June 18, 2018

Reporting from the SCWH: Plenary Session on Monuments and Memory at Gettysburg NMP

June 18, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

Using Gettysburg as a focus, these five historians engaged in the complicated question of what to do with Confederate memory and the role historians must play in the conversations happening all over the country. The answer to the question of Confederate monuments and commemoration is not clear. The fact that there have been several plenary sessions at conferences over the past few years, all of which asked a lot of questions and posed a lot of suggestions but could not offer clear solutions, reflects how complex the conversation can be.

May 30, 2018

Reporting from the OAH: The Future of Civil War Scholarship Outside US Borders

May 30, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

Recent scholarship starts to reimagine the boundaries of Civil War scholarship in continental or international terms and reexamines the role of the West in both the antebellum and wartime periods. The opportunities of this new scholarship were evident in two panels presented at the Organization of American Historians conference in April 2018.

May 07, 2018

Civil War Tourism as City Revitalization: Helena, Arkansas

May 07, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

But our guide also expressed great optimism for the future of Helena and a blooming revitalization of the area, including work planned for that Main Street area to renovate some of the empty buildings into new stores and hotels. A key part of this revitalization, I could tell by the end of the day, was the use of historic tourism and highlighting the history (particularly the Civil War history) of the area.

April 23, 2018

Hamilton: A Review and Thoughts on Revisionism

April 23, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

As a spectator I found it masterfully done; as a historian I found it thought-provoking and intriguing. Hamilton is not a historically accurate portrayal of the life of Alexander Hamilton (although the historical context was pretty spot on in most places), and it was never meant to be. The choices made by the writers, production team, and performers sends many layers of meaning about history, race, diversity, and the relationships between people both then and now.

April 18, 2018

The Meaning of the Emancipation Proclamation

April 18, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

The Emancipation Proclamation changed the course of the war, from protecting the Union to redefining freedom. But far from being the bringer of widespread freedom to all enslaved peoples, the Proclamation was very limited in its power.

March 12, 2018

The Confederate Monument Controversy….in the 1890s

March 12, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

Confederate monuments are at the forefront of politics and national debate these days as American society grapples with the legacy of the Civil War and its aftermath. While this debate seems new and is situated in a modern society that is opening many meaningful, and sometimes divisive, conversations about history, race, and society, controversy over Confederate monuments is not necessarily new.

February 19, 2018

Historic Site Review: Frogmore Cotton Plantation, Natchez, MS

February 19, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

In the midst of conversation and debate about how to best interpret slavery at historic sites, I recently visited Frogmore Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi. When my family signed up to take a tour of this working cotton plantation as part of our Mississippi River cruise, I was admittedly excited but with some trepidation. Viewing the experience through the historian’s lens, it could have been enlightening or terrible.

February 05, 2018

Mississippi Finally “Bans” Slavery

February 05, 2018/ Kathleen Thompson

In February 2013 headlines announced that the state of Mississippi had finally banned slavery. Now this is not to say that the state had been stuck in an Antebellum/Civil War timewarp for the past century and a half. But apparently there were a few oversights along the way.

January 22, 2018

Material Culture and the Confederate Monument Debate

January 22, 2018/ Becca Capobianco

Thus we also need to remember that the monuments we build, the sites we preserve, and the places we name are never just about history. They are and have always been about who we imagine ourselves to be in the present and what we want to be, as a community, in the future.

January 18, 2018

The South Needs to Commemorate Its Southern Unionists

August 25, 2017/ Zac Cowsert

The historical amnesia of the South regarding its black and white Union soldiers should be rectified. By choosing to selectively remember and honor Confederate soldiers while simultaneously ignoring the many Southerners who fought for the Union, Southerners send clear message that loyalty to region, protection of white supremacy, and veneration of the Confederacy are the only legacies of the Civil War worth remembering. If Confederate monuments continue to be torn down, new ones should go up, celebrating those Southerners--black and white--who remained loyal to the Union and brought about “a new birth of freedom.”

August 07, 2017

What Is Your Story?

August 07, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Almost every historian, buff, and enthusiast has an origin story, a memory of how they became interested in history or their particular topic. How they got their “spark” so to speak. What is your story?

July 31, 2017

Flying Dutchmen: The XI Corps at Chancellorsville

July 31, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

In the aftermath of defeat at Chancellorsville, the XI Corps received the bulk of the blame. They had run, had crumbled under Jackson’s attack without resistance. They were labeled cowards and forevermore known as the “Flying Dutchmen.” The nickname was earned within a short period of time on the battlefield but the series of events that caused the XI Corps’ flight was put into action long before that moment, even before the armies knew they would meet in the Wilderness west of Fredericksburg.

July 17, 2017

The Gettysburg Address: A Call to Action for Historians

July 17, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

For most people the Gettysburg Address is something they had to memorize in school or a vaguely understood document from the Civil War. For me, the Gettysburg Address represents inspiration for my future as a historian.

July 03, 2017

War Front and Home Front, Father and Son: A Family’s Contribution to the Civil War (Part II)

July 03, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Dudley’s father, Thomas Worth Olcott, made his contributions on the homefront, in ways that are perhaps less recognizable, but hardly less important, than soldiers.

June 26, 2017

War Front and Home Front, Father and Son: A Family’s Contribution to the Civil War (Part I)

June 26, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Surrounded by the capitol city that has grown up around it, Ten Broeck Mansion was built in 1797-8 outside Albany, NY and remained a private home until it was presented to the Albany County Historical Association in 1948. Although its early history remains a strong focus—to this day it retains the name of its builder and first owner, General Abraham Ten Broeck—the mansion witnessed another upheaval of American History, the Civil War. At the time, the family of Thomas Worth Olcott owned and resided in the house. He and his son, Dudley, both offered their service to the cause of the United States, although in entirely different ways.

June 19, 2017

History in your Backyard!

June 19, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Sure enough, I managed to find some Civil War history in my backyard; and I’m sure there is more here if I just keep looking. So, the next time you see something interesting make sure you take a look, you never know what you will find.

June 12, 2017

"Come and Go with Us": Legacies of Union, Freedom, and Civil War at Yorktown

June 12, 2017/ Becca Capobianco

Yet with their retreat, and the subsequent Union occupation of Yorktown for the rest of the war, the success of this siege had far more deep implications for the legacies of Yorktown and the Revolution.

March 20, 2017

Reporting from USITT: Curating 101

March 20, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Even if you do not work for a big museum, there are opportunities to put together exhibits at colleges, libraries, local sites, or special events. These steps will vary depending of your specific exhibit, but hopefully this framework will help inspire more creative exhibits!

February 13, 2017

Reporting from the AHA: Success Tips for the Academic Job Market

February 13, 2017/ Kathleen Thompson

Several sessions at this year’s meeting of the American Historical Association focused on the job market, and how to successfully land your first job in academia. Here are tips from historians on how to nail your interview and transition to your first job.

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