Civil War Institute in Gettysburg to host annual Summer Conference in June

Event coincides with Lincoln Bicentennial celebration

(Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) - 3/23/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE �

 

CONTACT:

Tina Grim

Executive Administrator

Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College

(717) 337-6590

 

 

The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College will host its 27th annual summer conference June 21-27. This year�s themes are �The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln� and �The Life of Mary Todd Lincoln.�

 

The weeklong conference will feature an unprecedented number of Lincoln experts and scholars, with more than 300 people attending from all over the world. The 2009 Civil War Institute has been endorsed by the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

 

The Institute is under the direction of renowned Lincoln scholar Gabor S. Boritt, the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies at Gettysburg College and author of �The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows� (Simon and Schuster, 2006). Boritt serves on the boards of the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Gettysburg Battlefield Museum Foundation, among others.

 

Discussion panels and lectures will be led by nationally recognized scholars, including Michael Burlingame, Catherine Clinton, Daniel Epstein, Allen Guelzo, Harold Holzer, Charles Lachman, Kate Clifford Larson, James McPherson, Matthew Pinsker, Edward Steers, Jr., Craig Symonds, Frank Williams and a host of other Lincoln scholars. The speakers include three winners of the Lincoln Prize � with five awards among them � and a Pulitzer Prize recipient. James McPherson and Craig Symonds, the 2009 Lincoln Prize laureates, will lecture at the conference.

 

Participants will devote two days to touring various Lincoln-related sites in Washington, D.C. and on the Gettysburg battlefield. Tour guides include Ed Bearss, Joan Chaconas, Scott Hartwig, Brad Hoch, Terry Latschar, John Schildt, Craig Symonds and Chuck Teague.

 

On Sunday, June 21st at 7:30 p.m., the PA ALBC, The Civil War Institute and the Gettysburg Festival will present a preview performance of �For the People,� an oratorio for brass band, woodwind octet, and soloists under the direction of John William Jones, Professor of Music at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. This event will be free and open to the general public.

 

Approximately 30 scholarships will be awarded to high school juniors and history teachers from across the country, based on their applications and letters of recommendation. Scholarship recipients attend the conference for free, and benefit from additional programming designed to foster greater learning of history at the high school level.

 

For a complete conference schedule, information on registration fees and scholarship opportunities, visit www.gettysburg.edu/civilwar/institute or email [email protected], or call (717) 337-6590. Upcoming CWI events include Dedication Day activities and the Annual Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture by Michael Burlingame, both on Nov. 19 and free to the general public.