Below is a copy of an EMAIL Flash sent to our members for whom we have an email address. If you are a Delano Kindred member and did not receive this Flash, please go to the "Contact Us" section of this website and provide your name and email address; select "Membership Question" for the Subject. Please include your postal mailing address so we can be sure we're updating the right member profile. And did you know, you do NOT have to be a Delano Kindred member to attend this event, but you do need to register as an attendee. If you would like to become a member, click on the MEMBERSHIP tab above.
Are you ready (and registered) for a VIP experience?
Short of rolling out the red carpet, the National Park Service and the Director of the FDR Library/Museum are going to great lengths to welcome the Delano Kindred 2019 Reunion to Hyde Park, September 10 - 12.
The 75th anniversary special D-Day exhibit opened on Memorial Day weekend and is available only until the end of this year. It has met with huge crowds and much acclaim. We are indeed fortunate to have this opportunity to experience it as a private group. Usually self-led, we will have the privilege of a docent-led tour where we will be able to glean insights from scholars, see unclassified documents, and converse easily sharing our impressions.
We’ll experience the real life and death drama of Operation Overlord: the planning, day-by-day countdown, execution, and aftermath of the liberation that changed the course of history. We’ll see, up close, the actual documents from the correspondence between FDR and Churchill (on loan from Cambridge University in the UK) with notations in their own hands.
This exhibit comes alive with the latest in museum techniques including a mini-theater documentary, interactive kiosks, headsets for audio of speeches, gigantic maps of Allied and Axis strongholds and movements. All told, it will capture all your senses and engage your strategic mind. It will leave you even more profoundly grateful to the Greatest Generation.
Of course, the permanent exhibits (the Great Depression and the New Deal, FDR’s model ship collection, his specially designed car with hand controls, and much more) are always available.
Our visit has been tailored just for the Delano Kindred:
We will be treated to a specially-curated tour of items usually not displayed but of keen interest to the Delano membership:
- Delano artifacts - are being pulled especially for us
- Delano archives - text documents and photographs will be selected for our inspection
- Important oil portraits of Delanos - are being cleaned for our viewing
In addition, we’ll have a private tour of Springwood, the home where FDR was born, where his character was formed, and where he returned on numerous occasions throughout his presidency.
Our Tuesday evening dinner speaker, historian Shannon Butler, has done extensive research on the Delano Family and maintains an online blog called the “Delano Papers Project.” Her talk, “Defending Sara” presents a clear-eyed, research-based profile of FDR’s mother. Myths about Sara, perpetuated by books and movies seeking sales via sensationalism, will be discussed and clarified. Documentation will illuminate how much Sara was, in fact, highly regarded and revered during her lifetime.
Stay tuned for more details . . . but don’t wait to get your registration in, this is one reunion you won’t want to miss!
Click here to view or download complete reunion planning information,
and click here to view or download the Reunion Registration Form.
We hope to see you there!