Hillsdale College Senior Creates Public History Exhibit on “Hillsdale in the Civil War”
Hillsdale, Mich. — Hillsdale College today announced its first student exhibit in public history. Senior Hailey Morgan created the installation, titled “Hillsdale in the Civil War,” which is on display in Mossey Library on Hillsdale’s Michigan campus.
Morgan, a history major, sought to spark an interest students and members of the community about the town’s sacrifice during the Civil War. She began to work on the exhibition in fall 2016 and opened the display in February 2017.
“Being in public history makes you very passionate about telling stories to people,” Morgan said. “It was a creative challenge figuring out how to set up the exhibit. Deciding on the themes was the longest part of the process.”
Themes included Cause, Courage, Sacrifice, and Remembrance. The exhibit includes photographs, letters, logs, and a class roster with the names of students serving in the Union army. Nearly sixty Hillsdale College students and graduates lost their lives in the Civil War, and many more were wounded or became prisoners of war.
All artifacts in the exhibit were on loan from the Hillsdale Historical Society and Hillsdale College Archives. The exhibit is open to the public and occupies a museum display cabinet on the main floor of Mossey Library on the right-hand wall near the microfilm cabinets.
“Other schools focus a lot on internships, but at Hillsdale students can do hands-on curation,” said Dr. David Stewart, Hillsdale College history professor, who advised Morgan on the project. The history department and provost’s office recently purchased museum display cases to be used by students interested in museum studies. In conjunction, Stewart wanted to make students aware of other career options for the history majors besides teaching and taught a one-credit course on public history in fall 2016.
Photos of the exhibit and student are available here.