Posts fromBill Edwards-Bodmer

Library & Archives

New Library Exhibit

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When the Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the southern coastline along the Atlantic and in Gulf of Mexico to interrupt vital flows of supplies to the Confederacy. More than five hundred ships manned by one hundred thousand sailors served on the blockade by the end of the war. Through its sheer size and objectives, the blockade became one of the most extraordinary undertakings by the U.S. Navy.

Be sure to stop by the Library and check out our new exhibit, “Blockaders and Blockade Runners: The Union Blockade during the Civil War,” which highlights the people, ships, and events that made the blockade the scene of dynamic action throughout the Civil War. The exhibit opens on January 9, 2012 and will run through May 2012.

Library & Archives

Secrets in the Stacks, November 2

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Celestial Map of the Southern Hemisphere

Join us at the Library at noon on November 2 for this month’s Secrets in the Stacks.

Library Director Mary Sellen will discuss the 1660 atlasHarmoniaMacrocosmica安德烈亚斯Cellarius。表示将专注on the 20 maps from this title that are in the Library’s collections. Topics will include cosmology, geography, printing, and art. Be sure to stop by and see another spectacular item from our collections. While you’re here, check out our current exhibitThe Intersection of Art and Science, which features a few of the celestial maps from Cellarius’ atlas.Read more

Library & Archives

New Civil War letter

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We recently unearthed another Civil War letter in our archives. The letter was written by Charles Pye to Colonel Thomas Millar on October 4, 1862. In the letter, Pye requests that his slave, oxen, and cart be returned to him after they were confiscated by Union cavalry. Pye lived near Port Tobacco, Maryland and his slave was caught transporting supplies to a landing on the Potomac River in an apparent attempt to send them across the river to Confederates in Virginia. A Union cavalry patrol seized Pye’s slave, cart, and oxen. This letter represents Pye’s attempts to have his property returned to him.

Pye’s letter opens up many questions regarding the confiscation of slave property by Union forces. This is especially true considering that Pye lived in Maryland which never seceded from the Union.Read more

Library & Archives

Secrets in the Stacks

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Join us tomorrow, Wednesday September 7, at noon for this this month’s Secrets in the Stacks. Tom Moore, Senior Curator of Photography and Photo Archivist, will share the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation Collection. This extraordinary collection of photographs visually illustrates the role of Newport News as one of the major military Ports of Embarkation during World War II.

On December 7, 1941, war came to America with the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In a few short months, the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation was activated. A giant natural harbor, Hampton Roads served the nation as a military port in the Spanish-American War and World War I. During World War II, port headquarters was established here in Newport News and the port ranked third in the nation, after New York and San Francisco, in volume of troops and war materiel shipped to both Europe and the South Pacific. The urbanization of Newport News since the 1940s has erased many of the landmarks that defined the area at the time, and most of us would not recognize very many of those which remain. The important role of the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation in the war effort will be highlighted by this amazing collection of images.Read more