High Point, Wilmington Libraries Display Civil War Photo Exhibit in October

RALEIGH – Destruction was felt around homes and communities as backyards were turned into battlefields in North Carolina during the Civil War (1861-1865). Widespread suffering impacted all North Carolinians regardless of race, class or gender.

The involvement of Confederate soldiers, African Americans and women is depicted in theFreedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit(www.nccivilwar150.com), which will simultaneously visit the High Point Public Library and the New Hanover County Public Library in Wilmington Oct. 1-29. The exhibit will educate and illustrate a difficult period in history that the nation moved beyond.

“The Civil War was the first war widely covered with photography,” explains Deputy Secretary Dr. Jeffrey Crow of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. “The Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory exhibit provides images of historic figures, artifacts, and documents that brought the reality of the war from the battlefront to the home front, then and now.”

The exhibit will honor North Carolinians and their dedication throughout the Civil War with images gathered from the State Archives (www.archives.ncdcr.gov), the N.C. Museum of History (www.ncmuseumofhistory.org), and State Historic Sites (www.nchistoricsites.org). A total of 24 images will be displayed by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com) in 50 libraries and four museums throughout the state on western and eastern routes from April 2011 through May 2013. A notebook will accompany each exhibit with further info rmation and also seeking viewer comments.

The collection depicts those involved in the war including images of artifacts and official documents. One image shows a mourning ring made by a Confederate prisoner, possibly to trade for goods, and recalls a practice of Southern women to show that a loved one was off in the war or had died.

For info rmation on the High Point exhibit, call the library at (336) 883-3631. For info rmation on the New Hanover exhibit, call the library at (910) 798-6300.

For tour info rmation contact the Department of Cultural Resources at (919) 807-7389. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is the state agencywith the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 atwww.ncculture.com.