Off to Bed! Preparing for Sleep in Early America - Where Americans slept, their beds and coverings, sleepwear and bedtime stories between 1750 and 1850 are the topics of an upcoming symposium sponsored by the Fairfax County Park Authority and George Mason University. The program will be presented on Friday, March 17, 2000, at George Mason University. Karin Calvert (National Faculty) surveys the social customs involving sleeping and the bedchamber, Brad Rauschenberg (Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts) traces changing styles in bedstead forms and associated furniture, Kimberly Smith Ivey (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation) explores the covers and hangings that dressed the bedstead, Neville Thompson (Winterthur Museum and Library) reviews popular literature and bedtime reading, and Kristina Haugland (Philadelphia Museum of Art) examines the clothing early Americans wore to bed.

Registrations must be received by March 6, 2000. The registration fee of $45.00 covers all sessions of the symposium, parking and lunch. For information and registration forms write to the Collections Manager, Fairfax County Park Authority, 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 927, Fairfax, Virginia, 22035-1118, phone (703) 631-1429, or fax (703) 378-2535.