Tuesday, March 14, 2023
6:00 PM
Screening of the Acclaimed Documentary, The Levys of Monticello
The Hill School, Middleburg, VA
This is a free event, hosted by the Middleburg Library Advisory Board
The Middleburg Library Advisory Board is pleased to announce the second event in its new Local Book and Author Series: a screening of the award-winning new documentary film, The Levys of Monticello. The event also will include a question-and-answer session following the screening with Middleburg author Marc Leepson, who wrote Saving Monticello, the book that inspired the film.
The screening will take place at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at the Sheila C. Johnson Performing Arts Center at the Hill School in Middleburg. It is free and open to the public.
“This will be a special treat for the Middleburg community,” said MLAB President Kathryn Baran. “The Levys of Monticello tells a little-known but important and fascinating story of historic preservation, architectural history, and Jewish-American history. We’re particularly pleased that it’s based on Marc Leepson’s book, Saving Monticello, in which he recounts the Levy family’s 89-year stewardship of Thomas Jefferson’s ‘Essay in Architecture.’ And that folks will be able to hear Marc and bring home an autographed copy of his great book.”
U.S. Navy officer Uriah Phillips Levy—a hero of the War of 1812 who became the Navy’s first Jewish commodore—and his nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy owned Monticello from 1834-1923, and saved it from ruin on two occasions. The documentary, which has received several film festival awards, includes many historic images and commentary by Susan Stein, Monticello’s long-time curator; Niya Bates, the former senior fellow of African American history at Monticello; and Jonathan Sarna, the nation’s foremost Jewish-American history scholar.
Journalist and historian Marc Leepson is a Chair Emeritus and Advisory Board member of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area. He is the author of nine books, including Saving Monticello, Flag: An American Biography, and biographies of the Marquis de Lafayette, Francis Scott Key, and Army Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler. He will be signing copies of Saving Monticello before and after the screening.
The Middleburg Library Advisory Board gratefully acknowledges the generosity of The Hill School in helping to bring this film to Middleburg.
Today our mission of teaching our comprehensive Heritage Area history is as important as ever and we are working diligently to keep our communities involved with our incredible living museum. Please consider supporting our mission with a donation or membership to help ensure our ability to continue protecting our extraordinary landscape and its vast history for future generations.