Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Change Happens Here, Musselman Library, Gettysburg College

Other Exhibits & Events

The posters in this series focus on parts of the Gettysburg College story that have been minimized or neglected altogether in previous histories – particularly with respect to underrepresented groups, issues, and activisms. Based on sometimes incomplete sources, they represent imperfect knowledge and are not comprehensive. They are a beginning, not an ending.

For that reason, we invite your feedback – corrections, additional information, people and events not pictured. We also invite contributions of relevant documents, photos, etc. to the College Archives, or via our digital repository, “What We Did Here: Activism at Gettysburg College.”

The story of …

Analyzing The Interpretation Of The Civil War In Bluegrass Music, Carter W. Claiborne

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

While the Civil War has long fit well thematically within the existing bluegrass idiom, the way that bluegrass has approached the war over time has changed greatly. Despite bluegrass largely originating from areas with little enthusiasm for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the genre not emphasizing partisan aspects of the war for several decades, several cultural changes culminated in the late 1960s to turn the genre on a heavily pro-Confederate tilt, with numerous songs in the early- to-mid 1970s glorifying the Confederate States of America and its leaders, while also emphasizing Lost Cause arguments. To see how this …