LUNCH WITH BOOKS: Letters Home - Personal Experiences of War

September 26, 2017
12:00pm - 12:00pm

Letters served as the main source of communications between soldiers, nurses, and other military support personnel and their communities during the American wars of the 18th through mid-20th centuries. The written word connected the individuals far from home to their families and friends, providing comfort, support, and the exchange of news. To help us celebrate the launch of the Archiving Wheeling Series, “From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle,” (first episode will air Sept. 24 on www.archivingwheeling.org), Kelly Mezurek, Associate Professor of History at Walsh University, will tell us how private wartime letters provide insight into the personal, lived experiences of soldiers, and how, through their own words, we might better understand the transformative nature of war on American society, and how society reacted to and affected U.S. military actions.

Kelly D. Mezurek is an associate professor at Walsh University, where she teaches United States history. Her book, For their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops (The Kent State University Press, 2016), is a 2017 Ohioana Book Award Finalist in nonfiction. Mezurek’s essay, “‘De Bottom Rails on Top Now’: Black Union Guards and Confederate Prisoners of War,” will be included in Civil War Prisons II (forthcoming 2017), a collection edited by Michael P. Gray. Mezurek is on the advisory board for the Emerging Civil War Book Series with the Southern Illinois University Press and served as a member of the Ohio Civil War 150 Advisory Committee.

Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Attendees are welcome to bring a bag lunch and complimentary beverages are provided. Call the library at 304-232-0244.