Joan Cashin, Subject Matter: Material Culture in the Civil War Era

Time: 5 p.m.
Event Host: Arts and Humanities
Short Description: Historians of the United States have recently discovered, or rediscovered, the material dimension of the human past. Scholars have done a good deal of excellent scholarship on the colonial period, the late 19th century, and the 20th century, but they have neglected the Civil War era.

Historians of the United States have recently discovered, or rediscovered, the material dimension of the human past. Scholars have done a good deal of excellent scholarship on the colonial period, the late 19th century, and the 20th century, but they have neglected the Civil War era. In this talk, Joan Cashin will explore the material culture of the war, specifically the Revolutionary-era artifacts that the region contained when the war erupted in 1861. The South included large physical landmarks associated with the Revolution, such as forts, remnants of forts and homes of Revolutionary figures, as well as a widely dispersed array of hundreds of personal objects owned by the Founders and their relatives. Soldiers in both armies, plus members of the civilian population, viewed these artifacts as precious relics that had to be protected from the enemy. Their struggle over these artifacts can provide new ways of thinking about material culture and collective memory in 19th-century America. RSVP.

Reception will accompany each lecture. Free and open to the public.

List of 2015-2016 lectures.