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Iris de Rose
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Contact: Karen Sloat-Olsen, 973-699-8245
Morristown National Historical Park NewsRelease Date: Immediately
Contact: Karen Sloat-Olsen, Chief of Interpretation and Education
karen_sloat-olsen@nps.gov
August 27: Dr. Iris De Rode presents Forging the French-American Alliance in Morristown, New Jersey
Free Admission
Morristown, NJ – Morristown National Historical Park (NHP) continues to celebrate its 90th anniversary as the nation’s first National Historical Park with a special program scheduled for Sunday, August 27.
Mark your calendars for:
Sunday, August 27 at 1:00 p.m. – Forging the French-American Alliance in Morristown, New Jersey
Dr. Iris de Rode is a Dutch historian who specializes in the French participation in the American Revolution. Her presentation will uncover unknown details on French-American cooperation during the last stages of the American Revolution, with an emphasis on Morristown, New Jersey as a key location for the French-American alliance.
In April 1780, General George Washington hosted at his headquarters in Morristown the French ambassador Chevalier de La Luzerne. There, La Luzerne informed Washington that the France’s King Louis XVI planned to send an army to fight the British with him.
Throughout the next months, four French noblemen, La Luzerne, the Marquis de Lafayette, the Chevalier de Chastellux and the Comte de Vioménil, collaborated with George Washington and his staff, and together they won the 1781 Battle of Yorktown.
Dr. de Rode’s program will concentrate on this collaboration, drawing on unknown source material and emphasize the unappreciated roles of La Luzerne, Chastellux, and Vioménil, all of whom visited Morristown at different times during their stay in America.
*Location: Washington’s Headquarters Museum, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, New Jersey. Seating limited, first-come, first-served.
Free Admission
For a complete list of Morristown NHP’s 90th Anniversary events, see: https://www.nps.gov/morr/planyourvisit/90th-anniversary-calendar-of-events.htm
For more information about Morristown National Historical Park, please visit our website at https://www.nps.gov/morr/index.htm.
Iris de Rode, PhD
Iris de Rode received her doctorate from the Université de Paris VIII in 2019. She is currently working on her book "Military Enlightenment on the Ground" to be published by the University of Virginia Press in 2024. Dr. de Rode has received 18 fellowships for her work, including from George Washington's Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, the Society of the Cincinnati, and the American Philosophical Society. Since 2013 she has taught American and Transatlantic history at SciencesPo Paris. Dr. de Rode is also working on public history initiatives with the National Park Service, the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, the Philadelphia Museum of the American Revolution, and George Washington's Mount Vernon and the French embassy in Washington DC. She is the US committee member of “America 2026”. Dr. de Rode recently obtained the prestigious Prix Guizot of the Académie Française for her book on Chastellux.
Last updated: August 18, 2023