A new Civil War exhibit designed by sophomore Natalie Spaudling as part of her summer internship with the Mossey Library is on display in Campbell Lecture Hall located in the Dow Hotel and Conference Center.
Anna Timmins | Collegian
The exhibit, “Chapter 85: Civil War and Civil Life,” is designed to resemble a chapter from a history textbook. It explores the correspondence between Asher LaFleur, a Hillsdale student who fought in Michigan’s Fourth Regiment, and his fiance Lauraette Hadley, herself a Hillsdale graduate. The exhibit also includes letters from Simon and Cornelius Hadley, Lauraette’s brothers and Union soldiers.
“I’ve been working with the Hadley-LaFleur archives for over half a year now, processing it as a student worker,” Spaudling said. “When I got offered an internship here, my first choice was to continue working with the collection that I’ve been working with.”
Spaulding said she wanted to make the collection available, so students can understand what real people were thinking during the Civil War. She also said she hopes the letters will illuminate how individuals contribute to larger events.
“I was amazed at how personal the letters were. Laureate’s heartbreak at Lincoln’s assasination was palpable,” junior Emily Jones said. “They are real people, not just historical figures.”
The letters reveal that the three soldiers believed they were fighting for liberty and a just cause, according to Spaulding.
“At the time there were people who wanted to come to a compromise—to not end slavery completely but just end the war,” Spaulding said. “Asher was in favor of this for a time. He was tired of fighting. Lauraette responded that if we stop now, slavery continues, all that has happened so far will have been for nought. Asher writes back, ‘You are right, this is what we are fighting for, and we can’t give up.’”
Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Lori Curtis, who offered Spaulding the internship, said she is proud of the exhibit.
“Natalie is wonderful,” Curtis said. “She’s a quick learner, always pleasant, and just a great addition to the archives and special collections department.”
Curtis said the display was entirely Spaulding’s vision and that her involvement was limited to answering Spaulding’s questions and helping with “archival sleuthing.”
“There is one letter that we are both convinced that Asher wrote the wrong year on,” Curtis said. “How the letter is written and how he is addressing Laurette would have to be before they are married, but if you look at the date, it would have been after they were married. We had to look for events mentioned in the letter and see if we could date it that way.”
Curtis said she and Spaulding came to the conclusion the letter had been written a year earlier than it was dated, a note that is included in the exhibit display.
Spaulding is working on a second exhibit about the SS Hillsdale Victory, a cargo ship that served in the Philippines and Okinawa during the last year of World War II. It is set to open in early September in Campbell Lecture Hall.
Because the new exhibits will be displayed in the Dow Hotel and Conference Center, away from the path of most students, Curtis said she hopes students will make the effort to view them.
“I hope the exhibits inspire students to get engaged with archives and stories,” Curtis said. “To peak their curiosity and get them to dive into our archival collection here.”
