Lee & Grant Traveling Exhibit from the National Endowment for Humanities

Sept. 1-Oct. 20, 2010 Formerly at the Powers Museum of Carthage, Missouri

By the end of the Civil War, most Americans considered either Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant to be a hero. The reputations of the two generals, molded in part by a sectional bias that would enhance the achievements of one often to the detriment of the other, would wax and wane over the next 140 years.

The exhibit Lee and Grant provided a major reassessment of the lives, careers, and historical impact of Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. It also encouraged audiences to move beyond the traditional mythology of both men and rediscover them within the context of their own time — based on their own words and those of their contemporaries. Lee and Grant presented photographs, paintings, prints, coins, reproduction clothing, accoutrements owned by the two men, documents written in their own hands, and biographical and historical records to reveal each man in his historical and cultural context, allowing audiences to compare the ways each has been remembered for almost 150 years.

NEH On the Road exhibit website.

Exhibit Brochure Cover

Exhibit Brochure Page 1

Exhibit Brochure Page 2

Exhibit Brochure Page 3

Exhibit Brochure Page 4

Exhibit Brochure Page 5

Exhibit Brochure Page 6

Exhibit Brochure Back Cover with MAAA Funding Credits

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, Let Us Have Peace, 1865, c. 1920, oil on canvas, from the exhibition Lee and Grant; courtesy Virginia Historical Society. Try your hand at an online puzzle based on this image.

Exhibit in Carthage

The exhibit’s September 1 to October 20, 2010, showing in Carthage, Missouri, at the Powers Museum (1617 West Oak Street) was the City of Carthage’s official kick-off to its commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial which will continue into 2011 with several special events and activities throughout the following year. Numerous lectures, hands-on activities, period demonstrations, and appearances by scholars presenting historical people involved with the exhibit or other Civil War personalities were presented. 2010 Schedule can still be seen here. 

National Exhibit Sponsors

Lee and Grant was made possible by NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibit was originally developed by the Virginia Historical Society, and co-curated by Dr. William M. S. Rasmussen, Lora M. Robins Curator of Art at the Virginia Historical Society and Dr. Robert S. Tilton, Chairman of the Department of English, University of Connecticut, Storrs. This exhibit was toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance through NEH on the Road. NEH on the Road offers an exciting opportunity for communities of all sizes to experience some of the best exhibitions funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Mid-America Arts Alliance was founded in 1972 and is the oldest regional nonprofit arts organization in the United States. For more information, visit www.maaa.org or www.nehontheroad.org.

Local Exhibit Sponsors and Volunteers

Local sponsors include the Helen S. Boylan Foundation, Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau, Powers Museum, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History (who sent their surplus exhibit Family Gallery Guides provided by their sponsors Harriet and Warren Stephens, Stephens Inc., and Entergy Arkansas, Inc.), Dr. Stephen Wagner, Dr. Angela Firkus, Carthage Crisis Center, Carthage Kiwanis, Dr. Virginia Laas, Dr. Eugene Berger, Dr. Lyle Sparkman, Carthage Public Library, NPS Historian Pam Sanfillipio, Frankie Carlin Meyer, Steve Cottrell, Richard Sunderwirth, the Mary Whitney Phelps Tent 22 - Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865, Stone's Throw Theatre volunteer technical crew, Betty Bell.  Gallery volunteers include: Gary Hansford, Ann Haggard, Dale Looney, Darren Collier, Richard Miller, Dorothy VanGilder, Linda Homa, Ross Riley, Nan Borg, Jennifer Gaddis, Mary Lou Salazar, John Shaffer, Don Davis, Chris Oetting, Donna Grove, Nancy Brewer, Ivan Hager.

Exhibit Resources and Links

For suggested Lee and Grant exhibit links and a companion bibliography for both adults and children, check out this resource page.

View the Virginia Historical Society's online exhibit based on their original Lee and Grant traveling exhibit (larger format -- not exhibit traveling to the Powers Museum).

Educational materials for either exhibit may be found at the Virginia Historical Society's website. This page also contains a bibliography and links on Lee and Grant.

For Missouri Civil War educational materials, consult this site. http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000275.shtml

______________________________________________________________________________

The Powers Museum also suggests the following websites for further information on either Grant or Lee.

Robert E. Lee archival materials at the Missouri History Museum.

Robert E. Lee historical marker in St. Louis, Missouri.

Emma S. Ringo's (of Mexico, Missouri) 1866 letter to Robert E. Lee.

****************************************************************************

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War - U. S. Grant Camp, #68 (in St. Louis).

U. S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis.

U. S. Grant's home Hardscrable (now part of Grant's Farm attraction) in St. Louis.

U. S. Grant in Missouri as presented by Civil War St. Louis.

Listen to a podcast about U. S. Grant becoming a Brigadier at Ironton, Missouri in the Arcadia Valley.  For more on the Civil War in the Arcadia Valley including the Battle of Pilot Knob at Fort Davidson (now at State Historic Site), consult this link.

For information on the Civil War in our area of of the four states (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma), the museum suggests the following websites.

Missouri Civil War Heritage Trust

Civil War Beginnings in Missouri and Kansas

Missouri/Kansas Border War Network

Civil War in the Ozarks "Community in Conflict"

Civil War Documents at the State Historical Society of Missouri

Civil War in Central Missouri

Trans-Mississippian Civil War Blog

Civil War in Oklahoma (Indian Territory)

Civil War in Arkansas

Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission

****************************************************************************

The Lee and Grant exhibit was sponsored by the following: