Libraries in Kinston, Marion Honor “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory” with Statewide Civil War Photography Exhibits March 2-29

RALEIGH – Since the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865) 150 years have passed, but its widespread impact and defining characteristics remain vivid. These can especially be seen and the state’s war experience is illustrated in theFreedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit (www.nccivilwar150.com). The exhibit will be hosted simultaneously by the Neuse Regional Library in Kinston and the McDowell County Public Library in Marion from March 2-29, honoring North Carolinians in the Civil War with a variety of images.

“The Civil War was the first war widely covered with photography,” explains Dr. Jeffrey Crow, Deputy Secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. “TheFreedom, 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 travel the state from April 2011 through May 2013, visiting 50 libraries and four museums with its showcase of 24 images. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com) commemorates the 150^th anniversary of 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 notebook will accompany the exhibit with further information and seeking viewer comments.

Among the various pictures is an image of a mourning ring crafted by a North Carolina Confederate soldier and made out of a type of easily carved rubber called guttapercha, containing mother of pearl and gold inlay. Mourning rings were used to buy various items in prison like socks and were also fashionably worn by Southern women as a symbol for loved ones fighting or fallen in the war.

For more information on the exhibit, call the Neuse Regional Library at (252) 527-7066 or the McDowell County Public Library at (828) 652-3858. Contact the Department of Cultural Resources at (919) 807-7389 for tour information.