Ulysses S. Grant Association

Dear Members and Friends of the Ulysses S. Grant Association,

Please join us for the 55th annual meeting of the Ulysses. S. Grant Association, which will be held at the Courtyard Marriott in Starkville and the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University.

Registration for the meeting and for accommodations at the hotel must be taken care of as listed below. Packets for all those who have registered will be available on Sunday, May 6, 2018, 3-5 p.m. at the headquarters hotel. At this time, members will also be able to purchase U.S. Grant merchandise.

The formal program will begin with a cash bar reception at the hotel at 6 p.m. followed by a bus ride and dinner at MSU’s Colvard Student Union. Our dinner speaker will be our own, Frank Williams, USGA president, who will speak on the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana that Frank and Virginia have donated to MSU and is housed in a separate gallery next to the gallery commemorating Ulysses S. Grant.

On Monday, May 7, 2018, the USGA’s exciting program will begin at 8:30 a.m. when we board buses at the hotel to travel to the Grant Presidential library. There we will enjoy a tour of the Frank and Virginia Williams Lincolniana Gallery and Ulysses S. Grant Gallery, led by Justice and Mrs. Williams, John Marszalek, and the USGA staff. We will then have a panel discussion on the planning and construction of our new facility. Members of the panel will include the project architect, the supervisor of construction, Stephen Cunetto, Mitchell Memorial Library coordinator of the project, and Ryan P. Semmes, the project archivist.

For lunch, we will travel by bus to the Veranda, one of Starkville’s finest restaurants and participate in a table-by-table discussion of the new Grant facility.

On Monday afternoon, we will hear a discussion about the childhood and youth of descendants of the famous general and president. Participants will be Ulysses Grant Dietz and other Grant descendants.

From 3 to 4 p.m. in the Mitchell Memorial Library, a panel consisting of John Marszalek, David Nolen, and Louie Gallo will describe the lengthy process that led to the publication of the new edition of the Grant memoirs by Harvard University Press.

At 4:15 p.m., buses will take us back to the headquarters hotel for some down time before the buses take us to the home of MSU President and Mrs. Mark Keenum for a 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. reception. Buses will then take us back to the Mitchell Memorial Library for a catered dinner, the presentation of the John Y. Simon Award, and the dinner speaker, MSU President Mark Keenum, who will speak on “Stephen D. Lee, First MSU President, and the Grant Family.” At the end of the program buses will return everyone to the headquarters hotel.

The following morning, the USGA Board of Directors will meet at 7:15 a.m. and buses will take the Board to the Templeton Room for the annual meeting of the Board of Directors. At 8:45 a.m., buses will bring the membership to the Grisham Room for the annual membership meeting. The annual meeting will adjourn by 10 a.m.

A new feature this year is a post-meeting visit, by bus, to Duffy Neubauer’s Starkville Artillery Museum, one of the nation’s finest such institutions. There Duffy will present a program on U.S. Grant and Civil War Artillery. Buses will return members to the hotel in time for the noon check out.

Those who wish to have a post-meeting lunch and tour the campus and the community will receive information to help plan such a self-guided tour.

INFORMATION ON TRAVEL AND REGISTRATION:

The closest airport is Columbus Mississippi (GTR). Vans will pick up and deliver USGA members from this airport. Other nearby airports are Memphis (MEM) 2 ½ hours away by car, Jackson, Mississippi (JAN) 2 hours away, and Birmingham Alabama (BHM) 3 hours away. Rental cars are available at all these locations. Each member is responsible for his/her own arrangements.

• Early Bird: Through February 1: $250 per member and guest
• Regular: February 1- March 31: $275 per member and guest
• Late: April 1-30: $300 per member and guest
• There will be no registration after April 30

You may also register for the meeting on our website: www.usgrantlibrary.org AND you may pay online with a credit card or PayPal. OR you may send registration information and a check to Rebecca Houston, USGA, P.O. Box 5408, Mississippi State, MS 39762

Refunds will be available — A full refund will apply until March 31, 2018. From April 1 to 15 , 2018, the refund will be one-half the appropriate registration fee. There will be no refunds after April 15, 2018.

Each registrant to the annual meeting must arrange his/her own hotel accommodations. USGA has reserved a block of room at the Courtyard Marriott, just off the MSU campus. A room for two costs $125 plus tax and includes a hot breakfast each morning. To make a room reservation, please call the Courtyard Marriott, 662-338-3116 and be sure to mention the USGA block of rooms. You can also make your room reservation by clicking on this link: Book your group rate for US Grant Assoc Because MSU graduation is taking place on Saturday, May 5, early registration is not covered by the block.

For further information, please feel free to contact Rebecca Houston at 662-325-4552.

Everyone on the USGA staff looks forward to another great meeting.

Cordially,

John F. Marszalek
Executive Director