Archives' exhibit features local anti-slavery movement
By Daniel McCormick '13
From now until December 18, the Archives of Hanover College will host "Get Me to the Promised Land," an exhibit detailing anti-slavery efforts in the history of Jefferson County. According to Archivist Doug Denné, the exhibit stemmed from a grant that Hanover received from the Community Foundation of Madison and Jefferson County, who asked that it include sources from or about the local area.
"Initially, the exhibit was going to focus on the Underground Railroad," said Denné. "But we quickly realized that this would not tell the whole story." Soon the project was transformed into a history of the different ways in which the people of Jefferson County supported the anti-slavery movement.
The exhibit, located on the second floor of the Duggan Library in front of the Research Department, consists of primary source documents and rare books that examine the history of the movement in and around Jefferson County. The materials date back as far as the 17th century and include first editions of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Contained in a glass display case with eight separate panels that each have a particular theme, the pieces are from the slave trade, the colonization movement and the history of the anti-slavery movement at Hanover College.
Being on the Ohio River and right across from the slave state of Kentucky, Jefferson County was a hotbed of anti-slavery activity. Underground Railroad safe-houses were scattered throughout the area and abolitionist newspapers were common. Eleutherian College was the site of Indiana's first college to admit students of any race.
Hanover College itself has quite a history of anti-slavery effort. John Finely Crowe, Hanover's founder, was a noted abolitionist, and in its first inception as Hanover Academy, the College welcomed Benjamin Templeton who entered the Preparatory School (pre-college) in 1832 and went directly from there into the Indiana Theological Seminary; then located at Hanover. He graduated in 1837 and went on to become pastor of Second African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The documents and interpretive text featured in the exhibit detail these and many other topics.
Also on hand is the traveling exhibit, "Free at Last," from the Gilder Lehrman Institute in New York City that explores the history of abolitionism in America. This exhibit, which takes the form of seven display columns encircling the central staircase on the Duggan Library's second floor, mixes text with images and uses cartoons, diagrams, maps, and photos to show the evolution of both slavery and the anti-slavery movement through the history of America. It will be on display in the library throughout the month of September.
"Get Me to the Promised Land" is a rare opportunity to experience history on a first-hand basis through original documents culled from the local area. This exhibit is worth seeing not simply because it concerns Hanover College and Jefferson County directly, but because it is a unique perspective on this topic that tells its story with the freshness and vitality that comes with using concrete historical materials. To see the exhibit, visit the Duggan Library, and for more information about the materials and documents, contact the Archives of Hanover College.
Daniel McCormick '13 (Cincinnati, Ohio) is a legacy student whose parents are Joseph '86 and Joan Boerschig McCormick '85.
