A Civil War Sesq uicentennial Event presented by Penn Center, USCB & the Osher Lifelong Learning Instit
ute
As the first year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial draws to a close, historians, educators and Civil War buffs will have a un ique opportunity to journey through The Civil War in 3D on November 11 at the University of South Carolina Performing Arts Center from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Civil War photography expert Bob Zeller will present Lincoln in 3D, a complete stereoscopic slide show on the history of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and the battlefield photography of America’s epic Civil War.
Wearing 3D glasses, viewers will feel as if they literally stepped into the tableaus of many iconic photographs of the Civil War era, including more than a dozen portraits of Lincoln, photographs of both of his inaugurations, his visits to Antietam and Gettysburg, his summer home, the White House, the city of Washington, the hanging of the assassination conspirators, and many of the most famous images from the battlefields of the Civil War.
The 45-minute digital presentation will be shown in the original stereographic format. An estimated 70% of all Civil War documentary photography was shot as 3D “stereoviews,” the equivalent of today’s videos. Most of the 3D photographs of the war that are shown in books and in documentaries were originally meant to be seen that way by the famous Civil War photographers, such as Matthew Brady and Samuel Cooley, who shot them.
The show also includes three of the earliest photographs of St. Helena Island — vivid and depth-filled images taken in 1866 that form the very foundation of the Penn Center’s rich and unique photographic archive of its long history. The Center for Civil War Photography has consulted with the Penn Center on the significance and history of their collection of stereographs.
Bob Zeller, who narrates the show live, is co-founder and president of the non-profit Center for Civil War Photography (www.civilwarphotography.org) and is one of the leading collectors of original Civil War photography. He electrified war buffs in 1997 with his first book, The Civil War in Depth, published by Chronicle Books, the first to feature Civil War photos in their original stereographic format. Civil War historian James I. Robertson said Zeller was “a pioneer in an exciting new field.” Zeller is also the author of the only narrative history of Civil War photography, The Blue and Gray in Black and White: A History of Civil War Photography (Praeger, 2005). His most recent book is Lincoln in 3-D, (Chronicle Books, 2010), written in collaboration with John J. Richter. Zeller, who lives in Trinity, N.C., has presented 3D slide shows since 1997, including presentations at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Museum of the Confederacy, Chrysler Museum, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and many other venues.
The panel presentation will also include Dr. Stephen Wise, historian and Director of the Parris Island Museum, who will present on “The Battle of Port Royal”, and Dr. Larry Rowland, distinguished professor at the University of SC-Beaufort, who will speak about his new book, The Civil War in South Carolina. A booksigning will be held following the panel presentation.
For more information, call the Penn Center at (843) 838-2432 or visit their website at www.penncenter.com. Tickets are $15-Adults.
