FRAYDA SALKIN AND FRED RASMUSSEN - HISTORY LIVES! Robert E. Lee's Last Letter
from McDonough School to Lexington, Va.


Maryland has two historians who bring the "little known" that are often more revealing than the nonstop headlines yat infuse websites and daily papers every day . But the "little known" can be most interesting; that is the case concerning an article by Fred Rasmussen who, with Jacques Kelly, are the Baltimore Sunpapers' best historians. The other person with love of history is Frayda Salkin, for many years, Archivist of McDonogh School.

I have enjoyed friendship with both Frayda and Fred, but until a very recent Rasmussen by-line, "Lee's Last Letter Makes a Return to Lexington", I never knew these two interesting people knew one another. But, it was Robert E. Lee who brought them together! The immediate question: How could past and present unite in such an unexpected way?

Fred has a remarkable way of discovering the special "tidbits" of history --and he did just that, with Frayda last week in a remarkable article: "Lee's Last Letter Makes a Return to Washington". In the memorabilia of papers/chapters/photographs in the McDonogh School Archives, was the last letter ever written by Gen. Robert E. Lee. How was it found at McDonogh School -- founded nearly 150 years ago by the bequest of America's largest landowner -- John McDonogh.
Born in poverty circumstances in Baltimore, McDonogh became one of America's largest landowners in the the early 1800's. His generosity founded the public school system in New Orleans and created McDonogh School in Maryland, orginally a school for orphan boys -- now , a highly respected co-educational prep school where many students still attend on scholarship.

I have known McDonogh School -- first as a student whose father taught there and ran the school's agriculture programs: riding horses; also, cattle who were the suppliers of milk for the then 700 students who wore uniforms as a symbol of discipline and no distinction between wealth differences among the families of those students. I have gotten to know Frayda in the unearthing of many school papers records -- my father's and mine (both grades & demerits!) -- to have them become part of McDonogh's archives.

One of the early founders of McDonogh School who put the McDonogh bequest was Samuel Tagart, second president of the school's board of trustees. On the rise in the U.S. Army, Robert E. Lee came to Baltimore in on assignment to coordinate the construction of Fort Carroll,just east of today's Key Bridge. After Congress cut off the work for the fort, Lee moved north the West Point to become its Superintendent. Then, the passing of 17 years and the Civil War --- and the rest is history. But not all is known, until Frayda decided to make history live, by a single letter -- for many years residing in the McDonogh Archives. How did Lee's handwritten letter end up there?

It was Samuel Tagart who introduced Lee to Baltimore's power circle,then called "society" -- and they became close friends as Lee, his wife Ann Randolph Custis Lee, and 7 children lived at 908 Madison Avenue in the late 1840's.

137 years later and just 1 week ago, on April 23, General Lee "travelled" with Fradya Smalkin, in the form of the last letter ever written by Lee --- and it was to Samuel Tagart. Dated September 28, 1870, that letter -- written from Lexington -- told Tagart that the then President of the new Washington College (later , Washington & Lee University), was feeling better after medical treatment in Baltimore and the friendship of Tagart. Just 2 weeks later, on October 12, 1870, Robert E. Lee died.

The drama of this "last letter" of Robert E. Lee is underscored by the fact of its "last trip" in a locked fireproof box, as Frayda Salkin drove it from Baltimore to Lexington, Virginia. Fred Rasmussen gives us the image of a personable scholar-archivist who kept her eye vigilantly on the precious cargo in the trunk of her car, as the letter returned to its original destinaton.

Thank you, Frayda and McDonogh School for honoring history in this way; and thank you ,Fred Rasmussen, for continuing to give history "life" in your "Way Back When" and "Back Story" newspaper series. In an era when young people are being too often separated from history and heritage, this kind of story needs to live .

Labels: Fred Rasmussen, McDonough, Robert E Lee

  5:22 PM •  0 Comments •

A Ripple Effect From Virginia Tech? Lessons from Father Joseph Sellinger, Milton Eisenhower and McDonough School April 16, 2007: a day on which the only expected news was the deadline for filing our 2006 Federal income taxes. But, in the small town of Blacksburg ,Virginia, the Virginia Tech college campus and its 36,000 students were thrown into a nightmare of murder by a deranged student. The public was subjected to a media onslaught that invaded the "Hokie" campus and created a national icon of sorts out of Cho Seung-Hui -- including a excessive coverage of thoroughly mixed up letter he sent to NBC in the 2 hours between murdering 2 students at 7AM and 30 more at 9:30 AM.

Enough time has passed to put some perspective on this human and institutional tragedy . Several themes emerge, three of them on this morning's Op-Ed page of The Baltimore Sunpapers:

--- Susan Reimer, columnist: "The killings at Virginia Tech serve as a vivid break between family and the other world --- the world of experiences family does not share and cannot understand." .... "Someday soon -- sooner than we wish, our children will be sinking their emotional roots into new soil: among friends and co-workers . Among their own kind."

--- Paul Steinberg, psychiatrist and former director of counseling at Georgetown University about responsible intervention: "in our culture of self-reliance, the essential responsibility of getting help when distressed, lies within ourselves.... Alcoholics Anonymous may state it best: "I am not responsible for my illness,but am responsible for getting help"

Dr. Steinberg lives with reality: With high school or college, " the crucial element in any intervention is the tremendous coordination required among faculty,student affairs staff and counseling service ... Tragically when students show us troubled inner lives, we are left with the slings & arrows --- and bullets --- of absolutely ourtrageous misfortune."

--- Finally, in a typically politically reactive comment "unloaded" on the PBS talk show host Charlie Rose, former House majority leader Tom Delay: "We need to remove the ban on guns on the Virginia Tech campus, and allow people to defend themselves."

With the exception of Delay's simplified solution, best suited for an NRA convention, the Reimer and Steinberg commentaries point out the complexities of education and interaction between help and discipline for students.

Two experiences come home to me -- one from the 1960's and the other, more recent:

1. Gifts from two university presidents in Baltimore:

As a student at Penn State -- and subsequently, as a staff member at Johns Hopkins, I remember and participated in a special "open door" policy by Milton Eisenhower, President of those two universities. Whenever the front porch light of the President's House was on, in the evening, students could simply drop in and visit/talk and listen to others -- some nights, as many as 30 or 40 were there. A similar "student connection" was part of the leadership style of Father Joe Sellinger of Loyola College. These two individuals listened/ learned as well as providing guidance and experience to young people who came to those two universities to receive an education.

These two leaders did their work in the challenging 1960's era of student protests , even violence during the Vietnam/ "protest" years of the 20th century.

2. Volunteer teaching -- a personal experience at my alma mater, McDonogh School:

Last week, following an invitation from a talented history teacher, Bridget Collins , to "team teach" with her for 3 classes studying the 1930's Depression and World War II. Actually, Bridget sat in the back row with group of McDonogh School juniors --- and I realized I was "on my own"!

These students -- different from my days of guys in uniforms -- were young men, women, white and African American. Thanks to them and their teacher, I felt really "alive" in the give-&-take of discussion about isolationism prior to World War II / the shock of Pearl Harbor / the emotion of the D Day landings at Normandy / the challenges facing wartime leaders Churchill and Roosevelt . These young people seem very "grounded" ! They, and teacher Bridget Collins are case studies for the axiom that listening and learning -- as well as teaching -- is possible, by both teachers and "learners".

From all the challenges facing the students and the college faculty/administrators at Virginia Tech, I sense a "grounding" that will enable them to move through the recent nightmare. VT's President Charles Steger faces similar challenges and opportunities as those which confronted Dr. Eisenhower and Father Sellinger. But, in an era of "media onslaught" and high visibility to these challenges, the wisdom of Dr.Steinberg and Susan Reimer can and should be given attention. And, the typically reactive barrage of Tom Delay will hopefully be get a firm "delete"!

Similar challenges face us as business executives and government officials : to be reasonable and wise in mediating disputes, corporate and agency challenges -- and, after decisions are made: to follow through with results. That can be the "ripple effect from Virginia Tech".

Labels: Maryland, McDonough, Virginia Tech

  12:47 PM •  0 Comments •