The Civil War Institute (CWI) at

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

is a non-profit organization created to promote the study of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Era. The CWI was founded in 1982 by historian and

professor

Gabor Boritt Gabor S. Boritt (born 1940 in Budapest, Hungary) is an American historian. He was the Robert Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. Born and raised in Hungary, he participated as a ...

, an

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and

scholar. The current director is Peter S. Carmichael. The Institute helps coordinate a number of Civil War-related events for the public, including the Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture, an annual program designed to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a Public speaking, speech that President of the United States, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Soldiers' National Cemetery, ...

, as well as a week-long summer conference that hosts 400 participants annually. The CWI also supports student learning at Gettysburg College, offering several programs throughout the year to help students hone their skills as young historians.

Summer Conference

The CWI hosts an annual summer conference on the Civil War, drawing over 400 people annually. Each year, the conference focuses on a different Civil War theme. Past themes have included the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

, the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

, the navy and the cavalry, and

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

. While most participants stay in

dorms during the week, local attendees can choose to forgo living expenses and commute each day. Lecturers and tour guides are chosen for recent scholarship and expertise on the conference's central theme. The CWI has hosted a number of prominent historians, including

James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry of F ...

Harold Holzer Harold Holzer (born February 5, 1949) is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He serves as director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. Holzer previously spent twenty-thr ...

Brooks D. Simpson Brooks Donohue Simpson (born August 4, 1957) is an American historian and an ASU Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University, specializing in American political and military history, especially the American Civil War and Reconstr ...

, Gary Gallagher, and Jennifer Murray.

Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture

The Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture on an

-related topic, aimed at appealing to the general public while still providing strong scholarly undertones. The lecture is held on November 19 in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

, on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's

. The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College coordinates the lecture.

Brian C. Pohanka Internship Program

The CWI partners with

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

sites and other nationally significant historic places to offer students paid summer internships in the field of

public history Public history is a broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice is deeply rooted in the areas of historic ...

. During their internships, students gain experience in fields such as interpretation, curation, or education at roughly 15 sites including

Gettysburg National Military Park The Gettysburg National Military Park protects and interprets the landscape of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the park is managed by the National Park Service. The GNMP propert ...

Petersburg National Battlefield Petersburg National Battlefield is a National Park Service unit preserving sites related to the American Civil War Siege of Petersburg (1864–65). The Battlefield is centered on the city of Petersburg, Virginia, and also includes outlying compon ...

, and Stratford Hall. The program was established in 2011 in honor of Civil War historian

Brian Pohanka Brian Caldwell Pohanka (March 20, 1955 – June 15, 2005) was an American Civil War author, historian, and preservationist. Early life Pohanka graduated from Dickinson College in 1977. Career Pohanka consulted for Civil War related films, suc ...

CWI Fellows Program

Each year, the CWI selects roughly a dozen Gettysburg College students as paid fellows to conduct original research and publish it on the CWI blog ''The Gettysburg Compiler'', assist CWI staff with their research, and support CWI programs and events.

References

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