Making Sense Of The American Civil War

WHAT:  Reading, discussion, and event series

WHO:  Library Members & visitors

WHEN: Now through April

WHERE:  Wicomico Public Library – Main Library, Centre Branch & Pittsville Branch; Poplar Hill Mansion

SALISBURY, MD – January 24, 2013 -- In commemoration of the 150^th anniversary, Wicomico Public Library is hosting a free reading, discussion and event series on “Making Sense of the American Civil War.”   This project will pull together groups and individuals in the area who share an interest in local history. 

While there are no major battlefields in this area, the Eastern Shore played a key part in the conflict.  There were troop encampments, smuggling efforts, divided loyalties and local heroes and villains.  The Library is partnering with the Maryland Humanities Council and a group of local organizations and experts to highlight what happened here during the war and how the events and ideas of that time affect us today.

A series of five book discussion events will be fundamental to the program. These will be held on Tuesday evenings at the Main Library.  Participants are encouraged to attend all five sessions.  Reading materials are loaned free of charge. There are 25 sets available on a first-come, first-serve basis. If supplies run out, people can still participate as the books are easily obtainable at local libraries and bookstores.

Discussions will be held on the following works:

- "March" by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006)

- "Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam" by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002)

- "America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on Their 150th Anniversaries", is an anthology of historical fiction, speeches, diaries, memoirs, biography, and short stories, edited by national project scholar Edward L. Ayers and co-published by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.

Additional programs and displays are planned to encourage local awareness and discussion about the impact of the Civil War.  These are all free and open to the public.  The public is invited to participate in the entire series, or to drop in for individual events.  For a full listing of events, click here.  Details for individual programs are available at www.wicomicolibrary.org.

Some of the additional programs will include a special Friday Night program featuring Roger Arthur, a nationally recognized historian and noted speaker, on the mysteries surrounding the death of Abraham Lincoln. There will be an open house and lecture on Clara Gunby, a local artist and Confederate  sympathizer, at the Poplar Hill Mansion on March 2,  a walking tour of downtown sites (did you know there was a major encampment on the PRMC grounds?) on March 15,  and a talk on Civil War medicine by local expert and Salisbury University faculty member Bill Campbell  on Feb 26. Library displays, movie and craft programs, and children’s activities will be featured over the next few months.  Other programs are still being added. 

The Wicomico Public Library is one of more than 150 sites nationwide and one of the four sites in Maryland to host the series, developed by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, with additional support provided by the Maryland Humanities Council.