War places, and the atlanta campaign. Up first this morning, Oklahoma State University Professor Jennifer Murray on the Gettysburg National park. She is, as you know, an expert on the civil war and in expert in military history in general. She has a full publication resume. Her most important book and most recent is entitled on a great battlefield the making, making, management, and memory of Gettysburg National park. It was published in 2013 at the university of tennessee press. She is currently working on a biography of general george which wille, hopefully be published by the university of North Carolina in the civil war series. A faculty member in her. Many of you have been on her battlefield tours which are outstanding, hardly because she cut her teeth as a young torian seasonal here for nine years . Nine years. Nine years. I am pleased to welcome jan murray to talk about her book on murray toon of jen talk about her book on the creation of the Gettysburg National park. Go get em. Murray thank you, pete, for that kind introduction. Hello, everyone. You are more excited than might class. Westonern civ [laughter] murray when i do this talk, at civil war roundtables, i will say, how many of you have been to gettysburg . Everyone raise their raises their hand. I dont need that step this morning, right . How many have been to gettysburg . There we are. I want to talk about the gettysburg battlefield and i always like to preface this by talking about how i got into this topic. You think its fascinating how they came to the projects they are working on. I grew up in western maryland, pretty close to the gettysburg and antietam battlefield. As pete mention, i got a grant as an undergraduate to do an internship, and that summer i on the2 weeks battlefield giving tours to thousands of people around the country and ultimately around the world. I was interested in history at that time, but i didnt know i wanted to be a civil war historian, and that internship turned into eight more summers of working for the National Park service at gettysburg and defined my professional career. Any undergraduates or high in the audience, do an internship. There is no experience like it. I got my phd from auburn, and i was talking to my dissertation director about a topic, what i wanted to write on. After you complete all of your coursework, yours or tatian should be this culminating project of something original, and i was sitting in his office i have an idea appeared on go to do something on the battle of gettysburg. [laughter] prof. Murray he was like, great, jen, thats never been done before. I said, of got something different. I dont want to talk about the battle. I do not want to talk about the 72 hours of fighting. I want to talk about the arelefield to review guys gettysburg experts. Think about all of the books you own on gettysburg just books. Not articles, not magazines. How many books do you think have been written on this threeday battle . Not enough. [laughter] hey, that keeps me in business. Thank you for buying our books. Just monographs, there are at least 6000 books written on 72 hours of American History. 6000 p review can think of them campaign studies, books on the first day, books on the third day, books on geography, books on horses, books on flowers you get the idea, right . 6001. Rote book my book is an exploit edition of the history of the battlefield. The National Park service manages 70 sites that are civil warrelated. The battlefields from gettysburg to antietam to vicksburg to sites like clara barton, Frederick Douglass, and nine of ofse sites are as nine these sites are a special or poignant as gettysburg. We can agree on this. Pete talked about this two nights ago. How this place resonates so deeply in america, the mystic chords of memory. The National Park at gettysburg records a million visitors each year. For many people, this threeday battle defines the american civil war. So, what i was interested in was not the battle, but how the battlefield has been preserved over time or how it has been managed. The question i asked in my dissertation and ultimately my book was if you could visit gettysburg in the 1930s, but with that book look like . If you could visit in the 1940s, during the Second World War, what kind of interpretive experience would you get . How did the National Park service commemorate gettysburg in the 1960s . What did tourism look like in the 1950s . How has preservation philosophy changed over time . How has the nexus of fact and interpretation and fiction and myth, how have they wended together blended together . I want to do is take you through the greatest hits of my book. That is what the students like. They like the greatest hits. We will start with july 1863 and move through 150 years of history and look how the battlefield has changed. It is not static. This landscape evolves over time, significantly. If you look at the photograph on the top right, that is an aerial view. The mostne of commercialized areas in the 1940s and 1950s. The image on the left should be familiar to many of you. Perhaps you have the opportunity to go up and the old tower that 1970s. Up in the how the battlefield has been commercialized and how it has changed over time. One of the questions i try to reconcile is what makes gettysburg different . This battlefield is different and antietam. Its different than chickamauga. Its different than perryville. Its different than shiloh. 51,000ttle, producing casualties in three days, is the bloodiest conflict in American History. The man in the slide is a soldier from the fifth massachusetts who was wounded in the fight at gettysburg. His name is john chase. He got hit at least 48 times. He loses his arm and his eye. 5100 51,000 casualties. Battley, this is the that defines their experiences. And you see that play out in the years after the civil war, during the commemorative era. Unprecedented carnage. This should be a familiar photo. Impact onowing the the civilians. Over 10,000 horses and mules die. N this battlefield the men, union and confederate soldiers are very where they fell. ,hallow, trench graves Something Like this. When the fight is over, when the guns and the artillery fall quiet, northern record,rs start to reflect on gettysburg and the headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer says waterloo eclipsed it is important to think about the comparisons northerners are making. Fight in 1815 that completely changed the landscape of western europe. This puts a lot of expectations on George Gordon meade and the eade, buty to destroy m the public days after gettysburg think this is a battle online any they had ever seen. About 7000 men, union and confederate combined, are killed in the fight. They are left on the battlefield, as i mentioned, in graves like this where they are laid to rest. The northern pennsylvania gettysburgmes to in athe end of the month carriage ride. I hate to say touring, but that is what he does. The governor of pennsylvania is so appalled that the union men who sacrificed their lives are buried in such primitive ways, so the governor of pennsylvania anew sheets the idea for permanent Burial Ground for the union dad. And you know the next the union dad. The union dead. And you know the next step in the story. Land to honorthe those who died so the nation might live. On a very cold pennsylvania fall of thee dedication national cemetery. Linking comes up from washington, d. C. To deliver, as you know, a few appropriate remarks and consecrate this battlefield in a way no other civil war sites have been consecrated. It is different than any other civil war battlefield. Gettysburg residents immediately realize the fight in their farm fields is worth preserving. So, the history of the gettysburg battlefield follows three very clear phases. Three different preservation entities have held responsibility stewardship for this battlefield. You guys know this. The first, the Gettysburg Memorial Association which manages gettysburg until 1895. In 1895, the u. S. War Department Steps in, gives federal backing and manages it until 1830 31 signs andfdr executive order the transfer stewardship from the national War Department to the National Park service. I am going to talk you through a slide or two, walk you through War Department in a few sides, but this is the focus of my book. Looking at the gettysburg battlefield in the 20th century so you get a flavor, a taste of what this landscape looked like in the 20th century. What it looked like over the last 150 years. Of thethe entrepreneurs just a month,eld, six weeks after the fight is talking about preserving the battlefield. There could be no more fitting memorial of the row of valor and signal triumphs of our army than the battlefield itself. So they establish the Gettysburg Memorial Association. This is monumental. 1863, he is riding this. Established. A is think how revolutionary this is. Is still going on. A hard, bloody fighting has yet to come, but people gettysburg rink this battlefield is worth preserving, so they organize and they preserve 522 acres. This is an historic photographs. We are standing on the union lines, looking west toward Seminary Ridge. They purchase over 500 acres of land. They preserve is lines on the union army. They dont do well in preserving. And along Seminary Ridge confederate battle ends battle lines. The firstalso oversee monuments and memorials in the battlefield. This is a cool photograph. You can recognize the monument, rights . Background, you can see some of the early configurations. Monumentsee the early placement. They oversee the early Road Construction about 20 miles of park road will be laid during their tenure, and they do a good. Ob, but they are hampered they have constraints. The biggest constraint is fiscal. They dont have a lot of money to preserve lands. Of thelatter decades gbma, they appeal to the War Department and the war seizes control of gettysburg. Think about whats going on in the 19th century. Failures, promises of reconstruction. Discord, racial issues, the entrenchment of jim crow. The war Department Steps in and preserves five civil war battlefields. Shiloh in 1894. Ontysburg becomes preserved february 11, and i bet you know the individual who spearheads the legislation to make Gettysburg National military park. Thats right. And then the last is going to be the expert. We all talk about books you all should read. Like i tell my students and they say, ok, i am riding it down, dr. Murray. Down, dr. Murray. David blight, race and reunion. Deservesapartment these battlefields first and foremost the War Department preserves these battlefields first and foremost as a memorial to the men who died there. The iconic Union Victory becomes a place where Union Veterans and. Onfederate veterans can meet you have seen some of these historic photographs before. You know some of the stories. On the a photograph hill. I have overlaid some of the names. Some of these. Ze general long street standing very prominently in the center. The governor of pennsylvania, william ohanlon, the famous confederate general. They are coming to gettysburg to reconcile, to bind the nations bind the nations moons, as lincoln says in the second inaugural. Wounds. Nd the nations so if you can drop yourself into one of these conversations, you would hear these men talking roundthe fight at little top, the tactics and the strategies, the generals, the officers, the miseries of campaign, but you would not hear them talking about the Divisive Political and social issues. They are not talking about secession. The not talking about reconstruction. The not talking about jim crow. That is important. You know that. That it becomes important. Hrough the 20th century battlefields as tangible power of place, manifestations of reconciliation permeates our National Discourse through the 20thcentury. In 1913, one of the grand reunions of the civil war occurs here in gettysburg. 50 years later, tens of thousands of union, confederate veterans will camp on the battlefield and they will talk and share stories and reminisce. The president of the united is born in stanton virginia. They call this a peach jubilee. And all across the battlefield of valor, of stories of care of heroism, of courage. This is the governor of virginia. He is here 50 years later. , and he gives a very typical address. We are not here to talk about , he tellss of the war listeners. You have seen these images before. This is probably one of the most Iconic Images of civil war memory. Theres a reconciliation of the civil war. Era,hat War Department of of causes, devoid it permeates the consciousness of the civil war, what it was about, what it was forever. That stands the test of time to today. You know this. 1920s, let me show you a few other photographs. Apartment uses the battlefield first and foremost as a landscape to commemorate the men who fought there. Thethey also use battlefield in utilitarian ways. This is a cool photograph. Photograph you see that this is above the high watermark, all the west point cadets here. Wearingleft, the men civilian clothes are some of the park commissioners. Are unionsioners soldiers. Davidn look at detroit eisenhower dashed white David Eisenhower visiting. Right David Eisenhower visiting. They bring the cadets here. They talk about leadership. What it means to fight successful campaign. That is part and parcel of the civil war. The War Department will use gettysburg in a very utilitarian fashion. The u. S. War department establishes camp colt and that facility andining it is established on the field of picketts charge. This is a photograph. Look at the tank in the center. If you ever wonder why dwight David Eisenhower says has such an affinity for gettysburg, he is the captain of cap cold. He is here training young tank officers before they go over to western europe. Imagine being the park commissioner. Park commissioners are veterans. They far at gettysburg and they are looking across the landscape and they see world war i tanks roaming across the fields of picketts charge. The army tank do you know what do War Department builds colthese cap cold camp officers . They build a Swimming Pool. Imagine a Massive Concrete Swimming Pool. They are furious about this women pool and when the war is , are you keep writing guys going to fill this in . Are you going to take care of this Swimming Pool . This is how the War Department of use gettysburg as utilitarian landscape. Chickamauga, the same. They are used during the spanishamerican war, but this is one of the more egregious examples of use by the u. S. War department. Camp colt. The big change occurs in 1933. One of the things that struck me when i was lighting the dissertation and researching writing the dissertation and ,esearching as a phd candidate the history of gettysburg does not occur in a vacuum. This place is not managed or preserved in a vacuum. Social, political, economic events influenced this. This is a great example. When the u. S. War Department Transfers ownership of gettysburg to the National Park service, its 1930 three. What is going on in 1933 . The Great Depression. 25 of americans are unemployed. Severe, unprecedented economic plight and now the National Park service assumes control of 57 Historic Sites including gettysburg. The National Park service is not a new agency. So the National Park service centennial. Its they have not managed Historic Sites. Think about some of the early park service sites. They managed Historic Sites including gettysburg. Hey get control of 2000 acres and unlike today, the National Park service does not have a uniform management philosophy. So much of how a park like gettysburg is managed depended on the local superintendent. James mcconaughey he is a harvard graduate. He has a degree in landscape architecture. So when he comes to gettysburg, his management philosophy is to manage the park, preserve the battlefield as a beautiful landscape. The park is encouraging visitors to come to gettysburg to look at flowers. Beautiful spring foliage. Come to round top and look at the beautiful fall foliage. Mcconaughey thinks that the monuments are an impediment to these beautiful flowers. Today in the 20 century, that makes a strange, that is procedureark service in those days. All of its the Great Depression, and theres lots to memorize, the tva, the w. P. A. , this is come back, right . Ironically, gettysburg in the Great Depression sees unparalleled, unprecedented boom, and its the creation of the modern infrastructure of the park that we see today. Gettysburg is going to host two, two civilian conservation camps. Remember, this is the program that roosevelt, its his brain child to put young men to work, ultimately over two million young people will be ccc employees until the program is terminated until 1982. One of the camps is down the confederate line where the amphitheater is at, stop six today. I still associate places with stops on the route. This is mcmillan woods, one of the other camps. So gettysburg hosts two of these camps. Other civil war parks do as well. Other state parks host ccc camps. Its not uncommon. But what i found interesting, and what does make gettysburgs ccc camps in the 1930s unique is who is working there. And those of you up front, if you look at the picture and the dividuals in it, what do you notice about the ccc workers . Im thinking american. Now, that in itself is not unique particularly. Shy low National Military park hosts a africanamerican ccc camp in tennessee, in the 1930s. Gettysburg is different. The roan eelees are africanamerican, but roosevelt is going to sign off in making gettysburg a test case that not only are the enrollees africanamerican, but so is the supervisor. So instead of being under the control of a white supervisor, much like the usct organization, gettysburg is going to see a black superintendent. His name is frederick shade, and he arrives here in 1936. Until 1942, hundreds of africanamericans toil on the gettysburg battlefield, doing stuff like this. You all probably use this particular facility before, i bet, right . I know i have. You recognize it . That is the comfort station bathroom by the pennsylvania memorial. Theyre building modern infrastructure. Route 30, out by the first aid field, the bathroom there, thats built in the 19 positives. Thats what the ccc workers are doing. Theyre beautifying monuments, upkeeping monuments. Theyre protecting or building or upgrading roads. Theyre doing a lot of the modern infrastructure. Here they are in the Soldiers National cemetery painting the lafayette fence. Remember the one that was first in washington, d. C. , the lafayette fence, lafayette field has moved to the hill, and then its going to be placed in between the Soldiers National cemetery and the evergreen cemetery. Here they are upgrading it. So if you can drop your cell phone in gettysburg battlefield in 1930s, you would see a very active, engaged park, one that is becoming more modern, reflective of what we see and enjoy today. The en comes what ends Great Depression, not the new deal, but the Second World War. When i was reading through the 1940s, this period of the park, i was wondering how the world war ii generation would use or relate to gettysburg. On december 7, 1941, the nation is torn from its isolation sentiment and the u. S. Is going to be propelled into the bloodiest war that the world has ever seen. And president roosevelt is going to make use of civil war battlefields. When president roosevelt promises that the United States would be an arsenal of democracy, he needs scrap metal to produce the liberty ships. Where does some of that scrap metal come from . It comes from civil war battlefields. Chattanooga, vicksburg, they all donate. Gettysburg will donate 18 tons, tons of civil war orderments, monuments, placards, decorative material, canon balls, to the scrap drive by 1942, 18 tons. During the Second World War, when you need scrap to build stuff like the liberty ship, again, the federal government looks to gettysburg and the civil war parks and begins to disassemble some of their commemorative landscapes. One of the most interesting documents i read you know, being in the archives some days is just incredibly laborious, but you find these gems of a document. One of the best documents i found in the 19 hoes during the Second World War was this fear that the war would become so total that the gettysburg battlefield would have to completely systematically disassemble its democrat raverb landscape, meaning the National Park Service Superintendent wrote an itinerary that prioritized all of the monuments on the gettysburg battlefield, if the war became that bad, we are going to melt them down. Now, you can think in the 1930s, 1940s, some of the monuments that you would want to be preserved at gettysburg, which one would you pick and say if the war comes that bad, do not melt down these monuments . Which ones would you want the park service to preserve at ettysburg in pennsylvania . Virginians heard from today. Mea de, id want that monument preserved for sure. What about the pennsylvania monument . What about the lincoln speech monument . Those are the ones you would think would be preserved, and you can read this itinerary in the very last category of monuments not to be melted down, not to be melted down, because theyre so important. The park service listed three. One of them was virginia. First Confederate Monument opened in 1917. The second one was North Carolina. A monument thats scrument by the same individual that does mount rushmore, so it had artistic merit. The third monument is the state of alabama. So the National Park services priority, if the war becomes so cataclysmic that theyve disassemble the the monuments, is to save the three confederate state monuments. They justify this because of the monuments artistic merit. We know the war doesnt become that bad, but think about disasempling the gettysburg commemorative structure, think about what the veterans would have said about that, how important those monuments were to them at the time they erected them. So visitation to gettysburg in the 1940s is trickles. Of course, roosevelt and the u. S. Government puts all sorts of constraints, gas rationing, it makes it really hard to travel. So the visitation is pretty low. If you could come to gettysburg in the early part of the 19 hoes, mostly what you would see are officers. This is a cool photograph. Theyre standing at the meade memorial, and you can see to he back left the zeigler grove tower, the War Department tower. That one is torn down in the 1960s to place the other building. But thats who would be visiting here, such as these men. The battlefield again becomes a training ground. Here they are practicing for Chemical Warfare on the fields n october of 1943. Gettysburg is also going to host a german prisoner of war camp. I dont have a photo of that, because ive never seen one. If any of you have of the german p. O. W. Camp, i would love to see it. Gettysburg hosts hundreds of german prisoners of war here. Many of them go to work in the apple orchards, this area is lucrative, so lucrative for apple production, the german prisoners of war are going to do that kind of work. So utilitarian. But what are americans thinking about gettysburg, about the battle in the 1940s . One of the things that became really evident to me that really struck me is how popular Abraham Lincoln is in the 1940s. Lincoln sees ebbs and flows of popularity. He starts to become popular again in the 1930s, and he becomes incredibly popular in popular discourse in the 1940s, during the Second World War. You will see lincoln andth in gettysburg address being used, maligned, for all sorts of propaganda or patriotic purposes. Heres the propaganda u. S. War department encouraging men to enlist with the line of the gettysburg address, we shall highly resolve that these men shall not have died in vain. Gary wills writes a great book on link responsibility gettysburg address. His speech is the shortest. Its 272 words, its over in two minutes. But wills argues in his book on the gettysburg address is that what makes lincolns gettysburg address so phenomenal is that its timeless. That subsequent generations of americans can read the gettysburg address and breathe whatever life they need to into it. Its not surprising in the 1940s when millions of people are losing individual liberties around the world, and millions of people are falling to totalitarianism or nazism or fascism all around the globe. Its not surprising that americans look to the ettysburg address and they see emblematic of government, democracy, government of the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth. So during the Second World War, americans look at gettysburg for inspiration. They study this battle. They read the gettysburg address. And they think about the sacrifices made here in 1963, and they use them to propel or to motivate themselves in the Second World War. So history and gettysburg becomes relevant, it becomes tangible. It pervades our popular consciousness. And by 1945, at a cost of, what, 60 Million People around the world, the Second World War is over. And hundreds, tens of thousands of american g. I. s come home. And the baby boom generation with tourism picks up, and gettysburg becomes a place that people start to visit. In the thousands. After the Second World War, into the 1950s, gettysburg becomes incredibly popular. This is the berth of modern commercialization. Youll recognize some of the places here. This is the first field. You can see john follow ton reynolds moan ureget the buford monument on the left. This is route 30 looking towards town. You can see it littered with commercialization. Americans are visiting sites that they find inspirational, patriotic. And when you visit sites, the National Park Service Needs to create the infrastructure to support them or businesses need to create the infrastructure to support them. So gas stations will come on the battlefield. Hotels, motels come on the battlefield. This is the piece light inn t. Goes up in the postworld war ii era. After youre done talking about Alfred Iverson and the first days fight, you can have a refreshing cocktail, some , afood, hopefully not seafood some beer, on the first ace field. Now, we look at stuff like this today and just cringe, because were all really stuverage presexists, but this is common. And during the 1950s, the United States sees a surge in the civil war popular interests, civil war round tables. Manufacture are you members of the civil war round tables. They see their genesis and their surge in the 1950s, reenacting becomes popular, the Northsouth Skirmish Association is formed in the late 1950s, and all eyes during the civil war centennial are going to turn to gettysburg. I talk about the civil war centennial. Do not forget this occurs simultaneous to the civil rights movement. So as americans are commemorating or celebrating the civil war, its also a period of unprecedented social racial unrest in the United States, but particularly in the deep south. Thats the freedom riders in anniston, alabama. While many parks host centennial condemnations, none will be as monument, as pinnacle as gettysburg. So whats going on in gettysburg in the 1960s . The south sees a surge of interest in the gettysburg battlefield and will create, erect, dedicate monuments. So all the controversy we have today about monuments, the lee memorial in charlottesville or new orleans, any of this discourse about civil war monuments is its imperative to understand the era in which they were erected. The gettysburg monuments, confederates, except for virginia, alabama, and North Carolina, mostly go up in the 1960s and 1970s. This is a georgia monument. The individual on the right is the governor of georgia, and this monument goes up in september of 1961. Theyre very much civil war centennials. You would see pageantry like this. You would see the president of the United States coming to visit gettysburg. This is president kennedy and his wife to the right doing a tour of the battlefield with the colonel. Here at little round top, Vice President Lyndon Baynes Johnson shows up, former president dwight David Eisenhower shows up. This is the place to be. For over two weeks, gettysburg hosts parades and pageantry all through the town. The National Park service is prepared to meet the onslaught of visitors with a beautiful ew museum. If you look to the right, find the circle object, thats the building which the National Park Service Debuts in march of 1962. And you can see all those little white specks are cars, thousands. We always gripe about parking. I cant get a good place to park by the visitor center. See, its the same. Its the same. Gettysburg is going to see over two Million People, two Million People come to gettysburg during a send ten yal year. The battlefield is used as an occasion to commemorate, to celebrate, reenact 789, but its also an occasion where governors and dignitaries can talk about the kimp air civil rights movement. So here, the governor of new jersey, whos laying a wreath at one of the new jersey monuments on cemetery ridge, ses this occasion, his oration, to talk about the unfulfilled promises of the american civil war. In 1963, hes telling, reminding listeners that the civil war was not fought to presembt union white or jim crow, but it was fought for liberty and justice for all, flying in the face zpwf like wars counter North Carolina. So theyre tying the civil rights movement, lincolns new birth of freedom, to the civil war centennial. Thats a northerner. The most prominent southerner to come to the gettysburg battlefield to lay a wreath and deliver an oration is george wallace. George wallace comes to gettysburg in early july, and he will lay a wreath at the alabama memorial, and he also gives a short speech at the South Carolina memorial. Think about the timing, good morning wallace, governor of alabama, just two months ago at this time had delivered a speech flying in the face of racial intersbration. Remember, save alabama has two land institutions, big schools. Im a graduate of the better one. [laughter] hes delivering a speech at the other i can see cspan, like the tuscaloosa ratings are just going down right now. They just bottomed out. Hes delivering a speech about segregation, and now here he is at gettysburg deluffering a speech about constitutionalism. He talks about states rights of. If you could visit the battlefield and take a tour, you would have an interpretive experience that really was no different than those union and confederate veterans shaking hands in 1913. The park service talks about the battle, the tactics, the men who fought, the soldiers, theyre not talking about divisive issues, because thats an narrative that makes americans comfortable. Its sanitized, but it is comfortable. Then, then it explodes. So i want to go through the last bit of time that and i have talk to you quickly about the latter years of the 20th century, into the 21st century. The National Park service gets a new superintendent, probably a familiar face to manufacture you, dr. John latschar. He has an idea that they should Start Talking about those divisive issues. Instead of avoiding them, this is an opportunity to have important conversations about what those men were fighting for in 1863. Last year has a ph. D. In history. Hes also an army veteran. Hes going to be aided with congress. In 2000, mandating that federally management civil war sites include a discussion of slavery. So whether youre at fort sumter or gettysburg or Frederick Douglass house, the National Park service now has an obligation to have some conversation about causes of the civil war, including slavery, in its exhibits. And nor a narrative, since 1963, that avoided that deliberately, you can imagine how cataclysmic this change in interpretation is. And that comes to fruition with the opening of the new Visitors Center. Youve all been in there. You know what im talking about, this building opens in 2008, and you can go into the new Visitors Center now, go through the museum, and you can get a discussion of slavery, you can get a discussion of reconstruction. Youll get a full picture of the wars political, cultural, economic issues, and the battle, of course. But this is so different than what weve seen the veterans established themselves. So when it comes out for public conversation, tens of thousands of americans recoil that places like gettysburg is going to be talking about slavery. One of the most famous opponents to that is jerry russell, a prominent member of an arkansas Political Group who says that if you talk about slavery at civil war sites, his words, it would be a cosmic threat. A cosmic threat. The National Park service opens this plan to talk about slavery for public consumption, and over 4,000 people in about a month and a half, two months, write in to National Park service, public record, telling the National Park service their thoughts on how slavery should be included in this conversation. Theyre all public record. That is some of the funnest stuff i got to go through. Its so revealing to see how americans view gettysburg. So the National Park service has two plans in the latter part of the administration, the slavery inclusion in the new museum, it al lowls the landscape rehabilitation almost to fly under the radar. This is a neat photograph. This is the construction of that toumplet you can see how close it was to the Soldiers National cemetery. This goes up in the middle part of the 1970s. Bruce calls it an abomination. People complain when it goes up. Its an intrusion, its too close to the national cemetery. They complain when it goes down. Thats the recurring gettysburg theme, right . Whats lincoln say, you cant please some of the people all the time so. It goes down july 3, 2000, and it allows the National Park service to kick off this period of rehabilitating the battlefield. You all have experienced this. So now you can see what the battlefield closely looked like in 1963, but golly, was this controversial. The individual on the top says the gettysburg is not an arboretum, it is not a bird sanctuary, so restore it. Another person on the bottom says visitors dont care if gettysburg looked like it did in 1863 or not, but the National Park service pushes through a plan to rehabilitate the battlefield to its close approximation of how the union and confederate soldiers saw it in 1863 july. Youve seen some of this. You can stand here at the new york artillery battery. These are smith guns and doubles defpble being look across the field to where the confederate as tacked, and you would say how can they fire through the thick wood lot . Then the National Park service clear cuts it, and its amazing. Now you can see clear lines of fire. I work for the National Park service during this time, and it was amazing. I could so much better interpret the battlefield which i could explain to visitors the landscape youre seeing is pretty accurate to what the soldiers saw in 1963. Clear consult the area down by devils den. Theres one of the 1930s restrooms, so they clear cut it, and that thing sticks out like a sore thumb, so awful. What do they do with it then . Tear it down. So the battlefield over the last 20 years has seen some dramatic changes, arguably the most dramatic changes in its entire history. This museum, which the park service acquired in the 1970s, the old rosensteel museum, became the Visitors Center, across from the national cemetery, was torn down. It closes in april of 2008, and then it torn down a year later. We all can sort of finally remember the electric map. I know, right . I miss the electric map and the exhibits. The other building is torn down after the centennial, sesquicentennial after the 150th, allowing us to see the area of zeiglers grove unimpeded for the buffet, right . Are you ready for it, the old charge ice joke, just it . It never goes well, does it . It didnt go well for pickett either. Let me leave but words of someone whom weve talked about before. Joshua lawrence chamberlain. Gettysburg is a place unlike any other. This battlefield, this landscape, 6,000 acres, is acreage like nothing else. Its a place thats so powerful. So powerful. And . Joshua lawrence chamberlains estimation, this is a photograph of the dead cafplgtse he said in great deeds, something abides o. Great fields, something stays. I think we all echo that sentiment, even in 2019. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its captioning content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] weve got time for questions. Come up to the mic. Yeah, i cant think of the mans exact name, but the secretary of the interior decided that everyone who came found a burg needed to ball. And so at night, state and local security prisoners went out to the battlefield, and they see the battlefield. With that being said, and pretending the policy that you cant take anything out does not exist, is there any way, if you see a mini ball on the battlefield, that you could tell if its 1863 or 1953 . Youre right. The policy about taking stuff out of the battlefield is not permitted. Law enforcement folks give people who apparently take things from the battlefield, and then mail them back to them with like this apology. They feel guilty. So dont pick anything off the battlefield, fine eisenhower aid it was ok. First of all, thanks for the presentation. You really showed us how after the triumph over adversity, they got the fruits of victory, and they didnt stop to do other things. For instance, there was a National Hockey league back then, they wouldnt waste time talking about the stanley cup playoffs. Heyd be working with victory. With the camp consult, all we hear about is eisenhower. Have you found any other famous officers who went through camp . For instance, patton was a tanker. Did he go through the camp or any other famous names . Thats a great question, al, and i hope Brooke Simpson is working on the graham biography as we speak. So the question to your answer is no. The short answer is no. Eisenhower seems to get all the acclaim. I havent seen anyone else prominently figured here at gettysburg, but theres a new book on gettysburg world war i, mark snell wrote it, and its terrific. It talks about the impact of world war i on the battlefield to the civilians with influence ens aand how the landscape changed, all the problems associated with that. I suspect, if you want to know a little bit more, look into mark snells book. He would be well suited to answer that. Thank you for that question. In john brownes body, Steve Vincent took a jab at commercialism at gettysburg by saying you that i tour, go past the strange monumental men, and then its buy to buy a paper weight and hope you dont break it. Just how early did commercialism become a problem that people paid attention to at gettysburg . Commercialism starts in july of 1863. We know this. Even as the armies are retreating from the field, local residents are coming and theyre starting to collect objects. Thats how the rosensteel museum, now the National Park service museum, is established. Its a collection of materials right after the battle of gettysburg. Even in the 1880s, latter part of the 19th century, it prominently figures as a tourist site. The springs hotel, union and confederate veterans are doing, doing touristy things. There are dance halls, all sorts of trolley lines that crisscross through the battlefield, making it accessible, a tourist destination. We lament that in the 20th century. The Home Sweet Home hotel that used to sit there, but that has always been a story of gettysburg. That has always been a part of the history. Thank you for your question. Yes, its always a continuum, and as you say, theres some things you realize later that shouldnt have been done and have been rectified. So what things do you think are happening right now that you think in the future were going to say, why did we do it that way, and should we change . Thats a great question. I think now the preservation philosophies are reversible. Thats sort of what guides the park service, not to do anything that would be permanent. So the changes or the modification that is theyre making now, if in time to 100 years, its seen as being antiquated, that can be changed. I think the philosophy of managing the landscape to how it landscape to how it looked at the time of battle is remarkable. Gettysburg doing this sets a trend or precedent for other sites to do the same. Cut and that clear gives us a richer interpretive experience. Thank you for your question. Oncould you please comment how monuments, past and present, are chosen or allowed to be chosen to be included onto the battlefield. A great question with a complicated story. Its called a line of battle rule. That monuments could go on the battlefield have to be placed on the line of battle. You see violent debates about this. The 15th alabama wants to erect little round on top. Permits of battle rule does not allow him to do so. You can see monuments systematically where they are placed, they have to go through approval for location. They go through approval for design. All very methodical. The National Park service has a moratorium that no more monuments will be directed on the gettysburg battlefield. That is a great question with a lot of political increase that political intrigue. I will be around so if you did not get a chance to ask me a question please come and see me. Have a great sunday. Thank you all. You were great. [applause] thank you so much, jan. You are watching live coverage of the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute summer conference on cspan3 American History tv. After the break, we will be back with louisiana State University history professor on civil war violence. 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