The Gettysburg National Military Park has announced their 2019 Winter Lecture Series, Book Discussions, and Young Readers programs.
January 5 – March 31
Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 pm
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
| Date | Program | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| Sat. Jan. 5 | The Unfinished Work: The World Wars at Gettysburg | Jared Frederick, Penn State |
| Sun. Jan. 6 | Roger B. Taney and his Changing Place in American History | Karlton Smith |
| Sat. Jan. 12 | The Battle of Bristoe Station – Lee Renews the Offensive | Matt Atkinson |
| Sun. Jan. 13 | “I have never seen so much damage” – The George Rose Farm at Gettysburg | John Heiser |
| Sat. Jan. 19 | If These Things Could Talk: Artifacts in the Collection of Gettysburg National Military Park | Tom Holbrook |
| Sun. Jan. 20 | Five Men on a Slow Boat Going Nowhere: The Hampton Roads Conference of Feb. 3., 1865 | Bert Barnett |
| Sat. Jan. 26 | The Wills Family & Lincoln’s Visit: Life in a Northern Town | Troy Harman |
| Sun. Jan. 27 | Specimens of Morbid Anatomy: Gettysburg Anatomy in the Army Medical Museum | Savannah Rose |
| Sat. Feb. 2 | The War for the Common Soldier | Dr. Peter Carmichael, Gettysburg College |
| Sun. Feb. 3 | “On the Tenuous Edge of Freedom: Gettysburg’s African-American Community Before, During, and After the Battle.” | John Hoptak |
| Sat. Feb. 9 | Scapegoat or Scandal?: JEB Stuart during the Gettysburg Campaign | Matt Atkinson |
| Sun. Feb. 10 | Twilight at Gettysburg: The 1938 Reunion of the Blue and the Gray | Christopher Gwinn |
| Sat. Feb. 16 | Eisenhower and the American Civil War | Daniel Vermilya Eisenhower National Historic Site |
| Sun. Feb. 17 | From Albuquerque to Richmond: Longstreet’s Long Journey from New Mexico to the Seat of War | Karlton Smith |
| Sat. Feb. 23 | Unprecedented Discovery at Manassas National Battlefield | Brandon Bies Manassas National Battlefield Park |
| Sun. Feb. 24 | Lincoln Mythed: Memorial Biographies and the Damage Done to History – A Discussion | Bert Barnett |
| Sat. March 2 | College Students in the Battle of Gettysburg: A Different Kind of Soldier | Troy Harman |
| Sun. March 3 | Roger B. Taney and His Changing Place in American History | Karlton Smith |
| Sat. March 9 | The Battle of Bristoe Station – Lee Renews the Offensive | Matt Atkinson |
| Sun. March 10 | Five Men on a Slow Boat Going Nowhere: The Hampton Roads Conference of Feb. 3., 1865 | Bert Barnett |
| Sat. March 16 | The Wills Family & Lincoln’s Visit: Life in a Northern Town | Troy Harman |
| Sun. March 17 | “On the Tenuous Edge of Freedom: Gettysburg’s African-American Community Before, During, and After the Battle.” | John Hoptak |
| Sat. March 24 | If These Things Could Talk: Artifacts in the Collection of Gettysburg National Military Park | Tom Holbrook |
| Sun. March 25 | Scapegoat or Scandal?: JEB Stuart during the Gettysburg Campaign | Matt Atkinson |
| Sat. March 31 | Lincoln Mythed: Memorial Biographies and the Damage Done to History – A Discussion | Bert Barnett |
2019 Battlefield Book Series
January 5 – March 2
Saturdays from 11 am – 12 pm
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
Meeting from 11 am – 12 pm, every Saturday from January 5 to March 2, this series will examine significant works of history and literature on topics related to the battle of Gettysburg and the American Civil War. We invite you to read along over the course of the winter before attending the informal one hour discussions in the Ford Education Center of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. The Park staff will lead the meetings, providing a brief overview of that week’s topic and discuss the chapters read. All programs are free of charge and open to the public. Schedule is subject to change.
From January 5 to February 2 we will examine our first book, The War for the Common Soldier by Dr. Peter Carmichael. Carmichael, director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, scrutinizes how soldiers endured the brutal and unpredictable existence of army life during the Civil War. “Based on close examination of the letters and records left behind by individual soldiers from both the North and the South, Carmichael explores the totality of the Civil War experience–the marching, the fighting, the boredom, the idealism, the exhaustion, the punishments, and the frustrations of being away from families who often faced their own dire circumstances.”
From February 9 to March 2 we will examine our second book, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust. Faust chronicles “the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation, describing how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God.”
We hope you will join us this winter, read along, and share your thoughts and perspectives on these two fascinating books.
The War for the Common Soldier by Dr. Peter Carmichael
January 5 to February 2
January 5 – Chapter 1-5
January 12 – Chapter 6-10
January 19 – Chapter 11-15
January 26 – Chapter 16-20
February 2 – Chapter 21-26 ~ A conversation with Dr. Peter Carmichael
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust
February 9 to March 2
February 9 – Chapter 1-2
February 16 – Chapter 3-4
February 23 – Chapter 5-6
March 2 – Chapter 7-Epilogue
2019 Winter Reading Adventures
For kids who love to read, parents who want their kids to love to read, and for budding history buffs everywhere! Our 2019 Winter Reading Adventures theme is: One Great Historical Adventure – Two Unique Stories. A park educator will read aloud two different children’s books about the same person, place, or event. All programs are free of charge and open to the public. Schedule is subject to change.
January 5 – February 23
Saturdays at 11 am
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
January 5: Founders and Freedom
Those Rebels, John & Tom – by Barbara Kerley
Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence – by Gretchen Woelfle
January 12: The People’s House
The House that George Built – by Suzanne Slade
Brick by Brick – by Charles R. Smith Jr.
January 19: Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog For The President – by Shirley Raye Redmond
I Am Sacagawea – by Brad Meltzer
January 26: The Civil War/Battle of Gettysburg
Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysburg Address – by Jean Fritz
The Cemetery Keepers of Gettysburg – by Linda Oatman High
February 2: Westward Expansion
Locomotive – by Brian Floca
Crazy Horse’s Vision – by Joseph Bruhac
February 9: The 19th Amendment
Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles – by Mara Rockliff
Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote – by Dean Robbins
February 16: Space Race
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 – by Brian Floca
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race – by Margot Lee Shetterly
February 23: Women’s History Month
Sotomayor, Sonia. Turning Pages: My Life Story – by Sonia Sotomayor
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed The World – by Chelsea Clinton
Time Travelers Reading Club
January 5, 12, 19, 26 at 12 pm
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
Young readers, writers and adventurers (ages 8-12) are encouraged to attend this new club where we will read, discuss, and go see many of the places talked about in the book. Join Park Educators as we explore My Brother’s Keeper: Virginia’s Diary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863 by Mary Pope Osborne. All programs are free of charge and open to the public. Schedule is subject to change.
My Brother’s Keeper: Virginia’s Diary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863 – by Mary Pope Osborne
January 5 – June 20, 1863 to June 30, 1863
January 12 – July 1 to July 13, 1863
January 19 – July 14 to August 30, 1863
January 26 – September 5 to November 29, 1863
Student of the American Civil War 