The Home Front: Civil War History at the Boston Public Library

Exhibit brochure (on 2nd page):

http://www.bpl.org/news/civilwarbrochure.pdf

Most recently, I visited an exhibit about Boston's role in the Civil War that was housed in the city's historic central public library. "The Home Front: Boston and the Civil War" offered an impressive display of artifacts from the early and mid-nineteenth century designed to illuminate the history of what the exhibit describes as "the very cradle of the 'Yankee' North." In general, I think it is difficult to analyze the exhibit from a spatial perspective. The set up of the Home Front was largely determined by the availability of space in certain rooms in the Boston Public Library. One notable aspect of it, however, which I had not previously seen used at the BPL's exhibits, was electronic screens offering more information about the items on display. While this addition might simply be reflective of bigger donations or an enhanced budget, it seemed to indicate a desire by the exhibit's creators to appeal to younger visitors, and enhance interest in history among the digitized generation.

The types of people spotlighted in the exhibit made it very easy to see the exhibit's designers' intentions. Their aim to frame Boston's role in history as a site of progressiveness and social reform was manifest, as they focused on abolitionists, including letters from Lloyd Garrison, and women involved in temperance and civil rights movements. The exhibit contained numerous prints from anti-slavery campaigns, a medallion engraved the famous image of a kneeling black man and "Am I not a Man and a Brother?," and regalia from the integrated 54th Regiment.

From the exhibit, one would imagine Boston during the Civil War as a free and forward-thinking place entirely devoid of racism. The exhibit's inclusion of objects which support this image, and exclusion of those which threatened to challenge it, presents one of its central limitations. While I found it very interesting to see objects from my hometown's history, it certainly was constructed to tell a particular narrative of a city "where its citizens banded together to make enormous contributions and sacrifices on behalf of the Union" (From the exhibit's description online).