History 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 …

Ashley Luskey, Assistant Director Of The Civil War Institute, Musselman Library, Ashley Whitehead Luskey

Next Page

In this first Next Page column of the new academic year, Ashley Luskey, Assistant Director of the Civil War Institute, shares which weathered volume she reads each October, her favorite book from her 9th grade English class, and explains her long-time fascination with Varina Davis, wife of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

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.

Common Cause: An Oral History Of The World War Ii Home Front, Devin Mckinney, Michael J. Birkner

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

In excerpts drawn from Musselman Library's Oral History Archive, the World War II years are recalled by dozens of the men and women—adults, teenagers, children—who endured them on the home front. The home front experience was by turns exhilarating, fearsome, depressing, and banal. Some civilians had it relatively easy, while others had it hard. Righteous confidence was offset by looming uncertainty, patriotism was often buttressed by bigotry, and the joys of victory and reunion were shadowed by irreplaceable losses. In this volume, the speech of ordinary citizens in extraordinary times is augmented by abundant illustration, much of it in …

"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 …

Iran: Beyond The Headlines, Musselman Library

Other Exhibits & Events

Poster with Spring 2015 events for Iran: Beyond the Headlines series.

Iran: Beyond the Headlines is a learning series that includes book discussions, film screenings, and lecture designed to help us move past today's headlines and explore the history, art, culture, and everyday life of Iranians. Series events are scheduled for September 2014 - April 2015. All events are free and open to the public.

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]

Iran: Beyond The Headlines, Musselman Library

Other Exhibits & Events

Poster with Fall 2014 events for Iran: Beyond the Headlines series.

Iran: Beyond the Headlines is a learning series that includes book discussions, film screenings, and lecture designed to help us move past today's headlines and explore the history, art, culture, and everyday life of Iranians. Series events are scheduled for September 2014 - April 2015. All events are free and open to the public.

Toeing The Line Between Offense And Education, Natalie S. Sherif

Blogging the Library

Medical history can be gruesome. People shy away from blood and guts and images of death perhaps because it makes us question our own mortality or perhaps because it reminds us a bit too much about the origins of that hamburger we ate for lunch. Whatever the reason, a lot of humans cannot stomach the truly heinous. [excerpt]

Do You Doodle?, Natalie S. Sherif

Blogging the Library

If you were, are, or will become a student, then you have probably thought about doodling during class. Fear not! We are not the only generation to draw in the midst of a lecture. Today’s research escapade led me to investigate George Currier’s notes from his time as a student at the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College. [excerpt]

North And South: Archivists Document Gettysburg’S 150th, Robin Wagner

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Sometimes the best special collections are right in your own backyard. Not the ones that come to you from a retiring professor, local collector, or estate settlement, but the ones that you put together yourself. Rather than sit by and wait for memorabilia related to the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg to come to them, archivists at Gettysburg College took an active role, becoming part of the history they would normally just accept from donors. [excerpt]

A Hypochondriac Investigates The Evolution Of Medicine, Natalie S. Sherif

Blogging the Library

This exhibit will open to the public in February 2014, but until then I have my work cut out for me. I am currently researching various aspects of medical history spanning from the mid-1800s, through the Civil War, to WWI. Thus far I have read accounts of women volunteers during the American Civil War, important changes that went into effect during WWI, and an overly detailed description on how to perform tooth extractions according to the latest science of the 1860s. [excerpt]

Fun With Civil War Sheet Music, Emily A. Francisco

Blogging the Library

One project I haven’t blogged too much about yet is the Civil War Sheet Music exhibit for the Main Floor. Initially, Meggan only asked me to come up with a tentative list of pieces to display from the resources available; now, though, I’m finding myself assigned to the task of organizing, mounting, and labeling the exhibit. It’s a cool assignment, because it’s so different from everything else I’ve been working on this summer. [excerpt]

"Artifacts" Galore!, Emily A. Francisco

Blogging the Library

Back on my first day of training, Meggan told me about a new feature that the Library was in the process of adding to select exhibits. Ever heard of QR codes? Well, through “artiFACTS,” these codes will soon be changing the way Gettysburg students can interact with special items and displays. [excerpt]

Cartoons, Campaigns, And Bottle Caps, Emily A. Francisco

Blogging the Library

I can’t help but wonder what my AP U.S. History teacher, Robert C. Lemire, Jr., would say if he knew I was designing an exhibit on the Election of 1860. I get chills every time I crack open a book from the research stack on my desk; suddenly I can hear his college-style lectures all over again, drilling me about the differences between popular sovereignty and free soil. Who knew that after two years of being out of high school, the old curriculum would find its way back to me? I’ll have to shoot Mr. Lemire an email. [excerpt …