We are excited to pass on some great news for all our Civil War enthusiastic guests – the Antietam Institute was established this year in Sharpsburg!
Now students and scholars of the 1862 Maryland Campaign have a resource that focuses solely on the education and scholarship of this important moment in America’s history. The Antietam Institute is the leading member-based, educational, and philanthropic 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to the education and scholarship of the Maryland Campaign. The Institute seeks to educate the public on the central role of the 1862 Maryland Campaign and Battle of Antietam as a major turning point of the Civil War that directly resulted in the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Antietam Institute sponsored conferences, symposiums, publications, leadership forums, and other activities are designed to facilitate collaborative learning and knowledge exchange, creating unique opportunities for discovery and to inspire further historical research. The Institute is developing new educational opportunity programs and scholarships for students and teachers. Funding will allow the Institute to support and advance further historical research of the Campaign and provide a repository for the dissemination of historical information related to the 1862 Maryland Campaign.
Members will have opportunities to participate in a variety of educational activities. This year the Institute will hold it’s first Annual Fall Conference in October. This weekend long event features several presentations, three battlefield excursions, and a panel discussion. One of the highlights of the conference is the keynote address provided by a prominent authority on the campaign. This year, retired Harpers Ferry historian, Dennis Frye will be the guest speaker. Next spring the Institute is planning a one-day symposium that will be held in April. The symposium will showcase a number of presentations and discussions about the campaign. Both events will be informative, interactive, and thought-provoking.
A core activity of the Institute is the publication of materials that enhance the knowledge and understanding of the Maryland Campaign. This includes a bi-annual publication called the Antietam Journal: Perspectives on the 1862 Maryland Campaign. The journal features the latest research, interpretation, and stories of the Maryland Campaign, and a variety of other sections, such as book reviews, interesting/unusual areas of the battlefields, stories about relics, and interviews. The first edition of the Antietam Journal will hit the street just before the 159th anniversary of the 1862 Maryland Campaign.
The Institute will also serve as a publishing house for other research and scholarship. Later this year the Institute will publish the The Brigades of Antietam, with a follow-up volume, The Artillery of Antietam coming in 2022.
The Antietam Institute will also house the Historical Research Center (HRC), an online locus for collecting, preserving, and disseminating in digital form, historical information related to the 1862 Maryland Campaign. Institute members will have direct access to these unique source materials.
The Journal, other publications, and the HRC will advance the scholarship of the Maryland Campaign by inspiring historical research, creating unique opportunities of discovery, and by facilitating collaborative learning and knowledge exchange.
In partnership with the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University, the Institute is sponsoring an academic internship for one of their outstanding undergraduate students. Working with the Institute’s staff, these interns will gain invaluable experience in journal editing and formatting, the development and implementation of educational programs, interacting with the Antietam Institute’s scholars and audiences, and researching a special topics project.
Each year the Institute will make donations to the battlefield parks, local preservation groups and other historical organizations that support the Institute’s goals. As a member-based organization, the new Antietam Institute needs the support of individuals interested in the 1862 Maryland Campaign. Membership levels begin as low as $25 a year and rise to a lifetime membership of only $1000. Each category has increasing levels of membership incentives.
The Antietam Institute is excited to offer these new educational opportunities to the public, students and scholars who wish to learn and participate in the scholarship of the 1862 Maryland Campaign. If you’re interested in joining or learning about the Institute, check out their website at antietaminstitute.org or email them at info@antietaminstitute.org.
The 93rd New York Infantry Regiment shortly after the Battle of Antietam. (AOTW)
This is great news! What an outstanding opportunity to explore the existing historical record on the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and then to see new research and scholarship come to fruition.