404 Public Historian will lead forum -- “Rethinking the Civil War at 150 Years”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 28, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919

June 22 Discussion Features Several Well-Known Civil War Experts; Free to Public

(MURFREESBORO)—“Rethinking the Civil War at 150 Years” is the title and focus of an upcoming public forum at MTSU that will be led by Dr. Dwight Pitcaithley, the 2006 Visiting Distinguished Public Historian for MTSU’s Department of History.
The free and open discussion will be held 7-8:45 p.m. June 22 in the State Farm Lecture Hall in the university’s Business Aerospace Building.
“The topic of the public forum, ’Rethinking the Civil War at 150 Years,’ gives us an opportunity to spotlight two important developments in middle Tennessee: the opening of the new visitors center at Stones River National Battlefield last spring and the current effort to establish a national battlefield park in Franklin to commemorate the Battle of Franklin,” said Dr. Rebecca Conard, MTSU history professor.
“It also is an opportunity for anyone interested in Civil War history to participate in a discussion with several well-known Tennesseans who will be involved in planning for the sesquicentennial of the Civil War,” she added.
In addition to Pitcaithley, former chief historian for the National Park Service (1995-2005), the June 22 event will feature a panel of well-known local and regional Civil War experts, all of whom will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with commemorating the upcoming sesquicentennial (2011-2015) of the Civil War.
Dr. John Coski, author of The Embattled Emblem: The History of the Confederate Battle Flag, will serve as moderator for the panel, which also will include Nancy Bassett, former director of the Carnton Historic Plantation and spokeswoman for the United Daughters of the Confederacy; state historian Walter Durham; Robert Hicks, author of the best-selling Widow of the South and a leader in the movement to establish the Battle of Franklin historic site in Williamson County; Norman Hill, chairman of the Tennessee Historical Commission; Stuart Johnson, superintendent of Stones River National Historic Battlefield; and Wayne Wilson of the Rutherford County chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Conard said the relevance of the June 22 discussion will be enhanced by its focus on the Civil War’s sesquicentennial.
“If you remember,” Conard observed, “the civil rights movement overshadowed the centennial of the Civil War, which likely will add significance to the sesquicentennial as a historical milestone.”
As for Pitcaithley’s June 5-July 7 residency as MTSU’s 2006 Visiting Distinguished Public Historian, during this time he will teach Current Issues in Public History Practice, a course for M.A. and Ph.D. students in the public history program that will examine the strategies that the three National Historic Battlefields and two museums have adopted in recent years to interpret a broader history of the Civil War.
“We are extremely pleased that Dr. Pitcaithley is joining us this summer to teach a graduate course examining real-world strategies for telling a more complex story of the Civil War at historic places,” remarked Conard, who is the director of MTSU’s public history program.
“Many of our graduate students are actively involved in the efforts of local museums and historic sites to broaden the interpretation of the Civil War, so the opportunity for them to study with the chief architect of the National Park Service's battlefield reinterpretation initiative is of immense value.”
For more information regarding the June 22 forum or Pitcaithley’s visit, please contact Conard at 615-898-2423.