"Monumental Achievement: The Civil War and the Making of Memory" "Monumental Achievement explores how our nation’s deadliest and costliest war reshaped the culture and values of our nation and gave birth to the monument industry. Prior to the Civil War, monuments commemorating great events or deeds in the life of our country were rare. After the war the supply and demand for monuments and memorials mushroomed. The Civil War was an event of cataclysmic emotional and cultural significance. It also coincided with a wave of nostalgia induced by the transformation from an agrarian to an urban industrial society. Add new technological capacities to the mix and you have a perfect convergence of factors needed to produce our most inspiring public sculpture, a wide swath of art and material culture and some of our most auspicious public buildings and landmarks, including Connecticut’s State Capitol - a “memorial hall” in all but name and a building the honors and commemorates the war like no other state capitol building in the country! This program provides an armchair tour of Civil War monuments, art and material culture in Connecticut and beyond. We will meet personalities like Hartford’s James G. Batterson, and companies like the Ames Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, the White Bronze Manufacturing Company in Bridgeport that became nationally renowned purveyors and pioneers in the monument industry. We will also “visit” Gettysburg and discuss the role of Civil War veterans in collecting and creating public spaces to enshrine and memorialize their accomplishments in saving the union and ending slavery." A feature length public program may be booked by contacting William Hosley at wnhosley@snet.net

1. Monumental Achievement: The Civil War & the Making of American Memory

2. James G. Batterson Hartford, CT Monument Maker

4. Soldiers & Sailors Monument, New Haven Plans & Process

5. New Britain Soldiers & Sailors Monument by Ernest Flagg

6. Winsted Soldier Monument by George Bissell

7. Sculptor Artists – Augustus St. Gaudens

9. General George Stannard Burlington, VT By Karl Gerhardt

10. Artistic masterpieces by Augustus St. Gaudens and Frederick McMonnies

11. Soldiers & Sailors Arch Hartford, CT By George Keller

12. Confederate Monument Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, VA

13. New England Civil War Museum / GAR Memoral Hall Rockville, CT

14. Connecticut State Capitol – A Civil War Memorial Hall

17. Richmond and Gettysburg / Memory Places

18. Gettysburg National Park – 1+ million visitors/year

19. History, Art & Gratitude: Memory Matters!

20. Monumental Achievement: The Civil War & the Making of American Memory by William Hosley Terra Firma Northeast To book a feature length presentation contact [email_address] Special thanks to the communities that preserve our sacred and historic monuments and the museums small and large that preserve our treasures