Civil War Battlefields and National Parks:
Photographs by A. J. Meek

November 6, 2013 – April 5, 2014

This exhibition features photographs by Louisiana artist A. J. Meek of the five original Civil War battlefield parks: Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Antietam and Vicksburg.

In 1993, A. J. Meek, professor of photography at Louisiana State University, embarked on a project photographing Civil War battlefield sites at the same time of year the battles were fought. The completed project was published in 2001 by the University of Missouri Press as Gettysburg to Vicksburg: Photographs of the First Five Civil War Battlefield Parks. It is from this published series that the present exhibition is selected, drawn from A. J. Meek’s archive, given by the photographer to The Historic New Orleans Collection. Over a forty-year career, Meek’s work generally coalesced around groups of photographs devoted to specific places or themes. The Civil War battlefield series taps into our national consciousness about this long past conflict, and the memories and lessons that it presents today.