The Civil War: Recent Episodes
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Videos, gallery talks, and lectures commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. For more on the National Portrait Gallery, see http://npg.si.edu
Photography curator Frank Goodyear discusses an 1858 portrait of John Pelham by Mathew Brady.
The NPG's Warren Perry visits the Fredericksburg National Military Park and discusses the Battle of Fredericksburg, which took placed on December 13, 1862. Filmed in December 2012.
Used as a hospital during the Civil War, the Patent Office Building (now home to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum) holds a rich history -- Walt Whitman spent time there with soldiers recovering from their wounds. Filmed in April 2012.
Warren Perry, of the National Portrait Gallery, discusses Grant's victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, both in northwest Tennessee. Filmed in February, 2012.
Frank Goodyear, associate curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses an ambrotype portrait of George A. Custer taken during his days as a student at West Point. Frank Goodyear was interviewed by the National Portrait Gallery's Warren Perry on September 23, 2011.
The National Portrait Gallery's Warren Perry discusses Munson's Hill and the battlefield trickery employed by JEB Stuart in September 1861. For more on Munson's Hill, see this article on the NPG's blog: http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2011/09/a-new-man-in-charge-george-b-mcclellan.html .
Warren Perry, of the National Portrait Gallery, visits Manassas National Battlefield and discusses the battle that took place on July 21, 1861. Recorded at Manassas National Battlefield, August 8, 2011. For more on the battle, see this article on the NPG's blog: http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2011/07/the-150th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-bull-run.html .
Jim Barber, historian at NPG discusses the exhibiton "The Death of Ellsworth." He is interviewed by the NPG's Warren Perry. "The Death of Ellsworth" recounts the death of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth in Alexandria, Virginia. Ellsworth was the first Union officer to be killed in the four-year-long struggle. His death at the hands of a local innkeeper made headlines throughout the country and he became a martyr in the North and an inspirational figure for legions of Yankees marching off to war. The exhibition is on view from April 29, 2011 through March 18, 2012; it brings together a select grouping of once-prized mementoes, including portraits of Ellsworth and Lincoln, as well as Alonzo Chappel's historic painting, "The Death of Ellsworth." Recorded at NPG, May 19, 2011.
Margaret Vining, National Museum of American History curator, talks about Varina H. Davis (1826-1906), first lady of the Confederacy.
Trevor Plante, chief of Reference at the National Archives, talks about Union General William T. Sherman (1820-1891)
Frank Goodyear, associate curator of photography at NPG discusses an 1861 photograph of Ambrose Burnside and the Rhode Island 1st Volunteer Infantry, taken at Camp Sprague (near Washington, D.C.)
David C. Ward, historian at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses how Lincoln changed his appearance by growing a beard.
David C. Ward, historian at NPG, discusses Abraham Lincoln's life masks by Leonard Volk and Clark Mills.
Historian James McPherson on Alexander Gardner's photograph "Confederate Dead by a Fence on the Hagerstown Road, Antietam"
David Ward, historian at NPG, discusses Lincoln, and a selection of portraits in the exhibition "One Life: The Mask of Lincoln"
David Ward, historian at NPG, discusses "One Life: The Mask of Lincoln." Interview by Warren Perry