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Tompkins County Public Library presents The Language of War, a dramatic reading of letters, diary entries and newspaper accounts that illustrate what residents of Tompkins County said and wrote during the Civil War.
Members of the Tompkins County Civil War Commission representing different historical characters will read the script which is by Carol Kammen, co-chair of the Commission and Tompkins County Historian.
Join us a 7 PM on Wednesday, October 22 in the BorgWarner Community Room at Tompkins County Public Library for what promises to be an informative and enjoyable evening.
Also view Tompkins County in a Time of War: Life on the Home Front and on the Battlefield an exhibit featuring artifacts on loan from the History Center in Tompkins County and the Seward House Museum in Auburn and vividly telling the story of life in Tompkins County during the time of the Civil War and highlighting the founding of Tompkins County Public Library by Ezra Cornell in 1854.
Edward E. Baptist, associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of History, will give a presentation on Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War, at 6 PM on Tuesday, October 14.
Baptist is a noted scholar and speaker on the enslavement of African Americans in the southern United States. He teaches courses on the Civil War, slavery, the American South, masculinity, modernity and modernization, the first half of the American survey, and 19th century U.S. History. His recently-released book, “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism,” has received critical acclaim and sparked debate over its radical interpretation of American history.”
This program is being held in conjunction with the Library’s current exhibit, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War,” a nationally traveling exhibition exploring Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War.
This 1,000 square foot, thematic exhibit offers an intriguing perspective of the challenges America’s much-heralded 16th president faced during the Civil War and describes his use of the Constitution as a guide for tackling the major issues of the war—secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties. It is on display in the Avenue of The Friends.
The exhibit, which runs through October 30, and its corresponding programs and exhibits are being held in conjunction with Tompkins County Public Library’s year-long Sesquicentennial Celebration, “150 Years and Counting.”
Baptist’s talk is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Sally Grubb at (607) 272-4557 extension 232 or sgrubb@tcpl.org.
“Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War,” a traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War” is based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.
If you missed our special 150 Years and Counting celebration last weekend, join us on Friday, October 3, when TCPL participates in Gallery Opening Night from 5 to 8 PM.
Entry to the Library after 5 PM is through the BorgWarner Community Room door behind the Bus Shelter on Green Street.
Four exhibits are on display: Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War, an ALA traveling exhibit which will be at the Library through the end of October; Tompkins County in a Time of War: On the Home Front and on the Battlefield, which features artifacts used by members of the local community during the time of the Civil War and now loaned from the collection of the History Center in Tompkins County; Mightier than the Sword: The impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Library's featured book during Banned Books week; and Montage Histories: Tompkins County, New York, through Photographs 1864-2014 which illustrates the changes experienced by significant buildings, places and landscapes during the 150 years since the Library was founded in 1864.
View these exhibits after hours when quiet voices are not required and the Library acts as an Art Gallery and not as a Library. Purchase a copy of the exhibit catalog for Montage Histories, available for $17.25 while stocks last. When all copies are sold, additional copies can be obtained via "print on demand". Go to MagCloud and search for Montage Histories. Individual copies cost $17.29 plus shipping.
