Claire Bellerjeau is the co-author of “Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth”, published in May of 2021. In 2022 she co-founded a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called Remember Liss, with the mission to educate the community about Liss’s extraordinary life and times. Though the non-profit she co-authored and published a student version of Liss’s story, titled “Remember Liss” in March 2023. Bellerjeau formerly served as Historian and Director of Education at Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, New York, where Liss was once enslaved. She has been researching the Townsend family and those they enslaved for over twenty years.

Scott Dwyer the Executive Director of Sons of the RevolutionSM in the State of New York and its Fraunces Tavern® Museum. Prior to joining the Museum in 2020, he was a relationship manager with Cohen & Steers and a product marketing associate and RFP writer with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Scott also held leadership positions with multiple organizations including the NYU Alumni Association, 6th & B Community Garden, and The Present Theatre Company, producer of FringeNYC. He has a BS in Business Administration from NYU Stern.

Lisa Goulet oversees the care and display of Fraunces Tavern Museum’s 8,000-plus piece collection. She conducts research on objects in the permanent collection; writes, designs, and prepares displays for exhibitions; and facilitates donations, loans, and image and research requests. Born in Canada, she holds a BA in Visual Arts from Brock University where she studied art history, drawing, and photography. She also holds an MA in Museum Studies from New York University. Prior to Fraunces Tavern Museum, Lisa worked at the Climate Museum and Richard Avedon Foundation.

Peter Hein is a Past President of Sons of the RevolutionSM in the State of New York, Inc., owner and operator of Fraunces Tavern® Museum. Mr. Hein worked closely with SRNY Museum & Art Committee Co-Chairmen Ambrose Richardson and Craig Weaver, Scott Dwyer, Executive Director of SRNY and its Fraunces Tavern® Museum, and Lisa Goulet, Collections Manager of Fraunces Tavern Museum, in the research for and development of the Museum’s latest special exhibition, “Path to Liberty: The Emergence of a Nation”. Mr. Hein is also the Secretary and a member of the Board of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association, among other affiliations. Mr Hein grew up in Wisconsin, but has resided in Manhattan for over 50 years. He received his J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law and a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Seth Kaller is a leading expert in buying, selling, authenticating, and appraising rare historic documents and artifacts. Kaller has built museum quality collections for individuals and institutions, as well as legacy collections for philanthropists to donate. He has handled important manuscripts, documents and rare books relating to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution; leaves from George Washington’s draft of his inaugural address; Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” manuscript and signed copies of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation; and Robert E. Lee’s farewell to his troops.

Charles Schwam works as an account executive and runs day-to-day activities for a non-profit association simultaneously. Chuck, as he is known, came to the greater Washington DC area from Philadelphia to attend American University in 1978 to study sports journalism. Shortly thereafter, he found his skills better suited as an account executive instead of a broadcaster. For over forty years, he has been the leader in his industry, managing national and local accounts while maintaining the top position in sales and new business. Chuck’s unwavering passion for both his professional career and his work with The American Friends of Lafayette has been a driving force in the organization’s transformation.

Lloyd Kramer is a Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where his research and teaching have focused on modern France and the wider Atlantic world. He earlier served as an assistant editor with Stanley Idzerda for a volume of Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, and his other publications include Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions

George Bruton-Delaney, a descendant of James Lafayette, is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with more than 25 years of leadership in information technology, healthcare operations, emergency medicine, and humanitarian service. He began his military journey in the elite Air Force Presidential Honor Guard and as a Pentagon Tour Guide. He rose through the ranks to serve as Chief Technology Officer for the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency. Today, he continues his mission in the civilian world, having served as Chief Technologist, Chief Architect, and Program Manager at Peraton, where he supports Defense Health and Operational Medicine IT modernization initiatives. George is a lifelong learner and aspiring pilot who holds a broad portfolio of certifications and continues his academic journey in technology management.

Moses L. Delaney, a descendant of James Lafayette, is a U.S. Air Force veteran with over 19 years’ experience in Higher Education. After spending four years serving at the U.S. Air Force’s War College. Moses served abroad, including a deployment to Al Jabar Airbase, Kuwait. He has served as the College President of various vocational institutions in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia. Moses believes a commitment to furthering one’s education can lead to a life of rewarding service and purpose. Leading by example, he has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, a Master of Education degree, and he is in pursuit of a Doctor of Education degree.

Louise M. Joy is a Texas attorney with experience in health law, focusing on regulatory, licensing, and administrative matters. Louise has been Board Certified in Administrative Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1995. Before entering law, she earned her Masters in Health Administration and worked in hospital administration. She represents healthcare clients in state and federal administrative proceedings, drawing from her unique background combining hospital administration experience with legal expertise. Her experience with administrative law informs her interest in legal history, including the laws during the American Revolution.

Alan R. Hoffman “discovered” Lafayette in 2002 and spent two years – 2003 to 2005 – translating Auguste Levasseur’s Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825, the first-hand account of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America written by his private secretary. This translation is in its fourth printing. Hoffman has lectured widely on Lafayette – over 260 talks – and has spoken in each of the 24 states (and Washington DC) which Lafayette visited during the Farewell Tour. His scholarly articles about Lafayette include “The Marquis de Lafayette in Savannah” (sidebar) in Slavery and Freedom in Savannah (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2014), Leslie M. Harris and Daina Ramey Berry, editors, and “Lafayette’s Anti-Slavery Lament, Revisited,” in the Gazette of the American Friends of Lafayette, No. 96, May 2022, p. 121. Hoffman has also co-produced and was the principal author of virtual travelogues covering Lafayette’s Farewell Tour visits to four states: New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and New Hampshire (with TravelStorysGPS). He has been designated a scholar in the New Hampshire Humanities Council’s “Humanities to Go” program.

Richard Sylla is a Professor Emeritus of Economics and the former Henry Kaufman Professor of the History of Financial Institutions and Markets at New York University Stern School of Business. His primary areas of research include historical studies of money, banking, and finance. He is the author of several books, including The American Capital Market and A History of Interest Rates. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Journal of Economic History, Explorations in Economic History, Business History Review, and Enterprise & Society. He is also on the editorial board of many journals that include the Financial History Review, Enterprise and Society, and Economic and Financial History Abstracts. Professor Sylla has also been the recipient of several awards and grants including National Science Foundation grants, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant and the Citibank Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Stern School. He served as President of the Economic History Association and the Business History Conference, and is the Past Chairman of the Museum of American Finance. He is a Fellow of the Cliometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining Stern, Professor Sylla taught at North Carolina State and the University of Pennsylvania among others. Professor Sylla received his bachelor of arts from Harvard University before studying at the Indian Statistical Institute at Calcutta. He then received both his Master of Arts and his PhD from Harvard University.

1700’s Symposium : The Path to Liberty