December, 2023
from the Record, Fall 2023
by Alexandra Evans
The Keepers: Alumni in Public History
Set in what Caroline Emmons, director of the Center for Public History, calls a “laboratory of history,” Hampden-Sydney has always drawn historophiles. Emmons credits this to a number of factors including the position of the College both geographically and temporally in our nation’s history as well as the strength of the Hampden-Sydney History Department.
“Over the past 10 years, Hampden-Sydney College has graduated more history majors as a share of students than any other college or university in the nation. According to The American Historical Association, approximately 1.2 percent of undergraduates nationally majored in history between 2012 and 2022. Hampden-Sydney’s average across those ten years is 13.6 percent,” reports Elliott Associate Professor of History James Frusetta.
Discover how Clayton James ’91, managing director of Jamestowne Investments, is using his history major in his profession dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and conservation of American history.
“We need to understand where the nation came from and what impact that has on the country today,” observes Clayton James ’91. “Doing so can govern how we react today and what we should and should not do. It’s important to honestly represent the past and fairly tell the whole story.” James, who is managing director of Jamestowne Investments, volunteered as president of The Rosewell Foundation in Gloucester, Virginia, from 2017 until the summer of 2023 when The Rosewell Foundation merged with The Fairfield Foundation. James is still actively involved in the management of Rosewell and currently consults for The Fairfield Foundation.
Once the nucleus of the colonial economy, Rosewell was built in 1725 by the affluent Page family. James points out, though, that Rosewell’s legacy does not begin or end with the Page family. Built on Pamunkey native land at the location of Pocahontas’ alleged birthplace and constructed and run by enslaved Africans, Rosewell is a pinpoint on the timeline of Virginia and American history.
“Without the contributions of the enslaved Africans, Rosewell wouldn’t have existed,” James explains. And without Rosewell, the future of the budding nation might have looked very different. Despite the shame surrounding the history of enslavement at Rosewell, the Foundation has made it a point not to shy away from that aspect of the home’s history. James notes that it does no one a fair service to shy away from that dark corner of the home’s history. “By using it to educate the public, we hope to bring long overdue recognition and perhaps a sense of pride to the descendants of that community,” he says.