BCFOL
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • What We Do
    • Board of Directors
    • Membership
    • Volunteering
    • Nutshell History
  • News
  • Programs
    • Book Discussion Group
    • Ex Libris Library Extension Program
    • Publications
    • Used Book Sale
  • Contribute
    • Join
    • Volunteer
    • Donate Funds
    • Donate Books
  • Contact

Graffiti Houses of the Civil War

Graffiti House at Brandy Station

Mark Runge, a teacher at Clayton Bradley Academy, will present Graffiti Houses of the Civil War on Thursday, November 3, 2016, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Sharon Lawson Room.

Runge will discuss and show photos of houses and other buildings that were used as hospitals for ill or wounded soldiers. The men who stayed in these houses found a way to leave their mark, in case they did not recover and were buried nearby; They wrote their names, brief bits of biographical information, or rough pictures on the walls.

From the press release:

In East Tennessee, Runge says there are at least three known “graffiti house” locations.

“Civil War graffiti exists in an arcane intersection of Outside Art and military history,” says Runge, a war veteran who earned two Bronze Service Stars while serving with the 5th Combat Engineers in Iraq. He will present his findings from a week-long workshop this year of an intensive study of Civil War graffiti which was fully funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop grant.

Runge says that he “will show examples of graffiti left by both Union and Confederate soldiers, attempt to explain the marks left (and those that are conspicuously absent), and propose ideas explaining why the marks are still there to be read a century-and-a-half later.”

During the workshop Runge attended, the focus of his research was on an individual soldier in order to personalize the war experience that involved thousands. “Beyond the general meaning and making of the graffiti,” Runge adds that, for this library presentation, he “will trace the war records and the pension records of a Union soldier whose account personalizes America’s most personal war.”

Tracing the journey of an individual soldier helps divine motivations for why a soldier enlisted in the Civil War, how he might have understood the war and the interaction between military and civilian life and the larger question of the origins of the war and its impact on society as well as the individual world of each soldier.

In addition, Runge will describe and show photographs of locations he visited during the workshop. He will also mention some known locations of graffiti houses in Tennessee.

Runge currently teaches in the STEAM Lab (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math Lab) at Clayton-Bradley Academy and is also an artist who has had extensive training and works in varied media including building Appalachian dulcimers and banjos. He studied art in China and Israel and holds a BA from the Maryland Institute and an MFA from the University of South Florida.


Photo of Graffiti House at Brandy Station, Virginia is by Cecouchman (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Free and open to the public, the program is sponsored by the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville. For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the website at www.blounttn.org/197.

BCFOL eBay Store

The eBay Inc. logo is a trademark of eBay Inc. Used with permission.Find unique books at the BCFOL eBay Store. This sale is always on, with over 3,700 books of all types for gifts or your own collection.

Next Book Sale

Currently suspended: Date of next monthly sale TBA
2nd Saturday 10 to 4
Members only 10 to noon
(Join or renew here or at the Library)
Everyone welcome noon to 4

No appointments needed
Masks are required
►More info

50,000 Books! Build your own Library! Choose from a wide selection of used books in every category, many in mint condition. If you love to read, if you love books, don’t miss our book sale bargains!
►More Info    ►Map    ►Donate Books

Our Activities

  • Among Friends Newsletter
  • Book Discussion Group
  • Used Book Sale
  • Ex Libris Library Extension Program
  • Membership
  • Publications

Links

Related Informational Sites

Electronic Resources

Library eResources

Contact the Friends

Blount County Friends of the Library
508 N. Cusick Street
Maryville, TN 37804
Phone: (865) 982-0981
Fax: (865) 977-1142
Email: friendsbcpl@hotmail.com

Contact Form

Visit the Library

Current Open Hours
Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday – Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Sunday: Closed

Phone: (865) 982-0981

► Library website
► Map & Directions

Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions
Copyright © 2013–2021 Blount County Friends of the Library
Contact Webmaster