” to the rediscovered Latrobe Potomac Marble quarry along the beautiful Potomac River.

 Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Using DNA testing for genealogical research has become as common as using a census record. Like a census record, it can tell the researcher some information, lead to further questions, or even leave you completely confused by the results. If you are considering taking a DNA test for genealogy or have already taken one, this presentation is for you! We will cover the type of tests on the market, what they can tell you, how to use them with your genealogical research, and more.

Shannon Combs-Bennett (QG, MSc, PLCGS) is an award-winning author and genealogical researcher based in Northern Virginia. She lectures and writes on various topics, from genealogical methodology to genetic genealogy. Shannon holds a BS in Biology with an emphasis in genetics and an MSc in Genealogical, Heraldic, and Paleographic Studies. She also earned her Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. Currently, Shannon is a doctoral student in History and Genealogical Studies at the University of Strathclyde.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov, or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Join Betsy Arnett for an illustrated journey through nearly three centuries of Leesburg history. Currently a Senior Management Analyst with the Town Manager’s Office, Betsy has worked for the Town of Leesburg for more than 20 years and holds a master’s degree in Public History from the University of South Carolina.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Life-long Loudoun resident Wynne Saffer will discuss the history of land grants of the Northern Neck Proprietary and how to locate the grants using resources available at Thomas Balch Library. Saffer has completed numerous local research projects, mapped the county by land ownership in 1860, and written several books about Loudoun’s history, including Loudoun Votes 1867-1966, A Civil War Legacy and Mount Zion Cemetery, Aldie, Virginia. Saffer is a recipient of the Thomas Balch Library’s Loudoun History Award.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

The Burning Land! is book two in Stewart’s fictional Overstreet Saga which takes the reader back in time to tell uniquely American stories—full of adventure, excitement, heartbreak, and a tapestry of richly developed characters. This book follows the love of Henry Overstreet of the Twentieth Maine Regiment through Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the battles of 1864 and of Katie Nash of Maine whom Overstreet’s marries on the Fourth of July 1864 while on a two week leave. Their lives are upended by the tragedies of the American Civil War and then of their westward migration to Chicago, both inflict excruciating trials and loss.

After many years as a trial and appellate lawyer, David O. Stewart became a bestselling writer of history and historical fiction. His first novel, The Lincoln Deception, about the John Wilkes Booth conspiracy, was called the best historical novel of 2013 by Bloomberg View. Sequels include The Paris Deception, set at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and The Babe Ruth Deception, which follows Babe’s first two years with the Yankees. Stewart’s histories explore the writing of the Constitution, the gifts of James Madison, the western expedition and treason trial of Aaron Burr, and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In February 2021, Dutton published Stewart’s George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Meet in the parking lot of Thomas Balch Library by 1:45PM. Eric S. Larson, Historic Records Manager for the Clerk of the Circuit Court, will lead a tour of the Clerk’s Office and the Historic Court Building. He will discuss the extent of Loudoun County’s records holdings, where to look for records of births, deaths, marriages, and deeds, and how to use these records in research. You will need to pass through security so the group will leave the library promptly at 1:45PM.

Reminder: Cell phones and cameras are not allowed in the Court House.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

In Blow Up the third Sophie Medina mystery (following Multiple Exposure in 2015 and Ghost Image in 2016) international photojournalist Sophie Medina and her old school friend Father Jack O'Hara are out for a run on Capitol Hill when they find the body of Associate Supreme Court Justice Everett Townsend lying in an alley, barely alive. When Townsend dies in the ER, his death has repercussions for Sophie after her friend, Javi Aguilera, is murdered. This murder and a dark secret with potential of having a devasting impact on the nation’s highest court heighten the sense of urgency as Sophie searches looking for evidence before everything blows up in her face.

Ellen Crosby is the author of 16 books: 3 mysteries featuring photojournalist Sophie Medina, 12 in the Virginia wine country mystery series, and Moscow Nights, a standalone. Her books have been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award; The Riesling Retribution won the 2009 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best US Wine Literature Book. Previously she worked as a freelance reporter for The Washington Post, Moscow correspondent for ABC Radio News, and as an economist at the US Senate. After living overseas for many years, Crosby, who has an undergraduate degree in political science from Catholic University and a master’s in international affairs from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, now lives in the DC suburbs of northern Virginia with her husband.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov, or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

James Roberts, a native of Leesburg, former member of Thomas Balch Library Advisory Commission, 2008 recipient of a Loudoun History Award, and recognized in 2011 by Loudoun Laurels, will lead a walking tour of Leesburg. The tour is an insider’s commentary of local people, places, and points of interest both in and around Leesburg. Particular detail is paid to how Leesburg has grown and evolved through the years architecturally, economically, and racially. Factual, historical, and anecdotal information is intertwined and presented in storytelling fashion as only someone who lived through it and thoughtfully observed it, can do. This unique tour will leave from Thomas Balch Library parking lot at 9AM. Note: This tour requires good walking shoes.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents