Lincoln exhibit programs scheduled at library

Library Civil War programs 

Saturday — 2:30 p.m. “African-American Genealogy: Challenges and Rewards.” Author Dorothy S. Redford.

Oct. 20 — 7 p.m. Researching your Civil War Ancestor. Victor T. Jones Jr., special collections librarian.

Oct. 25 — 3 p.m. Robert E. Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia and Confederate Defeat. Lecture by Joseph T. Glatthaar, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nov. 15 to Jan. 6 — “Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation,” on exhibit in library auditorium.

Nov. 15 — 3 p.m. “Lincoln’s Approach to Immortality: The Final Years of Abraham Lincoln.” Lecture by David Long, associate professor of history at East Carolina University.

Nov. 21 — Free New Bern Civil War Battlefield tours and encampment.

Nov. 22 — 3 p.m. “Lighting the Path to Freedom.” Character interpretations by Paul Switzer, Alma Gibbons, Marshall Williams and Pamela Ward.

Dec. 5 — 2 p.m. “James City: A Black Community in North Carolina, 1863-1900.” Lecture by author and historian Joe Mobley.

Jan. 5 — William Henry Singleton’s “Recollections of My Slavery Days: A North Carolina Slave’s View of the Civil War and its Legacies.” Katherine Mellen Charron, assistant professor of history at North Carolina.

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Civil War Sunday Movie Series

Oct. 4 — “Shenandoah”

Oct. 18 — “The Great Locomotive Chase”

Nov. 1 — “Glory”

Movies start at 2:30 p.m. in the library auditorium

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Programs begin this week as a prelude to a national traveling exhibition on Abraham Lincoln that is coming to the New Bern-Craven County Public Library in November.

“Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation” is scheduled for a six-week exhibit at the Johnson Street library in New Bern.

The exhibit focuses on Abraham Lincoln’s quest to restore a Union divided by Civil War.

The program was organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif., and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City, in cooperation with American Library Association.

The local show, which begins Nov. 14, is free.

New Bern is one of 12 cities nationwide which will host the Lincoln exhibit this year.

“We are very fortunate to be one of the cities chosen to host this exhibit,” said librarian Joanne Sraight.

The exhibit has six sections of panels, totaling 75 feet in length.

The panels include reproductions of rare historical documents, period photographs, and illustrations, including engravings, lithographs and cartoons.

 It includes a time period from America in Lincoln’s younger years, to the division of the country, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the role of black soldiers in the war, and the final months of the war and Lincoln.

“It is an opportunity for many residents  who wouldn’t be able to travel to another city to see this type of information,” Straight added. “We have worked hard to come up with some programs related to the exhibit that will both elaborate on the exhibit and also talk about some of the themes and issues.”

Associated programs, along with a Civil War movie series are scheduled through early 2010 at the New Bern-Craven County library.

Programs begin Saturday with “African American Genealogy: Challenges and Rewards,” at 2:30 p.m.

The Saturday lecture features Dorothy S. Redford, a genealogist and author of “Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage,” and “Generations of Somerset Place: From Slavery to Freedom.”

This program is co-sponsored by the Climbers Club and the New Bern Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta.

Other events include free tours at the New Bern Civil War Battlefield, a drama featuring local actors, and lectures that include the history of James City, which rose as a major post-Civil War home for free blacks.

There will also be lectures on researching Civil War ancestors, presented Oct. 20 and 22 by Victor T. Jones Jr., special collections librarian.

According to the American Libraries Association Web site, the Lincoln exhibit consists of reproductions of rare historical documents from The Huntington’s collections and those of the Gilder Lehrman Institute.

Call 252-638-7800 for information.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com.