Struggle Without End: The Civil War's Impact on NJ - exhibition to open in Sept
Though the battlefields were many miles from our borders, the bitter struggles of the Civil War
struck scores of families in the Garden State.
Opening on Wednesday September 19th, Special Collections and University Archives' exhibition
Struggle Without End: The Civil War's Impact on New Jersey, will go beyond the military story to
show the effects of the Civil War on the culture and society of the state. The exhibition will
highlight rare and unique items from Rutgers' collections, including letters from the front, diaries
of soldiers and civilians, political tracts, and artifacts.
Renowned historian James McPherson of Princeton University, author of Battle Cry of Freedom, will
deliver a keynote address at the exhibition opening starting at 4:30 pm. His lecture will inaugurate a series of
programs in fall 2012 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the conflict, including a panel
discussion about African Americans and the Civil War, a lecture on the New Jersey political climate
during the Civil War, and lunchtime discussions on women and the Civil War and the psychological
impact of war on the soldiers who fought. Details of these events will be posted shortly on the
Rutgers University Libraries' website.
Special Collections and University Archives hold the largest collection of manuscripts and
contemporary publications documenting New Jersey and the Civil War in the United States. Among the objects that will be displayed are field maps and
drawings by Washington Roebling, the builder of the Brooklyn Bridge; a diary and cap belonging to
Ellis Hamilton, a young officer killed at Spotsylvania Court House; and a Civil War-era surgeon's
kit.
For more information about the exhibition and programs, please contact Fernanda H. Perrone,
exhibitions coordinator, at 848-932-6154 or
hperrone@rulmail.rutgers.edu.
This exhibition and public programs are made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the
Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations in these presentations do not
necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council
for the Humanities.
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| Detail of a sketch of the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers Leaving Jersey City R.R. Depot, to Defend the Capitol, at Washington D.C., April 18, 1861. Printed in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper p. 373. Courtesy of Special Collections and University Archives of the Rutgers University Libraries. |
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