ACHS New Museum to Display Rare Civil War Images from Private Collection

William A. Frassanito holds a rare image taken near Devil’s Den on the Gettysburg battlefield in 1863, one of many original photographs from his private collection that will be exhibited next year.

Here’s some cool news from our friends at the Adams County Historical Society. The ACHS has been hard at work on a new museum on the edge of Gettysburg’s Day One battlefield near Barlow’s Knoll, and this week, they announced plans for a new exhibit to coincide with the opening of the museum.

Here’s the news:

(Gettysburg, PA) – William A. Frassanito, a renowned historian who pioneered the study of Civil War photography, is preparing to share his rare private collection of Gettysburg images with the public for the first time. The special exhibition, entitled “Early Photography at Gettysburg – The Frassanito Collection,” will debut at Gettysburg’s newest museum, Beyond the Battle, opening in April 2023.

A native of New York City, Frassanito began his photographic detective work at an early age, collecting glass plate images and carte-de-visite portraits from yard sales and antique shops. After an undergraduate education at Gettysburg College and a tour of duty in Vietnam, Frassanito published his first book, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time (Scribner’s Sons, 1974), which was followed by six more books. Frassanito’s work broke new ground, tying historical photographs to the scenes where they had been taken. For the first time, these photographs could be used as historical documents, not merely as illustrative window dressing to accompany written text.

Frassanito’s private collection includes rare images of Gettysburg taken both before and after the battle. The new exhibit will include stereographic images of dead soldiers on the battlefield, a series of rare views captured at Devil’s Den in November 1863, one of the first outdoor photographs taken in the town of Gettysburg, and the only existing photographic print from the Gettysburg Address ceremonies.

The exhibit will also feature some of Frassanito’s biggest discoveries –the moving of a dead “sniper” at Devil’s Den, the location where bodies were photographed en masse at the George Rose Farm, and the elusive “Harvest of Death” photographic series. From photographers Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady to the Tyson Brothers and William H. Tipton, Frassanito’s collection explores the people, places, and events that shaped the history of Gettysburg.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the public to see Gettysburg’s rarest original images in person,” said ACHS Executive Director Andrew Dalton. “Frassanito’s work has inspired generations of historians, and we are thrilled to have him play a key role in the grand opening of our new museum.”

The exhibit will open on April 15th during the grand opening of the Adams County Historical Society’s new Museum and History Center at 625 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg. Located less than one mile from the town square, this new complex includes the highly anticipated Beyond the Battle Museum, a large event center, research room, and archives. For more information, visit www.achs-pa.org and follow the Adams County Historical Society at Gettysburg on Facebook and YouTube.

About the Adams County Historical Society: Located in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Adams County Historical Society (ACHS) preserves over three centuries of remarkable history. With over one million historic items in its care, ACHS inspires people of all ages to discover the fascinating story of one of America’s most famous communities.

Four Sites Added To Reconstruction Era National Historic Network

GRAND ARMY HALL

Sites in Virginia and South Carolina have been added to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, which connects properties across the country that provide education, interpretation, and research related to the period of Reconstruction.

The community sites in South Carolina and Virginia that have been added to the network are:

  • The Gilmore Cabin at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia, was built in the 1870s during Reconstruction by George Gilmore, a man who had been enslaved at Montpelier prior to the Civil War. As a citizen later he owned part of the property. Restored in the early 2000s, Gilmore Cabin serves to teach the public about the legacies of slavery in America, including political status, land ownership, and economic production.  

  • Hamburg-Carrsville African American Heritage District in North Augusta, South Carolina interprets the history and legacy of the Hamburg Community, which was a Freedman community established after the Civil War and was the site of the “Hamburg Massacre,” an attack by former Confederates and Red Shirts against Black citizens during the 1876 election period. 

  • Center for African American History, Arts, and Culture in Aiken, South Carolina is located in the building that was home to the Immanuel School, a Reconstruction era school built in the 1880s for Black children in the Aiken community.

  • The Grand Army Hall in Beaufort, South Carolina was home to the David Hunter Post #9 of the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest Civil War veterans organization. Many of the post’s members had served in Black regiments raised around Beaufort during the Civil War, and is a tangible connection the community of Black veterans during Reconstruction. 

“We are excited to see the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network growing,” said Superintendent Scott Teodorski. “These new sites, from as nearby as here in Beaufort to as far away as rural Virginia, remind all Americans that nearly every community has a Reconstruction story to tell.”

The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law on March 12, 2019,  outlined the creation of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This network, managed by Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, includes sites and programs that are affiliated with the Reconstruction Era, but not necessarily managed by the National Park Service. This network is nationwide and works to provide opportunities for visitors to connect to the stories of Reconstruction. 


Organizations Calling On Congress To Take Measures To Reopen Vicksburg NMP

STORY FROM NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER

Preservation and conservation organizations, led by the nonprofit American Battlefield Trust, are calling on Congress to take measures to reopen huge portions of Vicksburg National Military Park that have been closed for nearly three years following catastrophic damage caused by torrential rainfalls in early 2020. Nearly one-third of the park remains closed to the public, unsafe and inaccessible, due to erosion that undermined large swaths of the hilly landscape, buckling miles of the park’s roads. Perhaps worst of all, it washed out portions of Vicksburg National Cemetery, endangering the remains of our nation’s heroes.

“Gradual erosion caused by the region’s unique geology has been an ongoing issue for the park over the decades, but this event was truly devastating” said Trust President David Duncan. “We have the opportunity to address these underlying issues and create infrastructure built to last. But we must move now, before the damage can’t be undone.” 

To draw attention to the issue and showcase the massive scale of damage caused at key park locations, the Trust, along with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign, created a short video paired with a mechanism for concerned citizens to speak out and contact their legislators.

Watch the video here: Vicksburg in Crisis: Don't Let its Impact Erode

In the film, describing his visit to Vicksburg to assess the damage, Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources at NPCA, confesses, “I was overwhelmed by what I saw,” while Bess Averett, executive director of Friends of Vicksburg adds “It looks like an earthquake has come through.” Certified landscape architect Glenn Stach assesses it as “a significant public health, safety and welfare situation.”

Beyond closing key areas of the park vital to a clear understanding of this turning-point battle, the long delay stands to have tangible community impact, with fewer heritage tourists making plans to visit Mississippi’s single-most visited attraction, damaging the local economy. Advocates also point out that the lack of attention paid to this issue undermines Vicksburg’s status as a key moment in the Civil War, cutting the Confederacy in half and leading to Ulysses Grant’s elevation to general-in-chief of all Union armies.

Unfortunately, the underlying issues related to soil type require more than simple repair. Studies must be undertaken so that new infrastructure is sufficient to withstand ongoing pressures, otherwise, the next major storm will start the cycle again, washing out sections of roadway and exposing burials in the nation’s largest Civil War cemetery. As the closed portions of the park languish, they are exposed to even more weather than typical, speeding their deterioration. If action is not taken swiftly, the soft soil around Vicksburg will continue to erode unabated, pulling more of this hallowed ground into the Mississippi River.

The preservation groups invite members of the public to use the mechanism on the Trust’s website to contact their federal legislators and urge them to take immediate and decisive steps to help the National Park Service return this battlefield to its full glory.

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 55,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.

"Killer Angels" Book Discussion and Lunch at PSU-LV on Fri. Dec. 9

Friday, December 9, 2022

“Killer Angels Book Discussion - Michael Shaara”
Tad Fenton - Educator, Historian, Masters of Arts in History
view webpage

Michael Shaara’s novel Killer Angels is an excellent novel that portrays the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg in a historical narrative through the eyes of those who fought. Shaara presents an engaging account that will truly engross a novice historian and curious reader.

This lecture will provide an opportunity to read a great novel and discuss the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of individuals such as John Buford, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and Robert E. Lee. The novel seamlessly facilitates a great deal of discussion, questions, and interest in the Civil War. Join us for a creative and interactive experience that will envelope the participants in the Battle of Gettysburg!

Lecture will be held from 11:00–noon p.m.
Lunch will be served from noon–1:00 p.m.
Cost: $20.00 per person. Check or cash only.

All events are held at:
Penn State Lehigh valley
2809 Saucon Valley Road
Center Valley PA, 18034

Registration is REQUIRED for all of these lifetime learning opportunities.

Contact ​Jamie Merida at
610-285-5000 or jmerida@psu.edu  

Discounts Available for 2023 Civil War Institute in Gettysburg

The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College would like to offer the members of your Civil War Round table or organization a 15% discount to attend the 2023 CWI summer conference, June 9-14. You can explore further details about our conference on our website, as well as check out our schedule for this year’s event. At CWI, we believe in the mission of CWRTs and we are making this special offer to recognize the efforts of your organization in promoting the study of Civil War history. Please let us know if you intend to make this special offer known to your membership, and feel free to use any language from this email or the attached promotional card for your newsletter.

 

We are also happy to supply any additional promotional language, fliers, or postcards for you to pass out or use to advertise.

 

We hope to have the opportunity to work with you to help continue the educational missions of both your Round Table and the Civil War Institute. Please let me know if you have any questions, and we look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

 

Thank you!

  

Triada Chavis  | Administrative Services Assistant

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE | CWI

Treasurer | Support Staff Council
Campus Box 435  |  Civil War Institute

300 N. Washington Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325
T  717-337-6748 or main 717-337-6590  |  EML  tchavis@gettysburg.edu

Office Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

“Ticket to the Past:” A virtual reality tour at the restored old Gettysburg Train Station

From the Gettysburg Connection:
October 17, 2022 by Matthew Jackson

Newly opened in downtown Gettysburg at the beautifully preserved train station, the Gettysburg Foundation’s “Ticket to the Past: Unforgettable Journey” is a wonderful, mind-altering, virtual reality experience that may give visitors a glimpse into the future of museum visitors’ engagements with history.

“Ticket to the Past” feels more like a series of face-to-face encounters than a traditional exhibit-to-exhibit museum visit.

Gettysburg’s first virtual reality experience promises to stretch your imagination, awareness, understanding and empathy — and maybe even fire up your civic conscience, courage and involvement.

There, at 35 Carlisle Street, at the same train station where President Lincoln came to town from Hanover and Hanover Junction (Seven Valleys) on the Hanover Rail Corporation line in November, 1863 to deliver the world-famous Gettysburg Address, you come-face-to-face with one of three extraordinary individuals of that era.

You may choose either Basil Biggs, described as freedom fighter, facilitator for the fallen, and pursuer of unfinished work; Cornelia Hancock, soldier caregiver, hospital heroine, and dedicated social servant; or Eli Blanchard, teen volunteer, iron brigade band member, and amputation assistant.

Through virtual reality goggles, your character tells you his or her story leading up to, during and following the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.

I chose Gettysburg freedman, farmer, teamster (driver of a team of animals), a self-taught horse veterinarian, disinterment/exhumation specialist, civic leader and Underground Railroad conductor Basil Biggs (1819-1906), who also has ties to Hanover; a famous, one-of-a-kind photograph; and York County.

The performance by the actor portraying Mr. Biggs was intense and moving.

Biggs, an illiterate freedman born of mixed race parents in a Quaker settlement in Carroll County, Maryland, lost his mother when he was only four-years-old.

He was a master multi-tasker, a hard-working jack-of-all-trades. Throughout his life, Dr. Biggs, as he became known, made the best of each situation with relentless energy and perseverance.

Basil and wife Mary Jackson moved their growing family from Baltimore, Maryland, a slave state, to the free state of Pennsylvania in 1858 so their children could get an education and grow up in freedom.At that time, Blacks in Maryland — whether free or enslaved — were denied public education.

According to his 1906 obituary, while a tenant farmer at the Crawford Farm in Gettysburg, Biggs was an active agent in the Underground Railroad. According to historian Debra Sandoe McClausin, Biggs directed freedom seekers to Black freedman and Quaker Edward Mathews’ farm in Biglerville, Adams County.

As over 6,000 Confederates invaded Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863, the Biggs family fled northeast to the town of Columbia on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

When the family returned to town after the epic Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the Civil War, everything that Biggs owned was pilfered or destroyed except three assets: two horses and a cart. They also returned to find 45 dead Confederates buried in the fields they tended and tilled.

According to the National Park Service, “the Biggs family lost eight cows, seven steers, ten hogs, eight tons of hay, ten crocks of apple butter, sixteen chairs, six beds, and ninety-two acres of crops.”

After the battle, teamster Biggs’ salvaged cart, which could carry up to nine bodies at a time, came in handy as he embarked on a grisly, putrid and daunting endeavor.

Working for Gettysburg merchant Samuel Weaver to disinter more than 3,000 dead Union soldiers from their initial graves and relocate and rebury them in a central spot, Biggs played a major role in the creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

From October, 1863 until March, 1864, Biggs made $1.25 for each corpse brought to its final resting place, including hauling Union corpses from Hanover, 14 miles away. As a famous photo from Hanover shows. Biggs hired several Black men from Gettysburg to get the job done.

Biggs used his earnings to purchase his own farm, the Peter Frey farm, which still stands on Taneytown Road, and about 120 acres of land. Some included the famous copse of trees, known as the high water mark of the Confederacy at Cemetery Ridge, a must-see visit for battlefield tourists.

In 1881, Biggs sold those witness trees and the seven acres around them to the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association for $1,350.

Ironically, although Biggs played a prominent role in the creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, he and other Blacks, including those 30 local Civil War veterans of the United States Colored Troops (organized in the summer of 1863), are not buried there.

As historian D. Scott Hartwig points out, “we now know that there are five burials of African American soldiers in the Civil War section of the Soldiers’ Cemetery [in Gettysburg], but four of those soldiers were Spanish American War veterans who were buried here because it was the closest National Cemetery.” Only one Black Civil War veteran, Henry Gooden of the 126th United States Colored Troops, who died after the Civil War in Carlisle in 1876 and was not interred at Gettysburg’s Soldiers’ National Cemetery until 1884, is buried there today.

A founder and prominent member of the Sons of Good Will, formed to acquire land for Black cemeteries, Basil Biggs, along with local Black Civil War veterans, is buried in the cemetery that the Sons of Good Will established in 1866. Since 1906, the year Biggs died and was buried there, it has been known as Lincoln Cemetery.

It’s on the outskirts of town in Gettysburg’s third ward, where most Gettysburg African Americans in that era lived.

Your “Ticket to the Past” visit winds to its finale with a view of President Abraham Lincoln’s train steaming into Gettysburg from Hanover aboard a Hanover Rail train on November 18, 1863. The next day, in Lincoln’s “few appropriate remarks” dedicating the Soldiers’ National Cemetery that Biggs helped create, the nation’s 16th commander-in-chief proclaimed a “new birth of freedom.”

The narrator then ends your visit with an open-ended challenge to honor the fallen, the freedom-seekers, the healers and re-builders of that era in our lives today.

“Ticket to the Past” is a bold, family-friendly, state-of-the-art, immersive, patriotic, and call-to-service visitor experience that you don’t want to miss.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

Ball's Bluff Battle Anniversary Sat Oct 29

at Ball’s Bluff Regional Park - north of Leesburg VA

Don't miss our battle anniversary events on a new date Saturday October 29th.

Schedule of events Oct 29:11:00 AM - guided battlefield tour
12:00 PM - skirmish between reenactor units
1:00 PM - concert from The 8th Green Machine Regiment Band
2:00 PM - cannon firing demonstration
We'll be setting up the illumination event beginning at 5:00 so be sure to return at 7:00 PM for lighting of luminaria near National Cemetery.

Doris Kearns Goodwin to Speak at DeSalles on Thu Oct 27th - ticket link below

World-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin will deliver the 32nd Rev. Thomas J. Furphy Lecture on Thursday, October 27, at DeSales University.  

Goodwin is the author of seven critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling books, including her most recent, Leadership in Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. She worked with Steven Spielberg on Lincoln, which was based in part on her award-winning Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. She also recently served as executive producer on Washington, a History Channel miniseries that chronicled George Washington’s journey from soldier to statesman.

The lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Billera Hall. It’s free and open to the public but tickets are required. For ticket reservations, visit alumni.desales.edu/furphy. If you have any questions, please call 610.282.1100, ext. 1364. Goodwin will sign copies of her books after the lecture. She will also take part in a closed student session earlier in the day.

Established in 1983, the Furphy Lecture Series is named in memory of Fr. Thomas J. Furphy, OSFS, who distinguished himself as a teacher of “National Problems” during his 38-year career in education. The theme of the series is “National and International Problems.”

Goodwin joins an illustrious group of previous speakers, including Jeb Bush, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, John Cardinal O’Connor, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, William Colby, Abba Eban, Lee Iacocca, Antonin Scalia, George F. Will, Vladimir Posner, William J. Bennett, Shimon Peres, Zbigniew Brzezinski, George Mitchell, Louis Freeh, Benazir Bhutto, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, William S. Cohen, Richard Armitage, John Ashcroft, Trent Lott, Dr. William Poole, Tom Ridge, J.C. Watts, and Jon Huntsman.

Historians to Speak at Dedication Day Events in Gettysburg Saturday, Nov 19

Historians Allen Guelzo , Jon Meacham, Harold Holzer to appear at Dedication Day Events in Gettysburg Saturday, Nov 19. (Gettysburg, PA) 

Three distinguished scholars of American history, Allen Guelzo, Jon Meacham and Harold Holzer, will appear at the 159th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address on Saturday, November 19, 2022. The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania announced that this year’s Dedication Day keynote speaker will be Dr. Allen Guelzo, author of award-winning books on Civil War history. 

Guelzo commented, “Abraham Lincoln was not a president who strayed much from his office in Washington, but he made his longest exception to that rule when he journeyed to Gettysburg in November, 1863 to deliver "a few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. That's how important Gettysburg was to him. That's why I am so pleased to be able to speak there, one hundred and fifty-nine years later: because Gettysburg, and what Lincoln said there, are the vital nerve of American identity”. Dr. Guelzo is a former Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Now at Princeton University, Guelzo is the Senior Research Scholar in the Humanities and Director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship. He is the author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America, and Gettysburg: The Last Invasion. His most recent books are Reconstruction: A Concise History (2019) and Robert E. Lee: A Life (2021).

Historian Jon Meacham will be joining us on the rostrum to present the Gettysburg Address with comments, and will also be featured at the Lincoln Fellowship Annual Meeting and Luncheon at the Wyndham Hotel after the ceremony. Jon Meacham won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. He is the Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University and is the author of several bestsellers. His new biography And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle will be released in October 2022, and he will sign books at the luncheon. 

 

Harold Holzer, pre-eminant Lincoln scholar, will introduce Meacham at the podium during the ceremony, and will interview him during the luncheon. Harold Holzer is a National Humanities medalist and author of multiple books about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. His latest book is"The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media -- From the Founding Fathers to Fake News," Holzer has been the keynote speaker at two previous Dedication Days and is a co-founder and chairman of The Lincoln Forum held annually in Gettysburg.

The Reverend Stephen Herr, president of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, expressed the Fellowship’s enthusiasm for the participation of Guelzo, Meacham and Holzer. Herr shared that “The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania is delighted to welcome three historians of their caliber to the dedication anniversary of Gettysburg National Cemetery. Their commitment to quality scholarship and passion for sharing America’s history have been hallmarks of their careers. Their participation in this anniversary event continues the long and distinguished line of historians who have contributed to the Dedication Day ceremony.” 

 

The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania has hosted ceremonies on Dedication Day since 1938. Over the years, many influential and noteworthy national figures, including Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Marian Anderson, Tom Ridge, John Hope Franklin, Shelby Foote, Carl Sandburg, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephan Lang, Sandra Day O’Connor, LeVar Burton, Ken Burns, Stephen Spielberg, and others have appeared at the ceremony to help new generations of Americans remember Lincoln’s words and to rededicate ourselves to the ideals at the core of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. 

 

This year, the Fellowship will partner once again with Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg College, and the Gettysburg Foundation to offer this free event to the public. The program also features a U.S. Naturalization and Citizenship ceremony, which will allow us the special opportunity to celebrate together, as Americans, while we welcome a new group of citizens. 

 

The 2022 Dedication Day events will begin at 10:15 a.m., with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Soldiers’ National Monument, inside Gettysburg National Cemetery, followed by the Dedication Day Program at 10:30 a.m. at the cemetery Rostrum. This event is free and open to all. A limited number of seats will be available to the general public, so feel free to bring lawn chairs. Parking for the event is provided at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center in Lot #3, with free shuttle service on the Gold Line Shuttle to the Cemetery. The Gold Line will operate from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. In the event of severe inclement weather, the program will relocate to Gettysburg College’s Majestic Theater, 25 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg, PA. For more information, visit www.lincolnfellowship.org. 

P.O. Box 3372, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325 

lincolnfellowship.org 

lincolnfellowshipofpa@gmail.com

Shenandoah Battlefields Foundation Receives NPS Grant for New Civil War Exhibit

National Park Service Awards $150,000 Grant for Museum in Winchester

“One Story… A Thousand Voices” Exhibit to Open in April 2023

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF) has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Park Service to support the creation of a new permanent exhibit at the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum in downtown Winchester.

This new exhibit, “One Story… A Thousand Voices” – which will open in April 2023 – will include the complete renovation of the second-floor exhibit space and the creation of additional exhibits in the first floor court room area. The exhibit will tell the Valley’s Civil War story through the experiences of the people who lived through it – using artifacts, individual stories, and captivating imagery to show history at a personal, human level. It will cover major battles and famed events, as well as the everyday lives of soldiers and free and enslaved civilians. The exhibit will take visitors from the path to war through the tumultuous years of combat and destruction, the post-war era, and the efforts to preserve that history today.

"Our plan is for a museum with exhibits that are thought provoking, impactful, and inspiring,” said Keven Walker, CEO of the Battlefields Foundation. “The grant from the National Park Service is going to make that possible.” The grant will be matched by recently appropriated state funds, major private donations, and support from Foundation members. Fundraising for this project, which will cost over $700,000, has been underway for a number of years.

It was the commitment of major funding by the James R. Wilkins Charitable Trust – the largest donor to the effort – that made the project a reality, and allowed the Battlefields Foundation to move forward and seek out additional funding.

The exhibit will use sensory experiences, three-dimensional walk-through exhibit spaces, interactive touchscreens, QR codes, and a cell phone application. At the heart of the exhibit will be a remarkable collection of artifacts – such as a pike from John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, a crude bullet-proof vest worn by a soldier, a mourning dress worn by the famed Mother Crim, a table given to the freed slaves of the Washington family, and arms and equipment of soldiers both north and south.

In addition to new exhibits, the historic courtroom on the first floor of the museum will also feature a 360-degree virtual reality experience on the trial of John Brown. Developed in partnership with Shenandoah University’s Center for Immersive Learning, the experience will place viewers in the middle of key moments of the trial.

The “One Story… A Thousand Voices” project is designed to promote partners and historic sites throughout the Valley, as the exhibit and its accompanying materials will foster increased visitation to those sites.

The museum, which was originally conceived by Harry and Trish Ridgeway, first opened in 2003 as the Old Courthouse Civil War Museum. The Battlefields Foundation assumed operation of the museum in 2015 and renamed it the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum. Since then, the Foundation has been developing plans and raising funds for this project. “We’re standing on the shoulders of the forward-thinking people who created the museum,” said Walker. Fittingly, items from the renowned Ridgeway Collection of Civil War artifacts will be prominently featured in the new exhibit.

The museum will be closed down on November 1 to begin renovations and installation. The “One Story… A Thousand Voices” exhibit will open in April 2023 – in conjunction with the Foundation’s 2023 National Conference in Winchester.