Wed. Sept. 14 | 7-8pm EDT
Meet us on Zoom or in person at the museum for a special book talk with the curators behind Between Home and the Front: Civil War Letters of the Walters Family. A book signing will be held after the talk in the museum atrium for those attending in person. Please register at the link in our bio to attend or view online.
Between Home and the Front… presents previously unpublished letters from the Walters family's collection held by the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum. This collection includes the exchange of correspondence between the home front and frontline, a perspective not often seen in historical records. The publication provides a glimpse into the emotions and news that Private David Walters of the 5th Indiana Cavalry and his wife Rachel shared in their correspondence. Rachel became the hub of communication for the family, often receiving missives from David's brothers, Isaac and John Wesley, both of whom served with Indiana units, and relaying the information to friends and family.
Between Home and the Front: Civil War Letters of the Walters Family is a work of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, edited by Lynn Heidelbaugh and Thomas Paone, curatorial staff of the National Postal Museum and National Air and Space Museum (respectively), and was published by Indiana University Press in 2022.
📷: Front cover of book called "Between Home and the Front: Civil War Letters of the Walters Family." The cover is sepia, resembling a letter with faded cursive writing, and two stylized illustrations: one of a women in mid 19th century clothing kneeling and praying while looking out a window and another of a man in a Civil War uniform holding a rifle and sitting alone by a fire, his head bowed.