Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Unlocking Rosenberger's Research, Victoria N. Ramsay

Student Publications

Homer Rosenberger's unprocessed collection lies in Musselman Library's Special Collections--a multitude of boxes filled with Pennsylvania research and memorabilia. By examining the first box in the collection, it becomes clear that Rosenberger was more than just an avid researcher, but also a man with his own history and reasons for collecting these documents in the first place.

Friends Of Musselman Library Newsletter Fall 2021 - Special Supplement, Musselman Library

Friends of Musselman Library Newsletter

What’s Special about Special Collections? (Robin Wagner)

Rare Books: Cooper Fund Supports First Editions (Carolyn Sautter)

Manuscripts and Letters: Letter-Writing Seminar Draws from Many Eras (Magdalena Sánchez)

Almanacs: Colonial America Comes Alive with Poor Richard’s (Timothy Shannon)

Maps: Geography Sparks Discussion

Asian Art: Students Get Hands-on Curatorial Experience

Photographs: Photographs Transport Students to Another Time (Shannon Egan)

Posters: Wartime Attitudes Revealed through Propaganda Posters (Jill Titus)

Artifacts: Monsters Break the Ice

• Policing the Boundaries of the Possible (Mercedes Valmisa Oviedo)

Bookmaking: Old Technology Blends with Digital Humanities

Conservation: Pennsylvania College Class of 1854 Gets a Facelift (Mary Wootton)

Looking Ahead To The 2018 Pohanka Internship Program, Ryan Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

This summer, 21 Gettysburg College students will head to the front lines of public history through the Brian C. Pohanka Internship Program. From Andersonville National Historic Site to Minute Man National Historical Park, these interns will carry forward the legacy of the late Brian C. Pohanka, while also developing their own skills in the field of public history. Brian Pohanka was an avid student of the Civil War who shared his love of the past through presenting and reenacting, as some of the interns who bear his name will do this summer. They will work at some of the sites …

Special Collections And Student Curators: Public History Through Primary Sources, Carolyn Sautter

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Musselman Library's Special Collections and College Archives at Gettysburg College has worked with over 70 student curators on art gallery exhibitions and public history exhibits. These curatorial experiences provide hands-on interactions with artifacts and artworks and high-impact collaborations among students, interns, archivists, librarians, historians, digital projects specialists, gallery directors, conservators, and preparators. The final result is often breathtaking and always informative. This presentation discusses practical recommendations and workflows for well timed, well researched, and effectively installed student curated exhibits.

Provocation Through Accessibility At Special Collections At Musselman Library, Chloe Parrella

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Gettysburg College Special Collections is a place where the worlds of archiving, preservation, and interpretation intersect. In the climate-controlled stacks, shelves lined with volume after volume attest to the centuries of history that the college has witnessed. It is the role of the current staff and interns to disseminate the seemingly infinite artifacts, manuscripts, and other primary sources that come through the door to those who travel to Special Collections to learn, discover, and enrich themselves. As Freeman Tilden wrote, “Information, as such, is not interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based upon information”. However, interpretation is not something that should be …

A Beacon Of Hope: Contraband Camps, Harpers Ferry, And John Brown, Alexandria J. Andrioli

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Stereoviews were created by using a twin-lens camera that captured the same subject from two slightly different angles. The photographer then placed the two images on a stereoview card that could be inserted into a special viewer that merged the two images together and created a life-like, three-dimensional image. Stereoviews’ low cost meant they were an inexpensive way to insert one’s self into realistic three-dimensional scenes like the pictured contraband camp.

Marching In Step: Usct Veterans And The Grand Army Of The Republic, Ryan Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

For many United States Colored Troops, remembering the Civil War and their comrades who fell in it became an important part of their post-war life. One of the primary opportunities for public expression of remembrance was Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day. African Americans played a critical part in the creation of this holiday. On May 1, 1865, the newly-freed black residents of Charleston asserted their place in Civil War memory by leading a parade to a recently constructed cemetery for Union prisoners at the city’s horseracing course. The procession heaped flowers upon the graves of the honored dead, …

Black Servicemen On The Seas: African Americans In The Union Navy, Hannah M. Christensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

When the Civil War began, the United States Navy’s Atlantic Squadron, commanded by Commodore Silas H. Stringham, sought to blockade the entire Eastern Seaboard of the Confederacy. It faced two major problems: a shortage of manpower and an abundance of fugitive slaves flocking to the Union fleet. The commander of one vessel, Commander O.S. Glisson, had fifteen refugees on his ship, none of whom he intended to return to their owners. Glisson wrote to Commodore Stringham asking for advice, and Stringham wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles with an idea. Arguing that “if Negroes are to be used …

A Gun With A Story: Waller Patton’S Civil War Pistol, Laurel J. Wilson

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Musselman Library Special Collections is home to a wide variety of artifacts, including a rather impressive number of Civil War era items. One Civil War artifact, the Patton Pistol, stands out from the rest by virtue of the story attached to it. The 1861 Navy Colt revolver originally belonged to Waller Tazewell Patton, who was the great uncle of General George S. Patton Jr. of WWII fame.

All For Honor: Officer Responses To The Mcconaughy Letters, Olivia J. Ortman

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

In Special Collections here at Gettysburg College is a compilation of letters by Civil War officers responding to an invitation to attend the very first reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg. The reunion was initiated by David McConaughy–a lawyer in Adams County, PA who had organized a group of local men to fight for the Union during the war–and was meant to be a time for the officers who had fought here to come together and walk the battlefield. On this walk, they would point out the locations their troops had occupied during the fight so that McConaughy and his …

Serving The Public First: Archives 2.0, Matthew D. Laroche

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The hallmarks of contemporary archival philosophy, known casually as “Archives 2.0,” have everything to do with making archives open, attractive resources for researchers of all persuasions. These rotate around a few main assertions. First, that archivists should endeavor to make their repositories as attractive as possible to users—this means offering friendly, all-inclusive access, being responsive to user desires, being tech-savvy, and leaving some discovery and processing of collections to the researcher. Secondly, modern archiving stresses accessibility—having a standardized way of organizing collections that will be easily understood by visiting researchers, utilizing language familiar to average people for finding aides, and …

"Let Us Cross Over The River And Rest Under The Shade Of The Trees,": My Final Post For The Summer, Steven J. Semmel

Blogging the Library

As the summer comes to a close, the more I think about my experiences here at Special Collections. This internship was completely different compared to my past internships, going from giving tours to creating finding aids for collections. I lived a Civil War Era Studies student’s dream, being able to handle a wide range of artifacts and documents while helping preserve them at the same time. The Hosford Collection has portions of it digitized on GettDigital and I am currently working on reorganizing and editing the Civil War Vertical File Manuscript. The Hosford Collection helped me establish my understanding of …

Faces Of The Civil War, Steven J. Semmel

Blogging the Library

As the internship enters its final month of the summer, I’ve been processing and looking at various Civil War collections. This era in history is well known for the bloody conflicts that separated the nation. However, not much is known about most individuals that fought in different regiments across the country, or even what they looked like. Special Collections is home to a few faces that at Gettysburg, out West, prisoners at Andersonville, or stationed in places like Florida. The collections I have recently processed included photos of those soldiers at different stages in their life. [excerpt]

Greetings From The Civil War Intern!, Steven J. Semmel

Blogging the Library

Hello everyone! I would like to welcome you to Musselman Library’s intern blog. I’m Steven Semmel (the big goofy guy at the bottom of the current intern’s section) and I am the Brian C. Pohanka Civil War Institute intern at Special Collections for the summer of 2015. I will primarily be working with anything that deals with the Civil War in Special Collections. This includes diary transcriptions, digitizing, cataloging, creating displays, you name it! I am having a wonderful time so far this summer and currently working on transcribing three years’ worth of diary entries from Hoadley G. Hosford. Hosford …

Last Post, Abby M. Rolland

Blogging the Library

I cannot believe this is my last week working in Special Collections and there are less than three weeks until graduation. My time up here has gone by so fast and I’m sad it’s coming to an end! I’ve made a lot of progress and learned a lot as well. [excerpt]

The Final Week!, Melanie L. Fernandes

Blogging the Library

I can’t believe that this upcoming week will be my last as a Fortenbaugh intern! While I am sad that this semester is coming to a close, I am also very aware of all I have left to complete. Abby and I have made great progress with our display. The creative process has been really rewarding for both of us, and I know that I personally have really enjoyed doing this as a partner project. We worked together to decide which fabric backdrop to use and we’re having a lot of fun moving the objects around to see where they …

Artifacts As Ambassadors: Sharing Special Collections Through Collaboration With Student Curators, Carolyn Sautter

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Special Collections and College Archives at Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, regularly collaborates with various academic departments to conduct class visits utilizing the primary sources in Special Collections Reading Room. In the last two years, some of these opportunity have grown into semester long student curation experiences both inside Special Collections and in collaboration with Schmucker Art Gallery at Gettysburg College.

The exhibits discussed included:

Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African American Artifacts of the Civil War Era

Slow to Heal: The Evolution of Medicine from the Civil War Era to WWI

Owl & Nightingale Players, 1914-2014: One Hundred Years of Drama

Art …

Introducing Fortenbaugh Intern Abby, Abby M. Rolland

Blogging the Library

Hi I’m Abby – the last of three Fortenbaugh Interns to post! I am a senior with a History major and Political Science and Anthropology minors and I hail from Kokomo, Indiana. I am so excited to be working in Special Collections – I love working with history first-hand! Here’s a brief write-up of what I have completed so far in my time on the 4th Floor. [excerpt]