The Eastern Shore Public Library
invites you to an evening with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
December 4, 2007
7pm at the Nandua High School Auditorium
No Admission Fee
May Not Be Suitable for Young Children
Guest Speakers
Deb Hull-Waiski, Collections Manager for the Museum of Natural History's Anthropology Department.
Dave Hunt, Ph.D., Physical Forensic Anthropologist, Collections Manager, Division of Physical Anthropology.
William Taylor White was born in 1837 in St. George's Parish and was orphaned in 1843. In 1850, a wealthy woman left a bequest providing for his education at Columbian College where he died in 1852.
In 2005 a utility crew unearthed an iron coffin in the District of Columbia. The coffin, shaped in the style of an Egyptian mummy case, held the remains of a well preserved body. Through the use of census records, obituaries and other public documents as well as DNA testing the young man was identified as William Taylor White of Accomack County.
Many family members of William Taylor White are still alive and living here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Most are unaware of their relationship to White.
Join us for an exciting evening with two of the researchers who worked closely to identify this young man and to locate his family. Listen to how forensic anthropologists and historic archaeologists of the Smithsonian Institute worked to identify the remains and see photos of forensic facial reconstruction done by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
