{"id":111371,"date":"2026-10-16T16:53:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/?p=111371"},"modified":"2026-10-20T13:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:26:26","slug":"umw-senior-uncovers-mary-washington-mystery-at-historic-preservation-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/16\/umw-senior-uncovers-mary-washington-mystery-at-historic-preservation-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"UMW Senior Uncovers \u2018Mary Washington Mystery\u2019 at Historic Preservation Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><section class=\"wp-block-umw-hero alignfull umw-custom-block umw-hero umw-hero--dark-text umw-hero--media-float-right umw-hero--white umw-hero--with-no-media umw-hero--with-no-content\"><div class=\"umw-hero__inner\"><div class=\"umw-hero__media\"><\/div><div class=\"umw-hero__title\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"umw-hero__title__wrapper\"><h1 class=\"umw-hero__title__header\">News<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><h2 class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-title\">UMW Senior Uncovers &lsquo;Mary Washington Mystery&rsquo; at Historic Preservation Internship<\/h2><div class=\"wp-block-group umw-news-author-credit is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-10-16T16:53:34-04:00\">October 16, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author-name\">Jill Laiacona<\/div><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Natalie Froustet &rsquo;27 was organizing a portrait collection during her summer internship with Preservation Virginia when she made an amazing discovery. Hidden inside a closet at the John Marshall House in Richmond was a centuries-old painting of Mary Ball Washington.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"111372\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/16\/umw-senior-uncovers-mary-washington-mystery-at-historic-preservation-internship\/img_1939edited\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1500,1999\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"IMG_1939edited\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited-768x1024.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A student wearing a summery dress, smiling and standing next to a brick column with a round plaque next to an iron fence. A historic building is in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-111372\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7500113117053527;width:299px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited-768x1023.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited-1153x1536.jpg 1153w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_1939edited.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Natalie Froustet &rsquo;27, a historic preservation and environmental sciences double major at Mary Washington, made an amazing discovery of a forged painting of Mary Washington during her summer internship through Preservation Virginia. Photo courtesy of Natalie Froustet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or so she thought.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&ldquo;I learned that Mary Washington was never painted during her lifetime, so it was actually a portrait of George Washington&rsquo;s face on his mother&rsquo;s body,&rdquo; said Froustet, a historic preservation and environmental science major and museum studies minor. &ldquo;A relative commissioned the painting so he could sell it to make a lot of money.&rdquo;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Will Glasco, Preservation Virginia&rsquo;s chief executive officer, said the painting is &ldquo;now known to be a forgery, yet it&rsquo;s famous in its own right.&rdquo; In fact, George Washington&rsquo;s Mount Vernon had been searching for it for decades, so he and his colleagues arranged a transfer of the piece, noting that proceeds will help fund future&nbsp;initiatives for their&nbsp;collection. &ldquo;We might not have made such a discovery without our paid interns and the support of the Chrisman Family Foundation.&rdquo;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Froustet&rsquo;s find featured a fake Mary Washington &ndash; the painting was falsely attributed to 18th-century English artist Robert Edge Pine &ndash; she has had numerous real-world learning experiences through UMW&rsquo;s Department of Historic Preservation, one of the nation&rsquo;s top undergraduate programs in the field. She&rsquo;s also grateful for the generous donors who&rsquo;ve supported her education and professional pursuits.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&ldquo;No amount of thanks could be big enough for Chrisman Family Foundation Internship and Preservation Virginia for giving me this opportunity,&rdquo; said Froustet, who also received the Dovetail Cultural Resource Group and Kathleen Myra and Everett Geno Jr. scholarships for historic preservation majors, noting that they helped alleviate the cost of college.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"111373\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/16\/umw-senior-uncovers-mary-washington-mystery-at-historic-preservation-internship\/img_0953edited\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1500,1999\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"IMG_0953edited\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited-768x1024.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A painting of Mary Washington featuring George Washington's face painted on his mother's body.\" class=\"wp-image-111373\" style=\"width:329px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited-768x1023.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited-1153x1536.jpg 1153w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_0953edited.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The painting of Mary Ball Washington that Natalie Froustet discovered at the John Marshall House in Richmond. The portrait, which was falsely attributed to 18th-century artist Robert Edge Pine, was actually of George Washington&rsquo;s face on his mother&rsquo;s body. A Washington relative had it commissioned to make money after her death. Photo courtesy of Natalie Froustet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Froustet, who grew up in Chesterfield County, Virginia, had a passion for the past ever since she was a child, thanks to her grandfather, a Civil War and World War II buff, and her parents, who brought her to museums in Washington, D.C.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&ldquo;I was researching colleges during the pandemic and found UMW&rsquo;s historic preservation program,&rdquo; said Froustet, who was accepted to the University through early decision.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a first-year student, she joined the Presidential Emerging Leaders Program, which prepared her for her current leadership role as a Washington Guide. Last spring, she earned a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/giving.umw.edu\/blog\/2026\/05\/01\/impact-grant-program-boosts-positive-change-across-campus-and-community\/\"><strong>Fund for Mary Washington Impact Grant<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;to help purchase new UMW-branded gear for her fellow guides, who lead campus tours for prospective students and their families.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But she&rsquo;s mostly focused on applying her classroom learning in the field. Associate Professor of Historic Preservation Michael Spencer &rsquo;03 helped her secure a National Park Service internship that gave her insight into historic landscaping. And Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Katherine Parker, director of UMW&rsquo;s Archaeology Lab, inspired her to become an aide there.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Froustet has also worked closely alongside Associate Professor and Center for Historic Preservation Director Christine Henry in fieldwork, learning about digital photography, measuring and creating scaled drawings, and engaging in archival research.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&ldquo;Natalie brought a real curiosity and open-minded exploration of buildings, both as artifacts of the past and as a repository of stories of the people who created, used and transformed these spaces,&rdquo; Henry said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s also the kind of student who naturally helps the group gel together in order to get the work done.&rdquo;<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"111374\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/16\/umw-senior-uncovers-mary-washington-mystery-at-historic-preservation-internship\/img_7133\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-scaled.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"1920,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"1.8\",\"camera\":\"iPhone SE (3rd generation)\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1761324828\",\"focal_length\":\"3.99\",\"iso\":\"25\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.00819672131148\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Natalie Froustet played George Washington in the Department of Historic Preservation&amp;#8217;s annual Ghostwalk last fall and resumes the role this year on Oct. 23 and 24. Photo courtesy of Natalie Froustet. &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-768x1024.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"A student dressed as George Washington leaning against the Masonic building in Fredericksburg.\" class=\"wp-image-111374\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7500054455553378;width:330px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-432x576.jpeg 432w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/10\/IMG_7133-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Natalie Froustet played George Washington in the Department of Historic Preservation&rsquo;s annual Ghostwalk last fall and resumes the role this year on Oct. 23 and 24. Photo courtesy of Natalie Froustet. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Froustet has also begun interdisciplinary research with Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Melanie Szulczewski, studying metal contents in pre- and post-industrial brick buildings in Fredericksburg. They plan to share their findings at the Soil Science Conference in Portland, Oregon, later this year.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s fascinating how much these fields intersect,&rdquo; said Froustet, who is taking U.S. Women&rsquo;s History, Moonshine and American Memory and Introduction to Biological Archaeology this semester. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m considering a career in archaeology, so this is a chance to learn about human bones and remains.&rdquo;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And for fun, she&rsquo;s playing the role of George Washington &ndash; not his mother &ndash; for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umwhispclub\/\"><strong>Historic Preservation Club&rsquo;s<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;annual Ghostwalk student-led tours in downtown Fredericksburg Oct. 23 and 24.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&ldquo;I know that I&rsquo;ll use the skills I learned at UMW and in my internships in whatever future career path I choose,&rdquo; said Froustet, who plans to work before pursuing a master&rsquo;s degree. &ldquo;Mary Washington has already opened so many doors for me.&rdquo;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/giving.umw.edu\/blog\/category\/giving-stories\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/giving.umw.edu\/blog\/category\/giving-stories\/\"><em><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/em><\/a><strong><em> stories about UMW scholarship recipients. <\/em><\/strong><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alumni.umw.edu\/give\/scholarships-student-support\/\"><strong><em>Learn more<\/em><\/strong><\/a><em><strong>&nbsp;about establishing scholarships and how private support makes a difference in the lives of UMW students who receive scholarships, research fellowships and internship grants. Find&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/financialaid\/types\/scholarship-opportunities\/\"><strong><em>scholarship opportunities<\/em><\/strong><\/a><em><strong>&nbsp;that are available to UMW students.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>byNatalie Froustet &rsquo;27 was organizing a portrait collection during her summer internship with Preservation Virginia when she made an amazing discovery. Hidden inside a closet at the John Marshall House in Richmond was a centuries-old painting of Mary Ball Washington.Or so she thought.&ldquo;I learned that Mary Washington was never painted during her lifetime, so it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1236,"featured_media":111406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[704],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-111371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.6 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UMW Senior Uncovers \u2018Mary Washington Mystery\u2019 at Historic Preservation Internship - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/16\/umw-senior-uncovers-mary-washington-mystery-at-historic-preservation-internship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UMW Senior Uncovers \u2018Mary Washington Mystery\u2019 at Historic Preservation Internship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"byNatalie Froustet &rsquo;27 was organizing a portrait collection during her summer internship with Preservation Virginia when she made an amazing discovery. 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