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The North Canton Public Library is one of fifty sites nationwide selected to host Civil War 150, a national traveling exhibition that will be on display in the Little Art Gallery beginning Wednesday, September 18 through Saturday, October 4, 2014. An opening reception, featuring a lecture delivered by humanities scholar and Walsh University Professor, Kelly Selby, will be hosted in the gallery September 18 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Kelly Selby will speak at 6 p.m. All are welcome.

The exhibit will allow patrons to experience the battle through the eyes of major political figures, soldiers, families, and freedmen. By virtue of letters, personal accounts, and images, it will become evident how people grappled with the end of slavery, the nature of democracy and citizenship, the human toll of civil war, and the role of a president in wartime.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute developed the exhibition to mark the Civil War Sesquicentennial. The Civil War 150 is divided into five panels: The Nation Divides, 1861: The Union is Dissolved, This Cruel War, 1863: Turning Points, and The Price of Victory (1864–1865). Drawing from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, each section traces major events during the Civil War.

View PDF of a slideshow about the exhibit.


The library is proudly partnering with the North Canton Heritage Society to offer free programs and events for the public in conjunction with Civil War 150.

September 6 – October 5: Ohio in the Civil War on display at the Heritage Society

September 18: Civil War 150 opening reception featuring Kelly Selby and Abraham Lincoln re-enactor at the library

September 20: View the 29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry encampment outside the Heritage Society from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

September 27: The library welcomes guitar enthusiast Steve Ball for a presentation featuring six Martin guitars as well as actual sheet music from the Civil War time period.

Developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with The Library of America, this exhibition was made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibition is part of Civil War 150: Exploring the War and Its Meaning through the Words of Those Who Lived It, a major three-year project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project is centered on the four-volume Library of America series The Civil War Told by Those Who Lived It.


Participate in the library’s Explore the World guidebook incentive program this month as we Explore the World of the Civil War, and receive a wooden coin redeemable for $1 off your library fines.