Bryan to lecture at Magness Library
Warren County residents will get the chance to meet and greet one of their distinguished native sons when Magness Library presents a lecture by Dr. Charles Faulkner Bryan Jr., on Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 6:30 p.m. There will also be a reception in the Southern Heritage room at 5:30 p.m.
“We’re very pleased to have Dr. Bryan at Magness Library,” said library manager Mary Robbins. “He has made such great accomplishments in his life and his career. We’re just honored that he’s going to be here.”
Bryan is the son of noted composer and McMinnville native Charles Faulkner Bryan Sr., for whom the Bryan Fine Arts Center and the Bryan Symphony Orchestra at Tennessee Tech are named.
Dr. Bryan was born and raised in McMinnville and is a distinguished graduate of Virginia Military Institute. He holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Georgia and a PhD in history from the University of Tennessee. He served two years active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army.
The son of one of Tennessee’s premier composers, Bryan is a noted historian. Currently president and CEO of the Virginia Historical Society, a position he has held since 1988, Bryan was appointed the first executive director of the East Tennessee Historical Society in Knoxville in 1981, and five years later became executive director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association, one of the country’s richest repositories on the history of the American West, railroading and river transportation.
Dr. Bryan was also awarded a post-doctoral fellowship in historical editing to work with the Andrew Jackson Papers, a University of Tennessee project located at the Hermitage in Nashville. He was asked to remain as assistant editor of the project and edited Jackson’s correspondence during the War of 1812 which later appeared as part of Volume 2 of the “Papers of Andrew Jackson” published by the UT Press in 1985.
Dr. Bryan has worked extensively as an educator and lecturer, holding teaching positions at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Tennessee. He has served as a visiting lecturer in the public history program at Arizona State University, and has published several articles, essays and reviews, with emphasis on the Civil War and on the management of history museums.
Dr. Bryan is an elder in the Presbyterian church and is a Paul Harris Fellow. He and his wife, Cammy, reside in Richmond, Va. They have two children.
For more information, contact Magness Library at 473-2428.