The League of Wives Exhibit and An Evening with Heath Lee
2 min.
An Evening with Heath Lee, author of "The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who
Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home" kicks off the Coronado Historical Association's new special exhibit about the wives of Vietnam POWs and their tireless advocacy work.
In partnership with the Dole Institute of Politics, the Coronado Historical Association is presenting a new special exhibit about the wives of Vietnam POWs and their tireless advocacy work. The exhibit opens to the public at the Coronado Museum (1100 Orange Avenue) on Saturday, October 5, 2019. It will be open free to the public seven days a week from 10 am to 4 pm. The League of Wives: Vietnam’s POW/MIA Allies & Advocates tells the story of the military wives who founded the organization that would later become the National League of POW/MIA Families.
In conjunction with the exhibit, CHA is proud to partner with the Coronado Arts Commission and the Coronado Public Library to host Virginia-based historian and 2017 Dole Archives Curatorial Fellow Heath Hardage Lee. Lee curated the exhibit based on her book The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home. Join us for An Evening with Heath Lee, held at the Performing Arts Center at Coronado High School on October 4, 2019. Dr. Dean Nelson will lead a conversation with the author about exploring the powerful stories of POW wives through the book and nationally-traveling museum exhibition.
The evening includes an audience Q & A and author book-signing. Books will be available for purchase. All proceeds underwrite the cost of bringing the exhibit to Coronado.
Heath comes from a museum education and curatorial background, and she has worked at history museums across the country. She holds a B.A. in History with Honors from Davidson College, and an M.A. in French Language and Literature from the University of Virginia. Heath served as the 2017 Robert J. Dole Curatorial Fellow; her exhibition entitled “The League of Wives: Vietnam POW MIA Advocates & Allies,” about Vietnam POW/MIA wives, premiered at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in May of 2017. The exhibition moves to Coronado, California for its third stop, in homage to the primary role played by Sybil Stockdale and other Navy wives in the community, before continuing on its nationwide tour of museum venues across the U.S. Previous stops included the Pioneers Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, Virginia.
Potomac Books, a division of the University of Nebraska Press, published Heath’s prize-winning book, Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause, in 2014. Heath’s new book “The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took On the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home from Vietnam,” about the courageous wives of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action during the Vietnam War, was published by St. Martin’s Press on April 2019. Reese Witherspoon’s film production company Hello Sunshine has optioned the book for a feature film, and Heath will be an executive producer and historical consultant on the project.
Originally from upstate New York, Dani Schwartz has lived in Coronado since 1996. She is happy to call Coronado home and to have raised her children here. In her free time she enjoys reading, exercising, trying new restaurants, and just walking her dog around the "island." Have news to share? Send tips or story ideas to: [email protected]
In partnership with the Dole Institute of Politics, the Coronado Historical Association is presenting a new special exhibit about the wives of Vietnam POWs and their tireless advocacy work. The exhibit opens to the public at the Coronado Museum (1100 Orange Avenue) on Saturday, October 5, 2019. It will be open free to the public seven days a week from 10 am to 4 pm. The League of Wives: Vietnam’s POW/MIA Allies & Advocates tells the story of the military wives who founded the organization that would later become the National League of POW/MIA Families.
