The Future of Civil War History

In March 2013, the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College partnered with Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg Foundation to host a special 150th anniversary conference, “The Future of Civil War History: Looking beyond the 150th.” The program drew approximately 450 attendees from all corners of the historical profession, as well as students and members of the general public. Making use of a highly conversational format, the conference devoted itself to exploring new ways the historical community can make the Civil War past more engaging, more accessible, and more usable to public audiences as we look beyond the 150th commemorations and to the future of Civil War history. Built around a wide variety of panels, presentations, working groups, and field experiences, “The Future of Civil War History” included small-group conversations on topics such as internationalizing our understanding of the Civil War; exploring the veteran experience; interpreting slavery and contraband history at Civil War sites; teaching the Civil War; battle tactics; sensory history; and gaming the war. Lively conversations also emerged over social media outlets, as attendees invited those following the proceedings in cyberspace to join the discussion.

The program featured more than 150 speakers (including academics, preservationists, consultants, historical interpreters, museum professionals, living historians, students, K–12 teachers, and new media specialists) and was designed to be as interactive, open, and nonhierarchical as possible. The vast majority of conference sessions were panels and roundtables, each of which featured a range of speakers working in diverse settings. The organizers tried to ensure that panels were not conceived of as strictly “public history” or “academic” in focus, but rather that each session reflected the diversity of the field and the range of perspectives that practicing professionals may bring to the topic being explored. Thanks in part to funds earmarked for travel grants, the conference was able to ensure the participation of speakers and attendees, such as government employees, graduate students, and museum professionals, who lacked institutional financial support.

Despite that March weather in Pennsylvania does not lend itself to outdoor activities, the program also included a number of unique field experiences on the Gettysburg battlefield. Teams of park rangers and scholars asked participants to look at the traditional battlefield tour from new interpretive angles. They imagined ways of using the historical landscape to discuss cowardice, the Lost Cause, the motivations of Union and Confederate soldiers, military discipline, medical care, and the experience of Confederate slaves without diminishing important tactical movements and command decisions. The content of the battlefield story became more expansive and more layered, and in thinking broadly about what happened on the field, dynamic conversations about interpretive methodologies ensued. One program explored strategies for more fully integrating the commemorative landscape into battlefield interpretation, another focused on rethinking the staff ride model, and a third examined the interpretive and natural resource implications of battlefield rehabilitation. Participants were encouraged to push themselves outside their own professional settings and consider how variations in audience and methodology pose different challenges for historians working in other contexts.

The essays in this special issue of Civil War History build on several of the key themes that emerged from the conference: embracing the democratic and civic potential of historical thinking; reaffirming the power of place and the importance of specific, focused stories; integrating military, political, social, cultural, and gender history; and encouraging collaboration among historians working in different settings without minimizing differences in outlook, mission, and audience. Together, the essays gathered here point to a powerful and positive conclusion about the future of the field. Classrooms, battlefields, and historic sites—not to mention cyberspace—have all become dynamic places of study and interpretation where visitors, students, and professionals are forging historical narratives of greater intellectual depth and wider accessibility.

As the conference illustrated, those working in Civil War history (broadly defined) share a number of unifying convictions—as well as concerns—about the future of the field. There was a shared sense of excitement surrounding the potential of new media to engage new audiences, facilitate participatory experiences, and encourage the...