Library of Congress Civil War Exhibition Features Never-Before-Seen Items

The Library of Congress exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War will feature more than 200 unique items, many never before on public view.

"The Civil War in America" will be free and open to the public, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, between Nov. 12, 2012, and June 1, 2013, in the Southwest Exhibition Gallery of the Thomas Jefferson Building at 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of the James Madison Council. Additional funding is provided by Union Pacific Corporation, the Liljenquist family and AARP.

The exhibition will reveal the complexity of the Civil War through those who experienced it first-hand. Never-before-seen items in the Library’s collections offer a human perspective on the war and shed new light on the many ways that this terrible conflict helped shape the American people and the nation.
Among the highlights are:

• A lithograph showing the death of Union Gen. Nathanial Lyon at the Battle of Springfield [Wilson’s Creek] in Missouri on Aug. 10, 1861. Lyon served in California prior to the Civil War.
• An autographed letter from Mary Todd Lincoln to Mrs. John C. Sprigg, May 29, 1862, discussing the loss of the Lincoln's son, Willie, who died in 1862.
• A rare broadside edition of the Emancipation Proclamation intended for auction at the Philadelphia Sanitary Commission, June 6, 1864. This copy was signed by Pres. Abraham Lincoln, Sec. of State William H. Seward and Presidential Secretary John G. Nicolay. 

The Library of Congress blog has been providing a special series of posts on Wednesdays to complement "The Civil War in America" exhibition. Every Wednesday until the exhibition opens, the blog will spotlight a never-before-seen item of interest, offering an in-depth look into the documents and other artifacts that tell the story of the nation’s greatest military and political upheaval.