United States History Commons^™

"...The Way Things Were Back Then": Why Making Excuses For Slavery Doesn't Work, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Presentism. Aside from historical revisionism, it is perhaps the 'epithet' with which the modern historian find themselves branded the most. I've been reading again a series of screeds by Bill Vallante, a Confederate reenactor and SCV member from Commack, NY (thanks to John Hennessy). I've read these pages before, but this time around was struck by the abject vitriol which oozes from the language employed. A line in one piece in particular stood out to me as quite angry:

"Add a heavy dose of presentism (judging or interpreting the past according to the standards of the present), mix thoroughly and …

The Grizzly, March 24, 2011, Katie Callahan, Brett Cohen, Jessica Orbon, Nikhil Popat, Lisa Jobe, Dixon Speaker, Kristen Wampole, Eva Bramesco, Allison Nichols, Sarah Bollert, Traci Johnson, Fran Macera, Anna Larouche, Kyu Chul Shin, Thomas Nucatola, Nick Pane, Sara Hourwitz

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Phi Kappa Sigma Wins Airband 2011 • Music Department Visits Ireland During Spring Break • Students Give Back Through Philadelphia Reads Program • Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky Speaks • "Playing Favorites" with Bobbi Block • UC Community Comes Together to Break Ground for New Stadium • Planned Parenthood No Longer Able to Provide Services • Jamaica Welcomes Bonner Leaders for Spring Break • Junior Jumpstart • Diversity through Film • Theater Review: "Playing Favorites" • Opinions: Japan Equipped to Rebuild after Natural Disaster; Facing Segregation in the 21st Century Through Campus Programs • Women's Lacrosse Looks for Return …

Cuppy, John W. (Sc 1080), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1080. Letter, 19 December 1862, from John W. Cuppy, serving in Bowling Green with an Illinois regiment, to Dr. Samuel Wiley in Earlville, Illinois. Cuppy writes of his illness and describes conditions in Bowling Green, particularly respecting hospitals and patients. He also comments on Confederate sympathies in the city and troop readiness for an attack. Includes a summary of another letter by Cuppy to Wiley dated 19 September 1862 describing his regiment’s activities near Louisville.

Siddens Family Collection (Sc 156), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 156. Allen County, Kentucky tax receipts, 1872-1925 (26), chiefly of the Siddens and Long families; Bowling Green, Kentucky tax receipts, 1910, 1919 (2); Cumberland & Ohio Railroad tax receipts, 1878, 1880 (3); and receipt for coffin, 1899.

Hagerman, Bettie (Robertson), 1867-1926 (Sc 116), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 116. Papers of Bettie Hagerman, Bowling Green, Kentucky, City Food Chairman of the Red Cross of Warren County, Kentucky, which relate to an endeavor to raise $10,000 by combining with the Fair Association and serving food contributed by donors.

Eubank, Frank - Letters To (Sc 115), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 115. Letters to Frank and Nancy Eubank, Temple Hill, Barren County, Kentucky, from various relatives which contain chiefly family news.

Lewis Family Papers (Sc 155), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 155. Memorandum of Waller Lewis, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, itemizing property given periodically to his children and to be taken into account upon division of his estate, 1790-1817; letter written by Sam Hill, Fincastle, Virginia to his wife, Nancy in Henrico County, Virginia, while traveling, 1810.

Reynolds Family Papers (Sc 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 154. Legal documents relating to the Reynolds and Wolford families of Berkeley and Jefferson Counties in Virginia, including land lease, 1777; deeds of trust, 1842; agreements, 1843-1844; deed, 1844; power of attorney, 1853; and promissory notes, 1855. Also includes deed to land in Texas, 1876.

Gingles, Mabel (Mercer), 1891-1970 - Collector (Sc 114), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 114. Chiefly letters written by William Harris to his wife, Louranah Harris, Bowling Green, Kentucky, in which he details his experiences as a California Gold Rush adventurer, 1850-1852 (9 items); other letters describe Texas in 1855 and Civil War activities at Corinth, Mississippi, 1862. Also Bowling Green Home Telephone Company stock certificate, 1913.

Beckwith, Louise (Taylor), 1882-1959 (Sc 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 200. Letter, 10 September 1941, from Louise Beckwith, Pasadena, California, to Camilla Gerard, Bowling Green, Kentucky, relating information about Beckwith's mother, Carrie (Burnam) Taylor, who had a well-known dress-making establishment in Bowling Green from 1878 until her death in 1917. Also includes copy of a 1914 newspaper article about Mrs. Taylor and her business.

Helm, John, 1741-1825 (Sc 199), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 199. Copy of John Helm's appointment as an ensign in the Bedford County, Virginia militia. Signed, 17 November 1775, in Williamsburg, Virginia by members of the Committee of Safety for the Colony of Virginia.

Lincoln, Thomas, 1778-1851 (Sc 198), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 198. Copy of marriage bond issued to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks in Washington County, Kentucky, and the minister’s return of the marriage. Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks are the parents of President Abraham Lincoln.

Wright, George H. (Sc 196), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 196. Oath of allegiance to the United States taken 12 June 1865 by Confederate soldier George H. Wright of McLean County, Kentucky, upon his release from the Union prison at Fort Delaware, Delaware.

Simpson County, Kentucky - Legal Papers, 1820 (Sc 197), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 197. Photocopy and typescript of agreement between Simpson County commissioners and Micajah Clark, Jr., Abraham North, and Micajah Clark, Sr. for the construction of a county clerk's office. The document provides specifications for the building, including location, dimensions, and materials.

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Initial Announcement, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Fox, Henry J., 1812-1899 (Sc 113), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 113. A typed manuscript entitled "Recollections of Henry Fox, Aged 86" that was given orally by Fox, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to friends in 1898 and which chiefly pertains to the history of Bowling Green.

The Rebel Flag: Offputting Symbol Or Point Of Pride?, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

In 2004, Gettysburg College hosted an art exhibit by John Sims, a Florida based artist and ethnomathematician. The exhibit focused on varied recolored versions of the Confederate Flag. The press outrage was quick and damning. I should know, I was quoted in it (in the Civil War News).

Back in 2004, I called the exhibit, "sickening," and condemned the college for, "trying to distance itself from the town by rejecting the Civil War past in which it is steeped." I was wrong. I figured that out no sooner than passing through the doors of the art gallery and viewing …

Long, Juliette Blanche (Underwood) Western, 1835-1909 (Mss 361), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 361. “‘Betwixt,’ or A Story of the War, by a Kentucky Woman,” an unpublished memoir (290 pp.) by Bowling Green native Juliette Blanche (Underwood) Western Long of her experiences during the Civil War. The daughter of a Unionist family, Juliette married a supporter of the South who served in the Confederate Army.

Mcgoodwin, Henry Kerr, 1871-1927 (Sc 153), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 153. Letter to Florence Ragland from Henry Kerr McGoodwin, a Boston, Massachusetts architect and Bowling Green, Kentucky native, praising her and women in general. Includes a manuscript booklet compiled by McGoodwin consisting of verses of published sons with his remarks.

Maddox, Larry (Sc 2429), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2429.  A typed manuscript titled "Walton's Creek Baptist Church" which is a history of that Ohio County, Kentucky church.  Includes footnotes and references.