{"id":7859,"date":"2014-05-12T13:08:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T18:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=7859"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:37:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:37:54","slug":"civilwar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=7859","title":{"rendered":"Civil War research gives students ‘experience of a lifetime’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"UNC<\/a>
UNC professor Eliza Richards and a visitor at the opening of the Wilson Library exhibition “Imagining the Civil War, 1861-1900.” The students in Richards’ class curated the exhibition, which will remain on view through July 20, 2014. (photo courtesy UNC Library by Kelly Creedon.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

On a Tuesday morning at the end of March, students Hannah Wallace, \u201916, and Sarah Rabon, \u201914, hover over a glass-topped exhibit case in the middle of the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room at UNC\u2019s Wilson Special Collections Library.<\/p>\n

Librarians have retrieved several Civil War-era books and pamphlets for today\u2019s visit and propped them open with foam holders. Nearby, two laptops display records for the items in the Library\u2019s online catalog.<\/p>\n

As the final weeks of the semester approach, Wallace and Rabon are facing more than just the typical academic deadlines.<\/p>\n

They are two of the 21 students in Associate Professor of English Eliza Richards’<\/a> American literature seminar \u201cImagining the U.S. Civil War.\u201d This morning they are working on the class\u2019s semester-long project: a student-curated exhibit drawn from the rich collections of Wilson Library.<\/p>\n

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In less than one month, friends, parents and the general public \u2014 likely including Civil War historians and professors \u2014 will show up for a reception and \u201cgallery tour\u201d where students will talk about the various Library materials they\u2019ve chosen to display.<\/p>\n

\"UNC<\/a>
UNC students and Wilson Library staff members prepare materials for the student-curated exhibition “Imagining the U.S. Civil War, 1861-1900.” (photo courtesy of UNC Library by Kelly Creedon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMany classes do activities and research assignments where the students work hands-on with our materials,\u201d says Rare Book Research Librarian Emily Kader, who guided the students through the project. \u201cHowever, few work collaboratively at such length the way these students have done. And fewer still get to produce work that will be shared with real readers and viewers, rather than remaining in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some students, the class and exhibit provided their first introduction to the Wilson Special Collections Library and the Rare Book Collection. Just as importantly, the project revealed the transformative power of research.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this experience, my entire perception of working with library materials has changed,\u201d says Corinne Goudreault \u201915. \u201cThe idea of research is far less intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, as the end of the semester approaches, the pressure to complete the project remains. As Wallace says, \u201cThis was an unknown for all of us. I didn\u2019t know what I was getting into. I don\u2019t think any of us did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UNC<\/a>
UNC student Brianna Rhodes describes her contribution to the Wilson Library exhibition “Imagining the U.S. Civil War, 1861-1900.” (Courtesy UNC Library. Photos by Kelly Creedon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Laid out on the table is a brown book with gilt decoration \u2014 Nurse and Spy in the Union Army, <\/i>Sarah Emma Edmonds\u2019s 1865 memoir about fighting in the Civil War disguised as a man named \u201cFranklin Flint Thompson.\u201d That hundreds of women cross-dressed and fought in battle is just one of many surprises that students encountered. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole different side of the Civil War that you don\u2019t usually get to see,\u201d says Wallace.<\/p>\n

Students are also facing other unfamiliar pressures, such as writing labels in a style distinct from academic writing in order catch the attention of the visitors who will circulate through the exhibit. Shrinking 1,000-word texts down to the 80 or 100 words that are customary on exhibit labels is a challenge, and students were helped in this task by Special Collections Exhibits and Outreach Coordinator Rachel Reynolds.<\/p>\n

As Rabon says, the name of the game now is \u201ccondense, condense, condense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt took a village\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The collaboration was long in the making, with the idea for a student-curated exhibit first emerging out of discussions between Richards and Curator of Rare Books Claudia Funke about the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Richards and Kader worked intensively over the summer to create themed bibliographies that would aid students in finding and selecting exhibit items.<\/p>\n

Student teams coalesced around topics with strong representation in the Wilson Library collections, such as Confederate pamphlets, African American accounts of slavery and freedom, and early \u201cdime novels,\u201d which were read by soldiers on the front as well as civilians.<\/p>\n

Several exhibit sections highlighted frequently underrepresented aspects of the war such as poetry, memoirs, and fiction by women, and propagandistic literature written for children in both the Union and the Confederacy.<\/p>\n

Other teams focused on:<\/p>\n