Cultural History Commons^™

America's Pastime: Base Ball's Battlefields, John M. Rudy

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

Somewhere in a field just north of the Pennsylvania College campus, a hurler threw a ball to a striker. The air was undoubtedly crisp. Novembers in Gettysburg can be cool. The local papers were already predicting that the winter of 1865-66 would come on early and bitter. Standing on the bases, men readied to run home and score another point for their team. [excerpt]

The Grizzly, October 3, 2013, Sabrina Mcgettigan, Bethany Mitchell, Nicholas Dimuzio, Dom Roher, Shawn Hartigan, Vivek Reddy, Adebayo Adeyemo, Derrick Falletta, Olivia Z. Schultz, Briana Mullan, Mary Deliberti, Briana Keane, Brandon Patterson, Deana Harley

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Strategic Plan Update • Ursinus President Fong Discusses Liberal Arts Education in China • Ursinus Students Visit New York City • Upsilon Phi Delta Pledging Plans • Astronomer Speaks • U-Innovate Winners Announced • Psych Professor Joins Campus • Ursinus Mass Email Policy Explained • Opinion: Don't Get Sold on Multi-Level Marketing; Yes, Going to College is Definitely Worth it • UC Athletes Handle a Heavy Workload • Dalrymple Completes Impressive UC Career • Football and Field Hockey Keep Rolling

Echoes On The Gettysburg Battlefield, John M. Rudy

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

Back at the beginning of the summer, I was asked by the College to write a piece on the history of the battle and its many resonances for what turned out to be an obscure periodical and not the actual USA Today. That means next to no one got the chance to read the piece, which I was quite happy with. So I wanted to share that piece with all of you.

How does Gettysburg's unique history echo backwards and forwards? [excerpt]

Lincoln And Liberty, Too, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty,” Abraham Lincoln said in 1864. And surely, from Lincoln of all people, that statement must come as a surprise, and for two reasons. In the first place, no one in American history might be said to have been a more shining example of liberty than Abraham Lincoln. Not only had he exercised liberty to its fullest extent, rising from poverty and obscurity to become the 16th president of the United States, but in the process he became the Great Emancipator of over three million slaves, and if anyone …

1 1/2 Years In Death Valley, Louis T. Gentilucci

Student Publications

This paper is an exploration into the historian as an independent source of history. Homer T. Rosenberger was an amateur historian in Pennsylvania during the better part of the 20th century. His works on Pennsylvania history, early American history, and contemporary historical events are valuable, if unknown, resources in those fields. However, Rosenberger becomes his own source of history when his battle with cancer is examined in the context of the American 1950's. Rosenberger's reactions to his plight help illustrate the mindset American brought to cancer in the 1950's and the transition in American society since then.

The Grizzly, September 26, 2013, Sabrina Mcgettigan, Mary Deliberti, Briana Mullan, Deana Harley, Amanda Frekot, Vivek Reddy, Shawn Hartigan, Olivia Z. Schultz, Jordan Ostrum, Adebayo Adeyemo, Briana Keane, Atticus Graven, Bethany Mitchell, Austin Fox, David Rogers

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Courtyard Pilot Program Extended • "Much Ado" About UC Drama • Extern Program • Marks Discusses Online Education • Live Music at Reimert • Community Yard Sale This Weekend • New Film Professor Joins the Campus • Enactus Prepares for a New Year • Opinion: Make the Most of Your Ursinus Years; School Spirit Should Extend Beyond Campus • Senior Spotlight: Jenna Stover • Topic of Injuries Overshadowing Football Season • Family Day Roundup

Ngram 150th: Race, Sex And Big Data, John M. Rudy

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

Data is powerful in the right hands. Aggregate data is even more powerful. And Google is data.

One of the odder tools in the Google arsenal is the Ngram viewer a search engine which charts trends within the folds of Google Books' database. Punch in anything. I mean it. Try anything in the Ngram search engine and start falling down the historical trends rabbit hole. [excerpt]

Things Never Change: Piecing Together College Life, John M. Rudy

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

Sometimes you stumble on something on eBay you just can't pass up. It's that $6 buy that is awkward, odd and just a little out of your scope. But it's only $6. If you'd buy a burger for $6, you shouldn't pass up an original letter from 1835.

Every letter has a story. And each of those stories has its own drama, its own meaning, its own power. The mundanities of human life can be just as powerful as the battles and charges. [excerpt]

The Grizzly, September 19, 2013, Sabrina Mcgettigan, Briana Mullan, Mary Deliberti, James Wilson, Vivek Reddy, Brandon Patterson, Nicholas Dimuzio, Deana Harley, Shawn Hartigan, Briana Keane, Gerald Merle Gares, Bethany Mitchell, Derrick Falletta, David Rogers

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

New UC Faculty Members' Plans • Sustainability Week at UC • Ursinus Image Beyond Campus • Tuition Based on Other Colleges' Numbers • Honored Professor • Family Day Brings Food, Fun • Student Groups Spread School Spirit • Opinion: Ursinus Needs a Practical Living Course; Community Service Belongs in the Curriculum • Olympics 2020: Tokyo Wins Bid Over Istanbul • Athletic Communications Promotes UC Athletes • Football, Field Hockey, Men's Soccer Take Home Wins

The Grizzly, September 12, 2013, Sabrina Mcgettigan, Olivia Z. Schultz, Briana Keane, Amanda Frekot, Derrick Falletta, Dana Feigenbaum, Vivek Reddy, Briana Mullan, Dave Muoio, Bethany Mitchell, Mary Deliberti, Brian A. Kennedy, Jordan Breslow, James Wilson, Kevin Medina, Adebayo Adeyemo, Shawn Hartigan

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Reimert Arrest • USGA Leadership Retreat • Construction in Thomas and Pfahler • Ursinus Site Undergoes Update • 14th Annual Fringe Festival • New Pitch Program Rewards Creativity • Policy Changes a Result of Student Demand • Opinion: Chemical Attacks Need International Response; We Should Stay Out of Syria • UC's Open Laptops • Volleyball Counting on Newcomers This Season • Athletic Training Room Source of Aid and Knowledge • Men's Soccer Looking to Improve • More Shots a Priority for Bears

Shaw's Backside: The Other Side Of An Icon, John M. Rudy

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

This week I find myself in Boston, one of the couple of American cities which call themselves the cradle of liberty. But I'm not drawn like a moth to the Revolution. It's just not my bean.

Instead, I find myself in the awkward position of standing at a visitor desk and asking a park ranger what will interest a Civil War geek in a Revolutionary-bent city. That dog don't hunt so well. [excerpt]

The Grizzly, September 5, 2013, Sabrina Mcgettigan, Deana Harley, Briana Keane, Derrick Falletta, Vivek Reddy, Briana Mullan, Rachel Brown, Nicholas Dimuzio, Bethany Mitchell, David Rogers, Kara Bowen, Adebayo Adeyemo, Dom Roher, Shawn Hartigan

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

New Policy Changes • Social Host to Event Director • Printing with Bear Bucks • Grizzly Launches Web Redesign • Farmers Market Location Changes • Community Service • Travel Blog Preview • Ursinus Alumni Return for Work • Opinion: Smart Phone Addiction Can Harm Our Social Lives; North and New Need Single Sex Hall Options Too • Code of Conduct for Athletes Now an Official Contract • Football Preview: Experienced Bears Major Asset • Field Hockey Looks to Regain Conference Dominance

The Rest Of The Dream, Julian Maxwell Hayter

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

I was born roughly 12 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. My generation, raised on the first wave of hip-hop music and odes to Malcolm X, was angry with King. We thought his overtures to interracial cooperation were a mid-20th-century brand of "Uncle Tom-ing," what my mother's generation called "shuffling." We found it difficult to reconcile King's dream with the rise of crack cocaine, urban blight and black incarceration.

Many of my childhood friends parlayed that anger into prison, gang life, absentee fatherhood, and what Iceberg Slim called the "poison of street …

Plunge Into Shonash Ravine: Thinking 4th Dimensionally In Interpretation, John M. Rudy

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

This piece was written for NAI's annual workshop this coming fall, but not everyone will have the chance to be in Reno to hear my presentation come November. So, why not give you a sneak peak of what I'm planning on discussing in Nevada? [excerpt]

Child's Play: War, Toys And Avoiding The Trivial, John M. Rudy

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

This past weekend, I let my two hobbies combine. I spend a good chunk of my spare time doing incessant, weird and wild historical research. If you've read along on the blog for any appreciable time, you know the odd corners I've turned finding peculiar and striking stories both here in Gettysburg and beyond.

But I have another hobby.

I am an Adult Fan of LEGO. [excerpt]

“Maintaining Mythic Property”: The Lost History Of Louis Allard And His Grave In New Orleans City Park, Kimberly H. Jochum

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom: The Easy Sesquicentennial Ends, John M. Rudy

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

There's been a good deal of digital ink spilled recently over whether the sesquicentennial is over. A provocative question can erupt into a torrent of thought.

But those thoughts have been brewing in my mind for a while now, since the whirlwind here in Gettysburg died down to a dull roar from the fever pitch of a few weeks ago. The tourist tide has subsided. The streets are easier to drive.

But most importantly, the press inquiries have died away. Nearly every day of the anniversary week, I had an e-mail or a voice-mail asking me to help a reporter …

Finding The Good: An Emotional Anniversary, John M. Rudy

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

I am an exacting judge of interpretive product. I realize this. My boss and I have had a few discussions about how both of our standards, sometimes, might be just a bit too high.

I still am not convinced that pure and utter excellence is not too much to ask for on every interpretive program. All too often, though, I don't find it.

When I do see amazing moments, it thrills me. I get outrageously excited. Through my entire experience as a visitor at the sesquicentennial celebration at Gettysburg, two programs stand out as verging on that sort of gleaming …

Stewart W. Woods: A Peculiar Casualty At Fort Wagner?, John M. Rudy

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

Captured in the darkness of July 18th on a sandy beach in South Carolina was a native of Adams County. Stewart W. Woods, born in Heidlersburg around 1836, found himself in the hands of the rebels, among a handful of his compatriots in the 54th Massachusetts. The fighting of Woods' war was over and his fate was unclear. Stewart was a free man, born under the folds of the same American flag under which he now fought. At some point, he had drifted over the mountain range and called Carlisle home when the war erupted in 1861. [excerpt]

A New Theory For Battle Landscapes - Toward An Interpretive Future, John M. Rudy

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

There's a misunderstanding. The misunderstanding has been long and deep. It goes something like this:

Your crusade to destroy the current practice of military history on battlefields is a form of fundamentalism just like the supposed fundamentalism of military history you aim to change. [excerpt]

Hopkins And Anthony: A Struggle Over Freedom, John M. Rudy

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

This piece is the original draft of a piece I wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer, which appeared last week as part of the paper's Gettysburg sesquicentennial coverage. Here's the full, uncut piece for your perusal.

To My Great Great Grand Uncle - On The Occasion Of The 150th Anniversary Of Your Death, John M. Rudy

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

Dear William Henry,

I'm writing this standing near the spot where you died, exactly 150 years ago nearly to the second. I'm typing on a tiny screen, a technological marvel that lets me share the stories of men like you with the world instantly.

They've put up a monument to you and the 17 other men who died along with you along the banks of Plum Run creek. We call this place "The Valley of Death" now. I think you among all people who have walked this green earth would understand why.... [excerpt]