Field Study: Civil War history, memory, and placemaking

Where is that oh-so-typical hero on the horse? 

For the past two weeks I have been off campus conducting research on Civil War memory and placemaking. This Civil War research is related to my larger project on a Kentucky-born sculptor (see previous post here). Needing to incorporate a much broader geographical area, I found myself in need of a field study. Field studies involve data collection and information gathering outside of the traditional research confines of museum, gallery, research library, or archive. A field study moves outside, into the field figuratively, in that you're moving beyond the four walls of a research lab or space.  And, in my case, I was, literally, wandering through fields, as evidenced above.

My research for these past two weeks contributes to the primary research project that I mentioned above and serves also as preparation for a talk that I will give next month in Louisville as part of the Kentucky Historical Society's week-long symposium "Torn Within, Threatened Without: Kentucky and the Border States in the Civil War." My presentation and the site visit I will lead to Louisville's Confederate Monument will be one of several events for the National Endowment for the Humanities 2013 Landmarks of American History and Culture Teacher Workshops. For more information on my presentation or the NEH program, click here.