Jan. 27-June 12: 'Sumter to Appomattox'
Library hosts exhibition 'From Fort Sumter to the Appomattox Court House'
10:52 a.m., Jan. 20, 2015--The University of Delaware Library has announced a new exhibition “From Fort Sumter to the Appomattox Court House: The American Civil War,” which will be on view from Jan. 27 through June 12 in the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery located on the second floor of the Morris Library.
The curator is Timothy Murray, head of the Special Collections Department, with assistance from Jaime Margalotti, senior assistant librarian, and Anita Wellner, library assistant III, both of the Manuscripts and Archives Department, as well as Curtis Small, assistant librarian, and Timothy English, library assistant III, both of the Special Collections Department.
Events Stories
June 5: Blue Hen 5K
June 6-9: Food and culture series
April 9 will mark the 150th anniversary of Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War, which had officially commenced on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness. The Union victory preserved the United States as one nation and ended the institution of slavery that had divided the country from its beginning. But these achievements came at the cost of 625,000 lives -- nearly as many American soldiers as have died in all the other wars in which this country has fought combined.
The Special Collections of the University of Delaware Library house a wealth of material on the Civil War and the exhibition will include books, original manuscripts, correspondence, and documents; photographs, pamphlet literature, artifacts, memorabilia and ephemera.
Much of the material to be on display will be drawn from the Library’s extensive Lincoln Collection.
“From Fort Sumter to the Appomattox Court House” will examine the issues that polarized the nation during this period, including slavery and the abolitionist movement, states rights versus federal authority, the Lincoln presidency and other political and economic factors.
An online version of the exhibition will be available at this website.