All four of May's graduates are now out in the field working. Chris Goodlett (Taylorsville) is Curator of Collections at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville. After serving as Mayfield's Main Street Manager, Jay Parrent (Princeton) is now director of the Career Development and Community Service Center at Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro. Steve Ross (Clinton) continues to freelance successfully as StevetheStoryteller. LeAnne Shadrick (Slaughters) is Museum Educator at the University of Mississippi Museums in Oxford, MS.

Mike Hosking (97) is now Museum Specialist at the Harry S Truman National Historic Site in Independence, MO. Chamonie Miller (96) is now Director of Public Relations for the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Art and Culture in Baltimore, MD. Jerry T. Wooten (94) is Director of the River Heritage Center in Paducah.

Two new students join the program this year: Amy Blewett, a recent graduate of the University of Evansville, and Candace M. Simmons, a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.

The Forrest C. Pogue Public History Institute has received a $3700 grant from the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission to develop interpretive materials on the lives of African Americans at Columbus, Kentucky during the Civil War.

The project will collect and make available information about the little-known, but important, role African-American troops played in the Civil War. This is especially true for the role played by Kentucky African American whose enlistments were often recorded in other states because of opposition to the enlistment of African Americans by state political leaders. Little has been done to document and interpret the role of the federal garrison at Columbus, Kentucky. This garrison was second only to Camp Nelson in Jessamine County as a center for black enlistment and as a refuge for "contrabands" -- to use the contemporary term for those who had fled slavery for the protection of the Union army and freedom.

This project will begin to rediscover the history of the African Americans at Columbus during the war, both soldiers and civilians, and interpret it for the general public. Based primarily on research in the National Archives, principally in RG 393 Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920, which contains all reports filed from Columbus during the War, the project will result in three distinct interpretive pieces. First, it will produce an all-weather interpretive sign on the African- American experience at Columbus during the Civil War. Second, a script and background material for an African-American soldier first-person interpretive character (possibly several other African American characters, if there is sufficient, appropriate documentation) to join the characters developed earlier by the Pogue. And finally, publish a brochure on the African-American experience at Columbus during the Civil War.

The principal researcher will be Bill Mulligan, associate professor of history and director of the Forrest C. Pogue Public History Institute. He was a member of the taskforce on the future of Columbus Belmont State Park and has worked with the Park on developing and enhancing its interpretation program since 1994, including work with Americorps on restoration of a section of the earth works and the development of four first person characters.

An advisory committee will work with Dr. Mulligan on the project. This committee will include Cindy Lynch, Columbus-Belmont State Park Manager; Jeanette Dean of the Warren Thomas Museum of African American History in Hickman; and Joe Brent, formerly Civil Sites Coordinator for the Kentucky Heritage Council, now a private consultant.

Bill Mulligan has been elected to the board of directors of the Commonwealth Preservation Advocates (CPA). CPA was originally organized in the late 1970s and is a statewide organization that focuses on legislative issues related to the preservation of historic sites and structures in Kentucky and at the national level. CPA seeks to serve both as an advocate for historic preservation and as a catalyst for developing grass roots support for the preservation of Kentucky's heritage.

"I am very honored to be invited to work with CPA to advance the cause of preservation in Kentucky," Mulligan said. "It is very important that we, as a society, maintain a strong sense of community and continuity. Preserving the buildings and landscapes from our past is one critical way to ensure that future generations see those who have come before them as real people."

The Forrest C. Pogue Institute of Public History at Murray State University is conducting a thematic survey of Civil War-related sites in seven counties of the Pennyrile Region. This project is funded through a $9000 grant from the Kentucky Heritage Council. The seven counties are Caldwell, Christian, Hopkins, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Todd, and Trigg. The project will develop a Civil War context study for the project area and locate and document sites in the project area that have a Civil War connection. This study will focus on the events that occurred in the project area during the Civil War.

The goal of this project will be to establish the role of the seven county project area during the Civil War. Who were the major players, did local leadership change as a result of the War and what were the major military events in the area?

Nathanael Bazzell (Kirksey) and Jay Poston (Murray) are working with Bill Mulligan on this project.

During the summer Nathanael Bazzell (Kirksey) developed a template for the interpretive signage on the Kentucky Civil War Heritage Trail for the Kentucky Heritage Council. The template will allow any group on the trail to develop signage that is readily identifiable as part of the trail. It incorporates the trail logo as well as the logo of the Civil War Trust's Discovery Trail. Bazzell, who will complete his MA in December 1999, was a graphic arts minor as an undergraduate at MSU. For information about the template contact either the Kentucky Heritage Council (502) 564-7005 or the Pogue Institute (502) 762-6571

Students in our public history program and courses completed two more projects in cooperation with area historical agencies during the last year. Currently student teams are working on projects in Paducah, Smithland, and Princeton.

Lewisport

During the spring 1998 semester a team of four grad students -- LeAnne Shadrick (Slaughters), who served a steam leader, Nathanael Bazzell (Kirksey), Greg Miller (Murray) and Jeff Bidwell (Moorman) developed an administrative manual and preliminary exhibit plan for the Hancock County Agricultural Museum, planned for Lewisport. Their work has been nominated for an NCPH award for excellence in student projects.

Calhoun

During the fall 1998 semester a five student team led by Nathanael Bazzell and including Greg Miller, Jeff Bidwell, Amy Blewett (Paducah), and undergraduate Eddie Sakowicz (Elizabeth, NJ) developed an administrative manual and preliminary exhibit plan for the proposed Nathan Bedford Forrest/Orphans Brigade National Museum in Calhoun.

Bill Mulligan has been appointed to the special legislative task force on state-owned historic properties. The taskforce was established by Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 95 during the last legislative session. The taskforce has been meeting monthly to review how the Commonwealth manages its historic properties and to make recommendations for new legislation.

Bill Mulligan presented a paper at "On the Margins of the War." The conference held in Carlisle August 14-16 was sponsored by the Cumberland County (PA) Historical Society and Dickinson College. The conference was a part of a yearlong series of programs on the Civil War organized to observe the 135th anniversary of the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania that culminated in the battle of Gettysburg.

In his paper, "The Civil War in Far Western Kentucky: Union Occupation of a Pro-Confederate Union State" Mulligan discussed the importance of the western theater of operation in the Civil War and the ambiguous position of western Kentucky. While Kentucky never seceded from the Union, the population of western Kentucky was overwhelmingly pro-Confederate, which led to a great deal of conflict between Union forces and the population.

Mulligan's paper reported on research he has done in connection with several Pogue Institute projects during the last five years.

Pogue Institute director Bill Mulligan presented a paper at a session on graduate education in history at a session organized by HNET at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Washington in January. The paper is entitled: "Electronic Resources and the Education of History Professionals" and discusses how use of the Internet has been integrated into the Murray State public history program.

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3-24-99 Comments to: Bill Mulliigan