South Mountain Speakers Series: “CONTESTING GETTYSBURG: PRESERVING AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD SHRINE”

Wednesday, December 1^st, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Memorial Auditorium in Shippensburg University.

South Mountain Speakers Series to Explore Land Use and Cultural Preservation at Gettysburg National Military Park

Boiling Springs – The history of preservation at Gettysburg will be the seventh and final lecture for the 2010 South Mountain Speakers Series on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at Shippensburg University’s Memorial Auditorium.

The event, entitled, “Contesting Gettysburg: Preserving an American Battlefield Shrine,” is free and open to the public. It runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Environmental historian and Penn State Altoona professor Dr. Brian Black will use Gettysburg as an example to discuss the need for preservation of sacred symbols throughout the region and the nation.

“When the Gettysburg Battlefield quieted following the fighting in July 1863, another story began,” said Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward, an assistant professor of history at Shippensburg University and the chair of the South Mountain Partnership’s steering committee for the speaker series. “Dr. Black will tell this story, which spans almost 150 years, of how the landscape at Gettysburg passed through many differing episodes in the culture of preservation, and national trends related to protecting our sacred symbols.”

After the lecture, a panel including Black, Greg Goodell from the National Park Service and Mark Shaffer from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission will answer audience questions and discuss the future of Gettysburg National Military Park and the relationship between environmental conservation and cultural preservation in the South Mountain region.

The South Mountain Speakers Series is organized in the spirit of the Michaux Lectures, a series of talks given by Joseph Rothrock as part of his work to restore Pennsylvania’s forests during the late 19th century.

The series is led by the South Mountain Partnership, which is a unified group of private citizens, businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government representatives in Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties.

The partnership works to advance environmental conservation and economic development by encouraging best-management practices in agriculture and forestry, and supporting and promoting working farms, forests and watersheds while emphasizing the unique cultural and historic heritage of the region.

The South Mountain Partnership and Shippensburg University are sponsoring this event.

For more information about this event, contact Allen Dieterich-Ward at ajdieterichward@ship.edu.

To learn more about the speaker series, visit southmountainspeakers.blogspot.com or contact Kim Williams at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy at 717-258-5771.

Media contact: Allen Dieterich-Ward, 717-477-1192

In the Spirit of the Michaux Lectures

Pennsylvania has a long and compelling history of conservation. Inspired by the state and the nation’s early conservation leaders and their struggles, the South Mountain Partnership seeks to put today’s environmental issues into a broader context and inspire action within our communities.

The South Mountain Speakers Series are organized in the spirit of the Michaux Lectures, a series of talks given by Joseph Rothrock in his work to preserve and restore Pennsylvania’s forests and natural landscape. During the late nineteenth century, the Michaux Lectures as presented by Rothrock were an educational mission that became a catalyst for real change in our state’s environmental history.

It is our hope that as we face the challenges of the twenty first century, the South Mountain Speakers Series can encourage a new generation to find in the past a positive vision for the future of the South Mountain landscape and beyond.

Building on our past to create a legacy for our future

“CONTESTING GETTYSBURG: PRESERVING AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD SHRINE”