Numerous people have written about this building, suggesting that we need to be careful to preserve and respect its history. To evaluate that claim, it would be useful to know just what its history *is*. Absent that information, the best we can do is to make assumptions. But when we argue from unfounded assumptions, we enter into a rather detached realm of conjecture. Its an easy move, and one made by various participants in this conversation, to begin with assumptions, and then to wind up treating those assumptions as gospel truth later in the discussion. Does anyone know the history of Wren Chapel? Can anyone summarize it for the rest of us? Until we have an answer to this fundamental question, we simply are in no position to evaluate the suggestion that we should honor the building's history. All best, Kevin Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D. Department of History James Madison University To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html