On June 8-9, 2017, KHS and guest convener Amy Murrell Taylor hosted ten acclaimed U.S. historians and Organization of American Historians President Edward L. Ayers for a symposium celebrating the initial publication of the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition.
Each participant produced a short, trailblazing paper that analyzed a different set of documents within the CWGK corpus and proposed a list of new historiographical questions which need to be addressed through CWGK materials and using CWGK tools.
Each panelist opened discussion with a 10-15 minute summary of their findings, research process, and outstanding questions. Recordings of those summaries are posted below. You may also read a Storify recap of the proceedings here.
A special 2019 issue of the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society will publish the symposium proceedings.
Participants and their Research
Luther Adams (University of Washington, Tacoma)
Tipling Toward Freedom: “Petitions to Your Excellency”
Stephen Berry (University of Georgia)
Dwelling in the Digital Archive: A Meditation on the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Project
Carole Emberton (University at Buffalo)
Searching for Caroline: “Disciplined Imagination” and the Limits of the Archive
Crystal Feimster (Yale University)
Rape and Prostitution in Civil War Kentucky: Petitions for Pardons, Remissions, and Respites, 1861-1865
David T. Gleeson (Northumbria University)
“An Unfortunate Son of Erin:” The Irish in Civil War Kentucky
Lesley J. Gordon (University of Alabama)
“Deeds of Brave Suffering and Lofty Heroism”: Public Rhetoric and Kentucky Soldiers
Patrick A. Lewis (Kentucky Historical Society)
The “Most Notorious” Mr. Jennings: Coal, Transatlantic Capitalism, and Guerrilla War
Kenneth W. Noe (Auburn University)
“Disturbers of the Peace”: The Kidnapping of John D. Hale
Anne Sarah Rubin (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
“Literally Destroyed as a Housekeeper”: Hunger and Hardship in Civil War Kentucky
Diane Miller Sommerville (Binghamton University)
“The Exciting Circumstances of the Rebellion,” or, The Civil War Made Me Do It: Civil War and Emotional Trauma in Kentucky Governors’ Petitions
Mark Summers (University of Kentucky)
The Uncivilest War of All
Amy Murrell Taylor (University of Kentucky)
Texts and Textiles in Civil War Kentucky