The Visual Culture of the American Civil War

FAIN: EH-50259-11

CUNY Research Foundation, Graduate School and University Center (New York, NY 10016-4309)
Donna Thompson Ray (Project Director: March 2011 to April 2016)

Funding details:
Original grant (2011) $169,894.00
Supplement (2011) ($331.45)
Supplement (2012) $10,000.00

A two-week institute for thirty college and university faculty members on the visual culture of the American Civil War.

This two-week institute in July 2012 will study the visual culture of the American Civil War. The institute will focus on the era’s array of visual media--including the fine arts, ephemera, and photography--to examine how information and opinion about the war and its impact were recorded and disseminated, and the ways visual media expressed and shaped Americans’ understanding on both sides of the conflict. Institute participants will hear lectures by noted historians, art historians, and archivists; take part in hands-on sessions in museums and collections; and attend new media lab workshops. Guided by a team of four faculty that represents the range of work in the field, these institute activities will introduce the rich body of scholarship that addresses or incorporates Civil War era visual culture, prompt exploration for further research in the field, and assist in devising approaches that use visual evidence to enhance teaching and researching the history of the war.