Disability History Museum

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Image, "The Polio Chronicle," Bolte Gibson, 1932, Disability History Museum
Annotation

This ongoing project was designed to present materials on the historical experiences of those with disabilities. The website currently presents nearly 800 documents and more than 930 still images dating from the late 18th century to the present.

Subjects are organized according to categories of advocacy, types of disability, government, institutions, medicine, organizations, private life, public life, and personal names. Documents include articles, poems, pamphlets, speeches, letters, book excerpts, and editorials.

Of special interest are documents from the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation Archives, including the Polio Chronicle, a journal published by patients at Warm Springs, Georgia, from 1931 to 1934. Images include photographs, paintings, postcards, lithographs, children's book illustrations, and 19th-century family photographs, as well as postcard views of institutions, beggars, charity events, and types of wheelchairs.

Richmond National Battlefield Park [VA]

Description

Richmond's story is not just the tale of one large Civil War battle, nor even one important campaign. Instead, the park's resources include a naval battle, a key industrial complex, the Confederacy's largest hospital, dozens of miles of elaborate original fortifications, and the evocative spots where determined soldiers stood paces apart and fought with rifles, reaping a staggering human cost.

The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Confederate Memorial State Historic Site [MO]

Description

The Civil War may have ended in 1865, but vivid memories of the "Lost Cause" lived on for decades at the Confederate Soldiers Home of Missouri. Opened in 1891, the Confederate Home provided refuge to more than 1,600 veterans and their families for nearly 60 years. These veterans hailed from points throughout the South and served in every major battle of the Civil War. Foot soldiers, artillery and cavalrymen, marines, guerilla fighters, and even spies found a place of rest here in their old age. The very last of these former rebel soldiers, John T. Graves, died at the home in 1950 at the age of 108, thus bringing an end to an era in Missouri history. Today, visitors to the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site can venture to the locations of the former home buildings and stroll through the restored 106-year-old chapel and historic cemetery. Three other historic buildings can be viewed from outside. Interpretive exhibits tell the story of the state's Confederate Soldiers Home.

The site offers exhibits and tours.

Women in the Civil War

Description

Jane Schultz of Indiana University discusses the contributions of women at the front in the Civil War, particularly those who participated as relief workers. This lecture was delivered as part of "America in the Civil War Era: A History Institute for Teachers," held May 17-18 at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Wachman Center and by the Clausen Center for World Business, Carthage College and Adult Education, Carthage College.

Audio and video options are available.

The Complex Legacy of Dorothea Dix: The Troubled and Troubling Heroine of Social Reform

Description

Professor Caroline Cox reviews the life of activist Dorothea Dix (1802-1887), who fought for reform in the treatment of mental patients and served as Superintendent of Army Nurses during the Civil War. She focuses particularly on the difficulties in separating mythology and folklore from truth in tracing Dix's life. Cox also compares and contrasts Dix with the Grimke sisters, Sarah Grimke (1792-1873) and Angelina Grimke Weld (1805-1879), Quakers who worked for both abolition and women's rights.

Confederate Memorial Park [AL]

Description

Confederate Memorial Park is the site of Alabama's only Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans. In operation from 1902 to 1939, the home cared for elderly veterans, and wives and widows of veterans. The site included 22 buildings consisting of cottages; a hospital; dairy barn; mess hall; an elaborate water and sewage system; and Memorial Hall, an administration building which held offices, a library, and a large auditorium. The home served between 650 and 800 residents. The majority of veterans served in Alabama outfits, but many were from other Confederate states and moved to Alabama after the war. The last veteran died at the home in 1934. The facility closed in 1939 when the five remaining widows were moved to Montgomery for better care.

The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Fort Robinson Museum [NE]

Description

From Crazy Horse to the cavalry to the K-9 Corps, Fort Robinson played host to them all. Visitors to the site can experience the long and varied history of this outpost on the Plains. The museum at Fort Robinson is located in the 1905 post headquarters building. Museum exhibits trace the history from the post's role guarding the Red Cloud Agency (1874–77) through the housing of World War II German POWs (1943–46). Among the many fascinating objects in the museum's exhibits are the only known dog kennel from the K-9 Corps of World War II; marksmanship medals earned by Caleb Benson, a Buffalo Soldier at Fort Robinson between 1902 and 1909; and 19th-century Sioux objects related to the Red Cloud Agency. Visitors can explore more than a dozen historic structures and sites such as the 1904 blacksmith shop, the 1908 veterinary hospital, the 1887 officers' quarters, the 1875 guardhouse and adjutant's office, and the old post cemetery.

The site offers exhibits, tours, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Fort Griffin State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Fort Griffin State Historic Site is located on 506.2 acres with 1,500 feet of river area. The site is home to the partially restored ruins of Old Fort Griffin located on a bluff overlooking the town site of Fort Griffin and the Clear Fork of the Brazos River Valley. The fort was constructed in 1867 and deactivated in 1881. The ruins include a hand-dug well, a mess hall, barracks, a library, a rock chimney, a store, an administration building, a cistern, a hospital, a powder magazine, the foundation of the officers' quarters, the first sergeant's quarters, a restored bakery, and replicas of enlisted men's huts.

The site offers occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).