A human face on a national tragedy

The latest issue of American History magazine features an article on the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War photographs at the Library of Congress. Nearly 700 photographs depicting mostly young and unknown Union and Confederate soldiers were donated to the Library of Congress by Tom Liljenquist and his three sons (Jason, Brandon, and Christian) of McLean, VA.

As the Civil War nears its 150th anniversary, the passage of time and the magnitude of the suffering (more than 600,000 killed) can obscure the individual human sacrifice and commitment from each of the combatants. These photographs have a shocking immediacy to them. They're just ordinary young men, most about the same age of our students, the same age as (if not younger than) the men and women who are currently serving our country.

The Library of Congress is planning to open an exhibit, "The Last Full Measure: Civil War Photographs From the Liljenquist Family Collection," in April to mark the sesquicentennial. Until then, you can view most of the images at www.loc.gov/rr/print/caption/captionliljenquist.html.

(Photograph from the Liljenquist Collection at the Library of Congress)

The Triplett Collection's OTHER Donor

I've written before in the blog about the massive donation by Don Wesley-Brown that serves as the core of our Triplett Military History Collection. There is another major donor to the collection who hasn't gotten as much press, and that is the Poe family from Ball Ground,GA. Robert and Mary Poe donated about 1,100 books to the Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center.

The books belonged to Mrs. Poe's brother Frank James Farkus III. Farkus fought in World War II as a member of the US Army's 160th Engineer Combat Battalion. He served under General George S. Patton and participated in the liberation of France. Farkus' time in the service led to a lifelong interest in the European theater of operations. About a quarter of the books in his collection are in German. Many of the books focus on various divisions and units, American and German as well as troops from Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa. Mr. and Mrs. Poe inherited the books when Farkus passed away two years ago. They decided to donate the books to Reinhardt, believing that Farkus would have wanted to share them with students.

"While by call number and location they are placed in the Triplett Memorial Military History Collection, they are also designated in the catalog and by a book plate as in memory of Frank James Farkus III," said technical services librarian Joel Langford.

"Say Cheese!" Our Photo Winner

Congratulations to Bonnie Medford! Bonnie submitted the winning entry in our Library Photo Contest. In this picture, Bonnie and fellow sociology major Josh Quintanilla hang out with North Fulton Library Assistant Drew Childers '10 in the Hill Freeman Library. What better place to be on a rainy pre-finals afternoon? The picture was snapped by Anna Dollar.

Bonnie has won a "Year of Oceania" t-shirt.

We will have another photo contest in the spring. Start practicing your smile and planning your photo ops! The most creative library picture will win!