"U.S. Civil War Memorialization"

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Presentation to the
Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia 
at the Fort Myer Officers' Club in Arlington, VA
on December 11, 2018

The images used during her presentation are available by clicking HERE or at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q8DlZxa98HnwwxX_e3sFBKiYMicfkKVa/view
 
About the Topic:
Although the monuments of Washington, D.C., honor more than two centuries of history and heroes, five years of that history produced more of the city's public commemorative sculpture than all the others combined. The heroes of the Civil War command Washington's choicest vantage points and most visible parks, lending their names to the city's most familiar circles and squares―Scott, Farragut, Logan, Sheridan, Dupont, McClellan and others.  Kathryn Allamong Jacob tells the stories behind the many District of Columbia statues that honor participants in the Civil War, predominantly Union, and that serve as a testament to their sacrifice and valor.
 
In her presentation, Dr. Jacob will put these monuments in historical context, describing the often bitter battles over control of historical memory, the postwar monument business (for example, a lone soldier-in-granite model could cost a community as little as $1,000), and the rise of the "city beautiful" movement that transformed Washington.  She will then offer individual descriptions of forty-one sculptures, providing a lively and informative guide to some of Washington's most beautiful and moving works of art. 
 
 

About the Speaker: 
Kathryn Allamong Jacob is curator of manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.  She is the author of Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.  

After graduating from Goucher College, Dr. Jacob earned her MA in history from Georgetown University and her PhD in American history from Johns Hopkins University.  She has held positions as university archivist at Johns Hopkins University; assistant historian at the U.S. Senate Historical Office; archivist at the National Archives; assistant program director at the National Historical Publications and Records Commission; and deputy director of the American Jewish Historical Society.

Dr. Jacob lives in historic Lexington, Massachusetts.


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For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, see the Tab above marked "About Us/ Membership Information."