What an amazing night! Between seeing the sword of Jonathan Taylor and hearing Mike Jesberger talk about Christmas during the Civil War years, it was an awesome adventure!
Ed Root brought the Tatylor sword and congratulated the Round Table for helping to raise the $9,000.00 needed to buy this historical artifact and bring it back to the Valley. Also on display were other items related to Taylor, and amazingly - a newly discovered recruiting poster from Taylor.
If that wasn’t enough - then we had our presentation.,
Before the Civil War, Christmas was not an official holiday in the United States. By the end of the war in 1865, Christmas had gone from a relatively unimportant holiday to the opposite – a day rooted in an idealized vision of home.
The way Americans observed the holiday changed too, setting the stage for the more modern Christmas holiday we know today. Though individual traditions still varied, the upheaval of the Civil War made the holiday season seem more and more important to separated families. The Christmas season reminded mid-19th century Americans of the importance of the home and the institution of new Christmas traditions.
Harpers Bazaar and artist Thomas Nast became major influences during these years and for a long time to come.
Finally our preservation raffle treated six lucky winners with signed books.
