September 2010 Archives

As part of its commitment to scholarship and educational outreach, Penn State's George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center sponsors internships for undergraduate students at a variety of museums, national parks, and other public history institutions. Through these internships students learn the processes (and the challenges) of preserving historical artifacts and methods of historical interpretation. Today's blog comes to us from Kristen Campbell, a History major at Penn State who interned at Gettysburg National Military Park this past summer. She describes the hard work entailed in conserving century-and-a-half old artifacts for future generations.

 

"What Do You Even Do Down In that Basement?"
My Summer Interning In Museum Services at Gettysburg National Military Park
By Kristen Campbell 

Archives and artifact collections are mysterious places. Buried down in deep basements, these large rooms and expansive shelves form dark and quiet gardens; the eclectic remnants of America's past serve as their curious flowers. The curators of these collections are their gatekeepers. They protect and preserve cherished items. They also add items and foster growth as well as perform a requisite weeding - removing items that do not add to our nation's historical memory. Curators also help share these artifacts, letters, and sites with the public by displaying them in museums, transcribing the contents of manuscripts, and making the gems of the collection publicly available on databases and online exhibits. I spent my summer behind these guarded doors in the collection at Gettysburg National Military Park. The collection is extensive, containing thousands of manuscripts, objects, and even structures. So what do curators do down in these dark realms? At Gettysburg, I was able to try my hand at their job - transcribing letters, cleaning and caring for artifacts, re-organizing and storing artifacts, and even preparing a few for display in the museum.

Conservation

Performing conservation and restoration work on an artifact requires one to be both a chemist and historian. Since Gettysburg does not have these specially trained individuals on site, we send artifacts greatly in need of repair and restoration to the Harper's Ferry Conservation Center, one of the few National Park Service Conservation Centers in the country. During my internship I was able to visit that facility with curator Paul Shevchauk. Thanks to some donations from private citizens, we were able to take the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment Battle Flag in for conservation work. This was quite a task - this particular flag was currently on display in the museum. It is an enormous flag protected in an even larger frame. Since, like most items in our collection, it holds a lot of meaning to a lot of people, we were careful to package it neatly in furniture blankets and soundly secure it in the back of a Uhaul. Graduate schools offer entire courses on how to package artifacts for transport - there are even companies who specialize solely on shipping museum items! However, on the job I learned that experience counts for more than any class one might take. In reality, supplies are limited and you have to use what is on hand. The ideal vehicle is the one you have access to! We had to rent from Uhaul since the Park Service did not own any trucks large enough to transport the flag. The sturdy frame and carefully taped furniture blankets hopefully would protect it in the back of the truck.

Although there were only a few of us, we were able to load up the truck with the heavy frame and drive down to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, which is only about an hour and half away from Gettysburg. Paul, Lynsey (one of the seasonal museum aides), and I had just crossed the state line when all of the sudden, the lights in the Uhaul went out. Then it started making some strange sounds. We crossed a bridge safely and then the alternator went out! By sheer good fortune, Paul was able to drift the truck into the parking lot of a gas station. Here we were, one ranger, one aide, and one intern stranded along a strange highway with a truck full of valuable government property. So we did what anyone in such a situation must do - called Uhaul and had a tow truck sent. We realized however we couldn't send the flag off to some random mechanic, so thankfully our friends at the Conservation Center found another Uhaul and drove to meet us. And in the middle of a gas station parking lot we had to unload the flag from the first truck and onto the second. Fortunately, the tow truck driver was kind enough to help with the heavy lifting. If only he knew the value of what he was moving! Quite a few hours later, we finally made it to the conservation lab. There we unframed the flag and waited to receive the 149th Pennsylvania Flag, which had been cleaned and restored earlier by the conservators. Very, very carefully using a team of people and lots of little white gloves we lifted the restored flag into the museum frame. Using tiny spatulas we combed the fringe out straight and laid little pieces of colored fabric behind the flag to minimize the appearance of holes. We took a break for lunch, and when we returned we picked up our newly restored 150th Pennsylvania flag. We placed it onto a textile roll, a giant padded tube used to store any fabric artifacts, and slid it into a protective tube. Every few years the fabric items on display in the museum are rotated out and different ones put in their place. Since fabric is incredibly sensitive to light, these artifacts must be moved out of museum lighting in order to be preserved for generations to come.

With both the 150th and now the 149th Pennsylvania flags we returned to Gettysburg. The next morning we unloaded, performed similar moving and combing of flags, and then put the old one into storage and the new one on display in the museum!

Rolling the flag onto a textile roll.
A slow, painstaking process to ensure that there are no wrinkles or creases.

Today's blog comes to us from Y'hoshua Murray, one of the organizers of the Pennsylvania Grand Review Project that is celebrating African-Americans' service to the Union during the Civil War. This entry reports on training sessions recently held in Pittsburgh to prepare volunteers for the re-enactment of the Grand Review of the African-American units of the Union armies in Harrisburg this November. Similar training and commemoration sessions will be held throughout Pennsylvania this fall, prior to the re-enactment.

 

Friday September, 17, 2010

The Pennsylvania Grand Review Project is still strong and growing: this week nineteen new cadets were enlisted into the ranks. The new recruits were designated as "Company B," and the veterans designated as "Company A." Men new to the program attend various schools in Pennsylvania such as Shippensburg, Indiana, Millersville, and Cheney Universities. Most of the participants, including staff, made the journey from Harrisburg via chartered bus; the two Pittsburgh natives were at the Holiday Inn located on the University of Pittsburgh's campus, eagerly waiting to greet them. En route to Pittsburgh, the participants watched a classic movie directed by Spike Lee - "School Daze." Once the group checked-in to the hotel, the customary "forum" ensued. Forum is a seminar-style discussion held once a day, either in the morning or evening, when the group meets. Led by Lenwood Sloan (director of the project), it is a time to discuss various themes related to the project. On Friday evening, the forum discussion centered on historical and contemporary representations of African American identity.

After the forum, the group went to an education program hosted by the Senator John Heinz History Center - the largest museum and archive in Western Pennsylvania. The program included two enlightening segments. Professor Veronica Watson, of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, used Chandra Manning's monograph, What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War, to show the audience how to utilize primary sources (specifically journals and letters) for historical research. The group also had a chance to meet Dr. Martin R. Delany (represented by Jeffery Burton, professional living-history interpreter, and a cadet in the PA Grand Review Project). Dr. Delaney was an accomplished physician, editor, activist, and the first African American major in U.S. military history. Professor Channing's presentation will aid the cadets when they do individual research on Pennsylvania's Colored Troops, which is one aspect of the project. Mr. Graham O'Neill, National Archives at Philadelphia, does the majority of the primary research for the PA Grand Review Program. The cadets would be lost without him. Dr. Delany's re-enactment was also informative for the cadets by helping them bring the Colored Troops back to life at the PA Grand Review in November! After the program the group returned to the hotel for the evening.

 

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The marquee event for the day was a visit to the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Museum located in Oakland. John L. Ford, professional historian, lecturer, and Civil Rights activist, hosted us. As a private collector of African and African American artifacts for over forty years, historians have appraised his holdings as the largest such collection in the United States! Prior to creating and maintaining the exhibit at the Soldiers and Sailor Museum, Mr. Ford's career began as the first African American employed by Abrason and Walker Reactionaries in Pittsburgh. He also served as lead curator for several other prominent exhibits in the Pittsburgh area: "Free At Last?: Slavery in Pittsburgh in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries" and "Underground Railroad in Pittsburgh (sponsored by the Heinz History Center and the University of Pittsburgh); and "Slavery in America," sponsored by the Community College of Allegheny County.

The cadets of the PA Grand Review program had the honor to receive a private tour of the exhibit "Slave to Soldier: Transition from Servitude to Service" currently on display at the Soldiers at Sailors Museum. Following the tour Mr. Ford led the group forum which was centered on the components of the exhibit: "Enslavement," "Abolition," "United States Colored Troops," Citizen and Veteran," and "Gettysburg." The dialogue with Mr. Ford allowed the cadets to receive valuable information regarding African Americans' citizenship and service, and to ask questions that will guide them on their road to the PA Grand Review.

 

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Beginning at 8:30 am with "morning song," Sunday proved to be one of the most progressive "training" days for the cadets. Morning song, a daily practice, is when the participants come together and...well...sing! Indeed, during this period of spiritual uplift and brotherly fellowship, the participants sing a number of songs reminiscent of the antebellum period. The songs, each containing a specific historical message, give the cadets an opportunity to become closer with the PA United States Colored Troops by harmonizing together the same way the soldiers did when they were enlisting, training, marching, or mourning the loss of a comrade. More importantly, the art of singing spirituals and coming together to worship are two of the most deeply-rooted themes in the African American experience, dating back to slavery. After singing "Amazing Grace," Mr. Sloan held forum once again. This time, he shared the often forgotten, horrific, and yet ironically miraculous origins of the hymn. The song was composed by an English slave trader, John Newton, from a personal experience. A slave trader who grew up without any particular religious conviction, one night Newton encountered a terrible storm at sea and prayed to God to spare his life. In return, he vowed that he would cease to engage in the African slave trade. Well, Newton survived, and the very next day he wrote "Amazing Grace." Mr. Sloan also discussed historical anecdotes about "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "Shall We Gather at The River." As usual, the cadets engaged in an insightful discussion about the origins of each song and how they underscore themes relevant to the PA Grand Review.

After morning song and forum, Company A and Company B split into different camps to "train" for the remainder of the day. The task for Company A was to fine-tune their lyceum orations. Lyceum is directed by Mr. James Murdoch, historian and member of the Pennsylvania Past Players, and Ms. Nancy Hasting, writer, teacher, playwright, and professional actor. When delivering living-history orations, Mr. Murdoch appears as Richard Sautter, one of the most well-known actors in mid-19^th century America. Mr. Murdoch instructs the participants on public speaking elocution. At the PA Grand Review in November, each cadet will deliver several orations explaining why their soldier has "come back from the past." The cadets can select from themes of liberty, fraternity, community, and equality, or incorporate all of them into their orations. Regardless, the brave men of the United States Colored Troops embodied all of these themes in the years before, during, and after they served in the Civil War. The training for Company B - the new recruits - entailed learning basic marching formations, commands, and protocol. Drill was led by Mr. Joe Becton, who is a scholar, lecturer, and professional living-history interpreter. Once drill was complete for the day, the cadets gathered at the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral Of Learning where Company A delivered orations, and Company B marched for the students and general public. The display was splendid! The cadets of the PA Grand Review have come a long way since they first met in June at Penn State University. Not only have we learned a massive amount of information about the United States Colored Troops, but we have developed bonds among ourselves and with the staff. Our ultimate goal is to make sure that the rich history of the Pennsylvania USCT will not be forgotten, and in November, that we make all of their descendants proud as we march at the PA Grand Review and re-live the lives of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. 

The UNC Press, in partnership with the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State, is launching a new journal that will feature a broad range of scholarship on the Civil War era. The Journal of the Civil War Era will appear in March 2011, and William Blair, Director of the Richards Center, will serve as founding editor. He will be joined by associate editors Judith Giesberg (who will coordinate book reviews), Anthony Kaye, Aaron Sheehan-Dean, and Managing Editor Karen Fisher Younger. The journal will be a gathering place for scholars in various historical disciplines and will feature articles in such fields as political, legal, social, and gender histories of the era. It will examine such subjects as slavery and antislavery, capitalism and labor, race and national memory, gender and more. The journal aims to create consistent dialogue and scholarly interactions among historians in disparate subfields in order to stimulate fresh, new scholarship and, in the words of UNC Press, "galvanize the larger field of nineteenth-century history intellectually and professionally."

In addition to publishing cutting edge scholarship in these fields, the journal also will examine compelling trends in the historical profession. Review essays will assess new developments and shifts in the historiography of the Civil War era, and regular columns on the profession will discuss such topics as trends in the job market, technology's effect on classroom methodologies, and the popular media's treatment of nineteenth century history.

The response to this new venture has been quite positive in the profession, and the journal has been adopted as the official publication of the Society of Civil War Historians. Members of the society receive a subscription to the journal as a benefit of membership.

UNC Press recently announced the contents of the inaugural issue, which includes articles by Melinda Lawson examining representations of slavery in popular culture in the North, by LeeAnn Whites showing that women were integral contributors to Confederate guerrillas' supply lines in Missouri, and a joint article by Edward Ayers and Scott Nesbit utilizing techniques from the field of geography to identify scales of emancipation and map its process and progress in Virginia in 1864. Douglas Egerton also contributes a review essay that asks new questions of Atlantic historiography in the post-colonial era. The inaugural issue concludes with Aaron Sheehan-Dean's note on the U.S. History job market over the first decade of the 2000s.

The Journal of the Civil War Era welcomes suggestions from scholars for future review essays and topics for the Notes column on the History profession today. 

In conjunction with the sesquicentennial observance of the Civil War, there is an ambitious and inspiring program of events underway in Pennsylvania to honor African-American contributions to the Union war effort. This November in Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania Grand Review will re-enact a parade and review of African-American soldiers, which had been organized by the grateful citizens of that city at the close of the Civil War.

One hundred, forty-five years ago, at the conclusion of the Civil War, the victorious Union held a Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, D.C. on May 23-24, 1865. The Grand Review was both a cathartic celebration of the end of a devastating civil war as well as an emphatic demonstration of Union military might. Though this event was designed to pay official respect to the armies that won the war, African-American army units were not invited to participate. Historians estimate that 180,000 African-Americans served in the Union armies during the war, and tens of thousands more served in the Union navy. Their service was vital to Union success, yet they were pointedly snubbed in the Grand Review.

African-American citizens in the city of Harrisburg were incensed by the exclusion of black soldiers from the Grand Review, and they sought to rectify this insult by inviting African-American veterans to participate in their own Grand Review and parade in Pennsylvania's capital city in November 1865. From November 5-7 of this year, a re-enactment of the military encampment, review and parade will take place in Harrisburg. The review will cap an ongoing series of educational and cultural events held throughout this year that have been shedding light on African-American experiences in Pennsylvania during the Civil War. Institutions including Dickinson College, group of scholars, descendants of United States Colored Troops veterans, historical re-enactors and interpreters, and others have been participating in educational and commemorative events throughout Pennsylvania. One particularly important part of this year-long commemoration have been volunteer conservation efforts to locate and maintain cemeteries where Pennsylvania's African-American Civil War veterans are buried. You can find updates on these commemorative events through the Grand Review's dedicated Facebook page (every historical project should have one).

Many thanks to Lenwood Sloan, Director of cultural and heritage tourism at the Department of Community and Economic Development in Harrisburg and to Y'hoshua Murray of Edinboro University for generously sharing the details of these events with us.

For more information about the various events celebrating the Grand Review, click on the pdf links below:

GrandReview Brochure.pdf

AmericanHeritageMagazine.pdf

The recent excavation of a mass grave of Irish railroad workers at a site known as Duffy's Cut in Malvern, Pennsylvania is shedding light on the prejudice, fear, and violence that these immigrants faced in the United States in the early nineteenth century. Duffy's Cut holds a mass grave of 57 Irish laborers, whose deaths in August of 1832 had been attributed to a cholera outbreak.

Immaculata University is spearheading the Duffy's Cut Project to excavate and archive the historical evidence of a possible massacre of these workers. The project website includes links to interviews with project leaders, news coverage of the excavation, and details of a two-day seminar on The Legend of Duffy's Cut scheduled for October.

Drs. William and Frank Watson have been overseeing the excavation of the site, and have recovered partial skeletal remains of at least seven people. Evidence of skull fractures and possible bullet wounds on some of the remains suggest that several of these laborers were the victims of violence. Indeed, since all of the workers had arrived in the United States from Derry in County Cork, Ireland on 23 June1832, it is highly unlikely that they all would have died from cholera a mere eight weeks later.

Students of the Civil War Era generally are very familiar with the explosion of violence against immigrants, particularly in the northern states, in the late 1830s and 1840s. In Pennsylvania, the apparent murders of these Irish immigrants have long been overshadowed by the infamous Philadelphia nativist riots of May and July 1844. Those riots have been attributed to rising anti-Catholic prejudice of native-born Protestants and laborers' fears of potential economic competition from new migrants. The Duffy's Cut excavation reminds us that nativist tension and violence had a long history in the antebellum North. Whereas many histories of antebellum nativist violence emphasize economic crises as contributive factors, this archeological find also reminds us that a broader range of perceived threats to the community, including disease epidemics, similarly stoked violent reactions against the country's typically impecunious Catholic, Irish immigrants in this era.

Thanks to Kevin Levin at Civil War Memory for spotting this incredible video. Shockingly, there are no black (neo-)Confederates to be found among the campers in this video.