“In the fullness of time,” declared the American historian George Bancroft in 1866, summarizing the nation’s previous 250 years, “a republic rose up in the wilderness of America.” The current exhibition in the Main Gallery at Firestone Library, “A Republic in the Wilderness: Treasures of American History from Jamestown to Appomattox,” takes its title from Bancroft’s speech. The exhibition begins with early English settlement and contact with the native peoples, and then traces the growth of the American nation to the end of the Civil War, against a background of evolving natural and built environments. The treasures on display bear witness to the people and events that created an enduring political union and shaped the American experience.
On view are some of Princeton’s finest holdings of American historical manuscripts, autograph letters, rare books, maps, broadsides, prints, photographs, and other original materials preserved in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and the Scheide Library. Among them are William Strachey’s extra-illustrated eyewitness account of the Jamestown Colony, John Eliot’s Indian Bible, George Washington’s land surveys, John Trumbull’s final sketch for his painting of the Battle of Princeton, Alexandre Berthier’s map of Princeton in 1783, leaves from Thomas Jefferson’s Farm Book, views of landscapes and wildlife by John James Audubon and George Catlin, a letter by Frederick Douglass on slavery, first editions of The Book of Mormon and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Abraham Lincoln’s manuscript draft of a speech on sectionalism, and General George B. McClellan’s collection of Civil War photographs. An accompanying online exhibition, featuring selected items on display, is available at http://rbsc.princeton.edu/republic.
This exhibition was made possible through the generosity of Princeton alumni and their families, past and present; particularly, the late Margaret P. Nuttle, a descendant of Patrick Henry and mother of Philip E. Nuttle, Jr. (Class of 1963). The Barksdale-Dabney-Henry Fund that she created supports the important work of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections on documenting and celebrating early American history. Major Princeton collectors whose gifts of Americana are on display include Sinclair Hamilton (Class of 1906), André de Coppet (Class of 1915), William H. Scheide (Class of 1936), Lloyd E. Cotsen (Class of 1950), Leonard L. Milberg (Class of 1953), J. Dennis Delafield (Class of 1957) and Penelope Johnson, and Sidney Lapidus (Class of 1959). The Library thanks William H. Scheide and Paul Needham (Scheide Librarian) for permission to exhibit some of the Scheide Library’s greatest treasures.
The exhibition is free and open to the public, and is on view in the Main Gallery of Firestone Library from February 22 through August 4, 2013, weekdays from 9 am to 4:45 pm, and weekends from noon to 5 pm.
The Friends of the Library are sponsoring two events in conjunction with the exhibition. James McPherson, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History, Emeritus, will give a lecture on the Civil War at 5:00pm on Wednesday, March 5, in McCormick Hall Room 101. Sean Wilentz, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History, will present a lecture at 3:30pm on Sunday, May 5 in McCormick Hall Room 101 to celebrate the official opening of the exhibition. Both lectures will be followed by a reception in the Main Gallery at Firestone Library. Treasures that will be on view specially for these events include Charles Mason’s and Jeremiah Dixon’s 1768 hand-drawn map, and souvenir copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment signed by Abraham Lincoln.