Introducing our “Emerging Scholars”
If you haven’t heard yet, the new American Civil War Museum in Richmond is getting ready to open the doors of its new facility in Richmond, Virginia. Located on the campus of the historic Tredegar Iron Works, the $25 million museum will sit between the Pattern Building and the Administrative Building, both nineteenth-century structures. Mark your calendars for the May 4 grand opening!
As part of the festivities, the museum has partnered with Emerging Civil War and our friends at Civil War Monitor for an exciting new program that will highlight some of the rising voices in Civil War scholarship: The Emerging Scholars Program.
We first told you about the program back in February, including the full line-up of “emerging” voices. Starting next week, we’re going to share some of their work with you and also tell you a little about each one of them. Because ECW has always been dedicated to promoting the work of emerging voices in the field, we are especially excited to show off their work!
You’re going to be treated to tales of modern computer software used to identify anonymous Civil War-ear soldiers, the effects of the war and Reconstruction on kids who came of age during the time tumult, the creation of national cemeteries across the south by African Americans, and more. You’ll read about Total War, the Dakota War, Catawba Indians, and Readjusters. From Civil War memory to material culture, we’re pleased with the array of work you’re about to read.
And on May 4, Emerging Civil War will be at the American Civil War Museum—live—to participate in the Grand Opening. We’ll broadcast a series of Facebook LIVE segments that will include interviews with the emerging scholars and show off some of the museum’s fantastic new facilities. So, even if you can’t be at the opening, you’ll still get to participate in the festivities and show your support for the museum.
Meanwhile, the Emerging Scholars will deliver a series of informal “pop-up” talks throughout the day on May 4. Their talks will give visitors the chance to not only hear more about the cool work the Emerging Scholars are doing, it will also give everyone the chance to ask questions, share ideas, and interact—the very sorts of engagements that make public history so invigorating!
For more information on the American Civil War Museum’s new building, click here.
The 2019 Emerging Scholars are:
Heath Anderson, graduate student, Virginia Commonwealth University—Legacy of William Mahone and the Readjuster Party
Katelyn Brown, program coordinator, Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Virginia Tech—19th century visual culture as windows to the impacts of the Civil War
Ben Davidson, postdoctoral fellow, Smithsonian National Museum of American History—Kids who came of age during the Civil War and Emancipation, and the potential impact on them as adults
Sam Florer, military interpreter, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation—Civil War Monuments through a 1900 monument to the Catawba Indians who fought for the Confederacy
Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders, graduate student, Rutgers University—African American Civil War Memory, 1915-1965
John Legg, graduate student, Virginia Tech—The Dakota War and its intersection with Total War
Kurt Luther, assistant professor, Virginia Tech—Website project (Civil War Photo Sleuth) to use facial recognition software to identify people in Civil War photos
Ashley Towle, lecturer, University of Southern Maine—African Americans and the creation of National Cemeteries in the South
One of the disappointing aspects of the American Civil War Museum is the fact that the tobacco warehouse that came to be used as Libby Prison is no longer there, in Richmond. Just a short walk from the old Tredegar Iron Works, a properly preserved Libby Prison could have helped complete “the Civil War experience” for visitors to Virginia’s capital.
Just a thought.