Annual Friends Reception 2010

On Thursday, August 19th members of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society gathered for this year's Friends Reception entitled "A Capitol Evening."  The program took place in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Building's Ketchum Hall and opened with welcoming remarks by the Society's President, former Member of Congress Ron Sarasin.

U.S. Capitol Historical Society President mingles with members Kenneth Hunter-Hall and Charles Campbell during the reception.

Dr. Donald Kennon, Vice President for Scholarship and Education, gave the keynote address and took the audience back in time to the founding of the Society in 1962.

Congressman Fred Schwengel of Iowa, the Society's first President, was a former high school history teacher with a vision for an organization dedicated to preserving the work of Congress and educating the public about the Capitol Building.

Dr. Kennon celebrated the evolution of the Society through the present day, showing off pictures of our former kiosk in the Capitol's former Welcome Center, the Cox Coridors funded by the Society, and the publishing of the first volume of our most widely-distributed publication, "We, the People, the Story of the United States Capitol."

After the reception, all guests were invited to join our tour guides for an exterior tour of the Capitol building led by Chief Guide Steve Livengood.