The traveling exhibition, “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War,” will be available for viewing on Level 8 of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library from Sept. 25 to Nov. 4.
This exhibit explores experiences both of men whose lives were saved by sacrificing limbs during the war and of disabled veterans in the post-war period.
More than 3 million soldiers fought in the American Civil War. More than half a million died, and almost as many were wounded. Hundreds of thousands were permanently disabled by battlefield injuries or surgeries that saved lives while sacrificing limbs. These men remained a stark reminder of the costs of the conflict for long after the war, becoming symbols of the fractured nation.
In conjunction with the visiting exhibit, a McGoogan Session will be held on Oct. 10 from noon-1 p.m. on Zoom. Learn about Civil War-era medical artifacts housed in the special collections at the McGoogan Health Sciences Library from Darby Kurtz, archivist and public historian. Kurtz will present highlights from the collection and share a history of battlefield medicine in the 1860s.
Registration for the Zoom link is required.
The National Library of Medicine-produced exhibit is curated by historian and educator Manon Parry, PhD, of the University of Amsterdam. The exhibit also is available online.
The library’s instruction series, McGoogan Sessions, offers unique topics highlighting resources available for research, implementing best practices in information literacy and academic medicine and inspiring innovation through instruction in advancements in health care history. Archived recordings are available on demand.
My brother and cousin are civil war actors out of Pennsylvania. Both of them take part in the Gettysburg battle. My cousin Bruce character is the first officer killed in the very first skirmish of Gettysburg. My brother was part of Battery B artillery. I will have to take a look at this display.