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The Boston Patriot with Fourth of July content,
1810. (GLC 08830)
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NEW YORK, NY
(April 11, 2008)—The new Museum and Visitor Center
at Gettysburg National Military Park will feature a unique
contribution from the Gilder Lehrman Institute when the
facility opens on April 14—the Gilder Lehrman Special
Exhibits Gallery. The Gilder Lehrman Institute supported
the creation of the gallery and has provided rare primary
sources from its collection of over 60,000 documents for
the inaugural exhibition.
The current exhibition, I Take Up My Pen, is
an installation featuring letters between soldiers and
their loved ones during the Civil War. These rare and
important documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection
will help museum visitors understand the perspectives
of the men and women who lived through the conflict. The
letters provide personal insights into both the war and
the era in which it was fought. Many of the documents
have never been exhibited before. To see an online version
of this exhibition on the Gilder Lehrman website, click
here.
A joint project of the Gettysburg Foundation and the National
Park Service, the new $103 million Museum and Visitor
Center aims to bring the war to life for visitors. “We
want this new Gettysburg experience to inspire visitors
about the past, to encourage them to want to learn more
about the events that have shaped our country and, in
the process, to become better citizens,” said Robert
C. Wilburn, president and CEO of the Gettysburg Foundation.
The museum is located adjacent to the Gettysburg battlefield.
In addition to the Gilder Lehrman Special Exhibits Gallery,
the facility will feature eleven permanent galleries,
a feature film entitled A New Birth of Freedom,
multimedia and interactive stations, a computer resource
room, and the Ford Motor Company Fund Education Center.
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, on deposit at the New-York
Historical Society, contains more than 60,000 documents
detailing the political and social history of the United
States. The collection's holdings include manuscript letters,
diaries, maps, photographs, printed books and pamphlets
ranging from 1493 through modern times. The Collection
is particularly rich with materials in the Revolutionary,
Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction periods. Highlights
of the Collection include signed copies of the Emancipation
Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, a rare printed
copy of the first draft of the Constitution, and thousands
of unpublished Civil War soldiers' letters.
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