Abraham lincolns hand. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this took place virtually, and the New York Historical society provided the video. Good evening, everyone. It is my absolute delight and pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with my good friend and professional colleague Harold Holzer. And as we said, please feel free to use the q a button at the bottom or the top of the screen and well get to as many questions toward the end. Lets turn our attention to some objects that help us describe the civil war. And might we see the cover of our book, civil war in 50 objects. In the museum realm, particularly the history museum, the art, objects, and documents on display have the power to stand in for a larger historical narrative conveying so much more than what is structurally defining of that object itself. But harold, what about our book civil war in 50 objects . How did this come about, and how effective is it at conveying the narrative of the civil war in 50 objects . Its kind of
They said mr. President , what do you think, and he said, well, it reminds me of the story of the young woman who put on her stockings and she looked up and said, i think theres something in it. I dont know if they got this, you know, theres something in it, but they went to work immediately. They took that to be a yes. Yeah, thats a go, but its a good thing because the confederates are, you know, building this ship, so they rushed back to new york with a model, and they get to work on the actual ship. The image that sort of shows the launch of the monitor . Yeah. And its, you know, i feel a certain kinship to the monitor because it was built in my mothers ancestral home of green point. Theres still an Erickson Park there, my mother went to the monitor school when she was in 1921, its still there. Built in the 1890s, so its very much their town, but there was a big shed where ships were made, and it all converted today and night, 24 7 production of this ship with a very crew of workers
Publication the civil war in 50 objects. In this program they discuss documents related to slavery, abolition and recruising freedman to the union army. So now i would like to turn our to some objects to help us describe the civil war. As a curator in the museum realm, particularly the history museum, i am always struck by how art objects, documents on display, have the power to stand in for larger historical narratives, than what they are structurally defined by in an object. For those of you who missed last weeks program, lets talk about this book. How did it come about and how effective do you think it is at the narrative suite of the civil war in only 50 objects . Well, it came about as i confess last week because louise mirror asked me to undertake the project for the Historical Society. And it was a lucky day for me. And you remember we got to see three times 50 objects, an array before us on some conference tables in the Historical Society so it was a matter of picturing represe
Technology. This conversation took place on line due to the coronavirus pandemic and the New York Historical society provided the video. Harold, weve been talking in this series about the power of objects to be touchstones of historical events, to be con duties for understanding the past. Its a thrill and an extraordinary experience to be a historian at New York Historical where i work alongside these treasures and use them in my exhibitions. Lets talk for a second about the inspiration for this program, the book civil war in 50 objects. How can 50 objects tell such a sweeping story . We used to ask ourselves that question often when we were whittling down the list and there was so much to choose from. The way we did it, as i recall, is first we discussed the medium of the object, we wanted photographs, paintings, documents, relics, and then we wanted to represent every year of the civil war. First the year leading up to it and then 1861, 2, 3, 4, 5. By the time we shifted through the
What were going to do today, ladies and gentlemen, is were going to do robert e. Lee in the postwar years. And my coworker, when they were upstairs before we came down, asked me if this was going to be a beatification, which never hit me, but it might, because i am a big fan of robert e. Lee. What im hoping to do, among others, besides give you a timeline as to what robert e. Lee did in the postwar years, which i think is obviously the most often overlooked portion of his life, because the civil war is always going to be first and foremost. The other main theme of this lecture, im going to try to get across to you, the park service is big on themes, is that the amount of i wouldnt say that he did a lot of work in theory, but through his own personal example is probably the best way, through his own personal example, robert e. Lee tries to reconcile the nation. And what i think a lot of us as americans today have forgotten is that how far apart this country was in 1865. I think it is th