Category: Traveling Exhibits

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Civil War Nurses Exhibit Opens at Carnegie Free Library

On February 14, 2026, the traveling exhibit Faces of Civil War Nurses opened to a warm welcome at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, Pa., just outside Pittsburgh.

Presented in partnership by Military Images and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, the exhibit features 20 life-size portraits of women who served as nurses during the Civil War—bringing viewers face-to-face with the caregivers who tended the wounded and dying in hospitals, camps, and on the battlefield.

The Carnegie installation marks the second stop for the exhibition following its premiere at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall .

A Record-Setting Opening

The Valentine’s Day opening program exceeded expectations in every way.

According to program coordinator Jon-Erik Gilot, the event set an attendance record for the library’s long-running Second Saturday Civil War Series, which began in 2014.

Coddington, left, with Jon-Erik Gilot.

The audience reflected the library’s broad educational mission. While many were Civil War enthusiasts, others came simply out of curiosity and a love of lifelong learning. Despite limited parking and a busy weekend, the room filled quickly, and late arrivals continued to stream in after the program began.

Bringing the Nurses to Life

The opening presentation explored the stories behind the images and the larger effort to identify, research, and interpret the visual record of Civil War nurses. The strong turnout—and the many thoughtful comments afterward—underscored the growing public interest in the human side of Civil War photography.

As Gilot noted, the program “set a high bar not just for attendance, but for content and quality,” and the enthusiastic response highlighted the power of portrait photography to connect modern audiences with the past.

Continuing the Journey

Faces of Civil War Nurses continues its run in Carnegie through May 9, offering visitors a rare opportunity to encounter these women at full scale and learn about their service and sacrifice.

The success of the opening affirms the exhibit’s mission: to honor the caregivers of the Civil War and to share their stories with communities across the country.

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Faces of Freedom Debuts at Camp Nelson National Monument

Our traveling exhibit, Faces of Freedom, made its Kentucky debut at Camp Nelson National Monument as part of the park’s 160th-anniversary commemoration, “A Portal into the Past: Camp Nelson, Photography, and the End of the Civil War.” We’re honored to partner with the National Park Service and the Camp Nelson team to bring these powerful stories to a site where freedom was claimed and defended.

The exhibition features 37 high-quality prints made from original Civil War portraits in public and private collections. Each portrait is paired with a short biographical sketch that introduces the individual’s wartime service and life beyond the uniform. The images focus on Black soldiers and sailors who served in the U.S. Colored Troops and the U.S. Navy, putting names and stories to faces that shaped the Union war effort and the meaning of citizenship. Some of the men pictured and profiled went on to become Buffalo soldiers. A digital exhibit catalog includes the images and stories.

The National Park Service team, led by Superintendent Ernie Price and Steve Phan, Chief of Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Services, collaborated with facilities staff to build wonderful displays to showcase the exhibit.

Leaders and speakers at the recent Camp Nelson 160th, from left to right: Steve T. Phan, Ron Coddington, Stephen McBride, Brian Mabelitini and Ernie Price. Photo by Ranger Ava Goetz.

Camp Nelson is the ideal place for this chapter of the exhibit’s journey. Established by the U.S. Army in 1863 as a major supply base, the site evolved into one of the nation’s largest recruitment and training centers for United States Colored Troops—and a refuge center for their families. More than 10,000 formerly enslaved men became soldiers here in 1864–65, and the camp’s story illuminates both the hardships and the hope bound up in emancipation for freedom seekers.

This stop at Camp Nelson marks the fifth venue for Faces of Freedom. Earlier installations included the Hubbard House Underground Railroad Museum in Ashtabula, Ohio, the Goodridge Freedom Center and Underground Railroad Museum in York, Pa., Manassas National Military Park, and the Lincoln Depot Museum in Peekskill, N.Y., each welcoming visitors to encounter these portraits up close.

Photo by Military Images.

Faces of Freedom is produced by Military Images, the only magazine devoted exclusively to Civil War portrait photography. The exhibit is part of our broader mission to showcase, interpret and preserve these historic images—and to meet people where they are in physical and virtual communities.

We’re grateful to the National Park Service and to the many collectors, families, and institutions who have helped surface, preserve, and share these histories. If your museum, archive, or historic site is interested in hosting the exhibit, please get in touch! Email Editor and Publisher Ronald S. Coddington.