21-04-2025
Lafayette exhibit explores French general's visit to Allegheny College
Chris Anderson was leafing through various books in Allegheny College's archival collection when he came across a long 'lost' artifact.
'I was planning an event and I was looking randomly through some of our old books, and I pulled this out and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, this is the missing Allegheny guest book from 1825 that Lafayette signed,' said Anderson, the archives and special collections librarian at the college's Pelletier Library.
The book contains the signature of General Marquis de Lafayette, a French general in the Revolutionary War, who spoke on the steps of a partially completed Bentley Hall 200 years ago on June 2, 1825.
For Anderson, who recently began his position at Allegheny and found the book just a handful of months in, it was the discovery of a lifetime.
'We thought the school had sold it possibly or someone had taken it. We had a photocopy of it from a long time ago, and here it is — the original. I thought, 'Wow, I should just go home now, I'm having a good day,'' he joked.
Now, it's on display as part of the 'Lafayette at Allegheny' exhibit, which runs now until May 2 on the third floor of the library.
On Tuesday, Anderson will host a talk from 4 to 5 p.m. at the exhibit, which is open to the public.
The exhibit showcases several original artifacts, including the guest book, a silver tea set that Lafayette would've drank from, various portraits, commemorative gloves from the 1825 visit and more. The artifacts are from the Crawford County Historical Society, Erie's Hagen History Center and Allegheny College alumnus Bill Owens.
A tale of two Washingtons
Lafayette was at the ripe age of 19 — like that of an Allegheny College student — when he decided to join the American fight for freedom against Britain. He was a Frenchman from a noble class, so it took some deception and innovation to get to America.
It was there he met George Washington who he would grow incredibly close with and name his son after. Lafayette fought as a major general in the war and played a large role in America's independence. Afterward, he returned to France to fight in its revolution for independence. But 50 years after the American Revolution, President James Monroe invited Lafayette, then the only surviving major general of the Continental Army, to tour the nation. Lafayette was considered an official 'Guest of the Nation' and toured 24 states beginning in 1824.
When he returned to Pennsylvania, the place he met Washington, he was 67, almost as if an alumnus visiting his old stomping grounds, and he had his son George Washington Lafayette with him. Lafayette traced the steps of the original Washington, who took the same route from Pittsburgh to Fort LeBoeuf in Waterford in 1753.
'In 1753, George Washington, as a young military officer, was sent up through this area to deliver letters to the French saying basically the 1750's equivalent of 'get off our lawn' by the British,' explained Crawford County Historical Society Director Josh Sherretts. 'Washington's journal of this area is a big part of what influenced David Mead to choose here to settle.'
Anderson said it's unknown exactly what Lafayette said on the steps of Bentley Hall, but there are some clues.
'What little we know about the speech he gave at Bentley Hall was just a bit that I read from a report where he's at Bentley Hall, he gives this talk, then they have him look down the hill toward French Creek to say, 'This is where Washington walked on his early visits through what is now Meadville,'' Anderson said.
At that point, Allegheny College was likely a not-quite-finished Bentley Hall and some outhouse facilities. It's unknown how much time he spent on campus, but he spent part of one day in Meadville, so it's estimated that he didn't stay long.
In Meadville, Colonel John Bliss led Lafayette to Gibson's Tavern followed by a tea reception at Samuel Torbett's Sign of the Stag.
'When Lafayette came through Meadville, he was thrown a tea reception lunch when he first got here at a tavern owned by Samuel Torbett called Sign of the Stag,' Sherretts said. 'And we have the silver tea service that was purchased in 1820 and was the main service in the dining room of Sign of the Stag at the time that Lafayette came here in 1825.'
In addition to the tea set on display, there is a pair of gloves thought to be memorabilia for the tour, as well as Torbett's liquor license.
Tressa Snyder, dean of the library, said the gloves reflect the period and help visitors conceptualize what it was like back then.
'There was no social media back then. There were no phones. There was a whole different way to advertise,' she said. 'So I think students can imagine, 'how did he actually do this stuff without all the things we have now?''
A series of panels from a traveling Lafayette exhibit provides information and context to the artifacts and Lafayette's life.
'It's just enough I think to not overwhelm you with information,' Anderson said.
The 'spirit of 1776'
When Lafayette was invited back to celebrate 50 years of freedom, Monroe hoped Lafayette would inspire the 'spirit of 1776' in American citizens.
'After the American Revolution, we, as a country, invited him to come back and travel the whole country, and there were parades, and there were banquets and all kinds of things, and you can see how excited we were about our history,' Sherretts said. 'I mean, it was a huge deal that the United States was an independent nation for the first time.'
The spirit Monroe referred to is evident in the exhibit at Allegheny.
'What I think is valuable about this exhibit is yes, it exhibits his military life, but it also then talks about his interest and work with anti-slavery and enslaved persons and how he was involved in Europe as far as trying to help with the eradication of slavery,' Anderson added.
The exhibit includes information about a slave that Lafayette worked closely with and then helped to free after the war ended. His passion for human rights is a lesson that all those involved hope visitors learn.
'I think there's very much a spirit of 'we do what needs to be done to help others that need it the most.' For all intents and purposes, Lafayette was living in France, which had its own set of revolutionary activities … and he chose to come over here,' Sherretts said.
'He did so because, in his mind, those ideals were worth not just fighting for, but there were people who needed help, and he had a set of skills that he could help a group in need to do a thing that needed done. And I think that's something that on an every daily basis, all of us could do a bit more.'
Although the exhibit at Allegheny College is tailored to the college and Meadville, there will be another chance to learn about Lafayette's regional impact later in May when the artifacts make their way to the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum.
The Crawford County Historical Society, in partnership with the college, will host a free presentation May 31 in Ford Chapel on campus featuring alumnus Richard Arthur speaking about Lafayette. Then, on June 1, there will be a more in-depth look into Lafayette over a luncheon and tea service featuring a period menu.
'Without some of that history, we don't really understand where we come from,' Sherretts said. 'In an era where we're trying to make sure that we have the context of what's in the news and the context of how we got here, it's a crucial thing to remember or to be reminded of the steps that we, as a people, have taken to get to this point.'
Continuing, he talked about how these events highlight the spirit of unity rather than division: 'We can look at some of these pieces of history that we had a common set of problems that we all had to put our thinking caps on and work together to make a nation.'
YOU CAN GO
From 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Chris Anderson will host a talk and showcase on the 'Lafayette at Allegheny' exhibit on the third floor of the college's Pelletier Library, 555 N. Main St. The exhibit will be open to the public and on display until May 2.
