Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Gettysburg: A Town Built On Tourism, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

In my most recent blog posts, I’ve adopted a rather unforgiving stance on the rampant consumerism that pervades the town of Gettysburg. Essentially, I have argued that the borough’s tacky gift shops sell odious little trinkets to gullible tourists and profiteer from the public’s morbid obsession with war and death. But while I firmly believe that this zealous consumerism is a persistent threat to healthy historical engagement, there is another side to the issue that demands to be recognized: Gettysburg kitsch is part of what has made Gettysburg into a town brimming with opportunities to broaden the public’s historical consciousness. …

Lost: Sesquicentennial Sanity. If Found, Please Contact Borough Of Gettysburg., Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

If you were in Gettysburg during the summer of 2013, you surely encountered the ubiquitous 150th Gettysburg logo branded on everything from promotional materials to souvenirs. The latter – tacky at best and irreverent at worst – filled the town to the point of excess, making some of us wonder how many people completely missed the point of the sesquicentennial. Anniversaries exert a powerful force on the American historical psyche, but it is dubious whether Gettysburg’s celebration exerted an appropriate one. The sesquicentennial was a wonderful opportunity to refocus on the events of July 1863, but sadly many businesses in …

Gettysburg’S Faustian Bargain, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

A question to the reader: have you ever visited Gettysburg? Presumably most of the Gettysburg Compiler’s audience will answer in the affirmative. A follow-up question: have you ever purchased a souvenir from one of the town’s abundant gift shops? Perhaps it was a kepi or a cork gun for your child? Or maybe a bottle of “Rebel Red” wine? Or some tacky trinket or faux antique?

Let’s face it: we live in a consumer society in which there is nothing too sacred to profit from. And, sadly, the Battle of Gettysburg is no exception. [excerpt]

"The Life Of Archer Alexander: A Story Of Freedom", Miranda Rectenwald

The Confluence (2009-2020)

Follow the story of Archer Alexander and his road to freedom that started with exposing a neighbor for supporting the Confederacy, a risk that resulted in the ultimate freedom for himself and his family. It is a moving story of dedication and hope that took place in the region.

Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African American Artifacts Of The Civil War Era, Lauren H. Roedner, Angelo Scarlato, Scott Hancock, Jordan G. Cinderich, Tricia M. Runzel, Avery C. Lentz, Brian D. Johnson, Lincoln M. Fitch, Michele B. Seabrook

Other Exhibits & Events

Based on the exhibit Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African American Artifacts of the Civil War Era, this book provides the full experience of the exhibit, which was on display in Special Collections at Musselman Library November 2012- December 2013. It also includes several student essays based on specific artifacts that were part of the exhibit.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Angelo Scarlato, Lauren Roedner ’13 & Scott Hancock

Slave Collars & Runaways: Punishment for Rebellious Slaves Jordan Cinderich ’14

Chancery Sale Poster & Auctioneer’s Coin: The Lucrative Business of Slavery Tricia Runzel ’13

Isaac J. Winters: An African American Soldier from Pennsylvania …

Crittenden, John Jordan, 1787-1863 (Sc 1302), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript for Manuscripts Small Collection 1302. Letter written by John Jordan Crittenden, U.S. Senate, to Hon. A. Beatty, evidently of Rhode Island, in response to Beatty's concern about the impeding tariff legislation.

Standing Firm: Maine’S Delegation To Congress During The Secession Crisis Of 1860-1861, Jerry R. Desmond

Maine History

In the years leading up to the Civil War, many Americans in both the North and the South considered it inevitable that a war between the sections would occur. Historians have debated this idea ever since. Could the war have been avoided? Was a compromise between the sections of the country possible? In this article, the author examines the role played by Maine’s congressional delegation in resisting compromise during the Great Secession Winter of 1860-1861. The author is a graduate of the University of Maine, with master’s degrees in education (1979) and Arts (History-1991). He served as the lead consulting …

"I Long To Hear From You": The Hardship Of Civil War Soldiering On Danish Immigrant Families, Anders Bo Rasmussen

The Bridge

In 1917 the Danish American minister and immigrant historian Peter S0rensen Vig published Danske i krig i og for Amerika (Danes Fighting in and for America). Vig had taken it upon himself to take a deeper look into the Danish Civil War experience, at a time when Norwegian American immigrants had already published several books about their war service. Vig, however, discovered that the information available was not quite as substantial as he had assumed when writing Danske i Amerika (Danes in America) back in 1907, nor was it "compiled in one place." Vig's Danske i Kamp i og for …

"The Southern Heart Still Throbs": Caroline E. Janney And Partisan Memory‘S Grip On The Post-Civil War Nation, Heather L. Clancy '15

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

"Memory is not a passive act," writes Caroline E. Janney in the prologue of her 2013 book Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation. Rather, it is a deliberate process. Our nation‘s history has been shaped by countless hands in innumerable ways, and the story of our civil war is no exception. In Remembering the Civil War, Janney seeks to turn our eyes once again onto the players, large and small, who shaped what came to be the accepted narrative of the conflict, from its inception through the 1930s and even bleeding through the Civil …