Category Archives: National Park Service

Civil War subway trip

28 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by in National Park Service, New York City, Subway trips, Ulysses S. Grant (General and President)

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Hey everybody,

This past Saturday the Hayfoot and I took the A train to a site that, sadly, most New Yorkers no longer visit: Grant’s Tomb.  For decades after it was dedicated in 1897, the mausoleum was one of the most visited places in Manhattan.  Tens of thousands from across the country turned out annually to pay their respects.  Now, as you can see, that is no longer the case.  That’s the Mrs. on the far left.

The National Park Service acquired the General Grant National Memorial, as it is properly called, in 1959.  We took in a discussion led by a very knowledgeable ranger.  There aren’t many displays but the ones they do have are informative and cover Grant’s career in its entirety.

These regimental flags are reproductions

…with the exception of this one that belonged to the 11th Indiana, Colonel Lew Wallace commanding.  It was covered with glass, which is why the photo is a bit difficult to make out.

In a rare misstep, the Park Service built these benches around the perimeter of the tomb in the 1970s.  I think they were trying to be relevant.

In a better use of the space, the public area outside has been a regular stop on Harlem’s Jazzmobile going back nearly five decades.  We’re going to try to get up there this summer.

It opened in 1897 at the height of the reconciliation phase.

Hayfoot and Strawfoot

The final resting place of President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant.

And then it was on to Ethiopian cuisine in Harlem.

Thanks for checking in.

Keith

Your next Civil War road trip

22 Tuesday Feb 2011

Posted by in National Park Service

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As I think you know The Strawfoot is more than a clearinghouse for information about Civil War sesquicentennial events.  That said, with so many things already underway—and a tsunami of programs, memorials, and unveilings to come before all is said-and-done in 2015—I thought it would be helpful to offer a few words.

By definition the hundreds of events that will take place around the United States in the next four years will be of uneven quality, as the means, talent, enthusiasm, and imagination of museum personnel, heritage groups, and state & local agencies will vary widely.  When we are fortunate enough to experience a worthwhile endeavor, we should recognize the invaluable work these organizations are doing and enjoy and learn from what they offer (and maybe drop a buck or two in the collection box). The exhibit at the county museum and the “living history” program put on by the local reenacting unit can teach us a lot about the war and the home front.  Still, there is one organization that has the scope, resources, and institutional memory to examine the war in all its complexity: the National Park Service.

As I write these words the NPS is in the midst of a nine-state, sixteen-city reenactment of President-elect Lincoln’s journey from Springfield, IL to Washington D.C. for his first inaugural.  (Unfortunately, I myself was unaware of the event held at Grant’s Tomb until it was too late.)  And that’s just for starters.  A highly random, hardly exhaustive perusal of the NPS sesquicentennial website informs us that within just the next few weeks the following are taking place:

The “Baltimore Plot” against President-Elect Lincoln– Ford’s Theater National Historic Site, Washington D.C.; February 22 & 23

The War Begins – 1861 Lecture Series–Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center, PA; February 26

Soldier Camp Life of the United States Colored Troops program– Petersburg National Battlefield, VA; March 5

Film in honor of women soldiers of the Civil War–Fort Donelson National Battlefield, TN; March 10

Archeology on America’s Bloodiest Day–Antietam National Battlefield, MD; March 20

That’s five programs on five very different subjects in five states.  And as I said, I pulled these off the NPS calendar highly at random.

The National Park Service covers the Civil War so exhaustively because it can.  It maintains over seventy sites pertaining at least in part to the conflict.  These are found in places you would expect, such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; and a few areas you would not, including California, New Mexico, and Key West, Florida.  Don’t believe me?  Check it out for yourself:

Whether your next Civil Road road trip is to your branch library for a book discussion or to Little Round Top, I hope you have a fun and informative time.

Thanks for checking in.

Keith

Calling young scholars

18 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by in Civil War sesquicentennial, National Park Service

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Something came through my inbox yesterday that I thought I’d pass along.

The National Park Service has a new project aimed at high school students throughout the country.  It’s the National Park Memory Trail.  The hope is to get students, working under the guidance of their teachers and local librarians, involved in the Civil War sesquicentennial.  The Memory Trail is designed to allow students to do real research on their own communities and create digital narratives which will then be posted on the National Park Service website.  Students can research what life was like in their local community in the early months of 1861.  Or, they might explore how the war’s centennial coincided with the Civil Rights Movement.  Finally, they might reflect on their own place in our nation’s history and where this awareness might lead them in the future.  It’s called the Memory Trail because viewers will be able to click on a map of the U.S. and read the narrative of each participating locale.

You may be asking yourself, what did my little town have to do with the American Civil War?

The answer is, probably more than you think.

Over three million soldiers fought in the American Civil War.  Some were city slickers from Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Manhattan’s Bowery; others were rubes from hamlets too tiny to be found on any map.  Then there were the parents, wives, children, sweethearts, and other loved ones left behind to cope as best they could.  The war reached into every household in America, including undoubtedly the town where you live today.

I’ve worked in small museums and libraries throughout the country and can tell you that much of the most interesting scholarship is done at the local level.  There is the genealogists maintaining funeral records of the town’s ancestors in a small office in her own home, the archivist at the local historical society safeguarding (usually on a shoestring) the town’s collection of artifacts, and the librarian conserving old newspaper clippings and one-of-a-kind ephemera in the library’s now seldom used Vertical File.  There is a great deal of material out there to work with.  Photographs, letters, oral histories, maps, postcards, and old advertisements are a few examples of things today’s young researcher might use for her narrative.

To find out more, go here:

Thanks for checking in.

Keith