Winnie Artifacts and Historical Memory

 

United Confederate Veterans Reunion Mobile, Alabama 1910

United Daughters of the Confederacy/United Confederate Veterans Medal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I talked with my friend Leah Witherow, who is Curator of History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.  (www.cspm.org).    I met Leah when I was researching Winnie’s visit to Colorado Springs to see her older sister Margaret in 1894.  Local papers still identified Winnie as “the Daughter of the Rebellion” during her visit-29 years after the Civil War ended.

Leah and I were talking about one of her current exhibits and the emotional impact artifacts had upon visitors.  One of Leah’s quotes really struck home with me:

“Objects are powerful containers of memory that help us connect with our personal history, faith, cherished traditions, milestones, accomplishments, family heritage and our loved ones both living and deceased.”

Her comment is so wise.  That is why curators, historians and antique collectors flock to Civil War artifacts.  There is a huge market for these items, as I found out when I started looking for Winnie Davis-themed mementos.  Historical memory is a powerful force, and one that can still resonate through objects hundreds or even thousands of years after events occur.

My friend Chris Ferguson is the author of several Civil War books (check out Southerners at Rest) and the premier tour guide at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.  Chris located several Winnie Davis-themed ribbons and medallions for me.  These medallions were distributed at both Confederate Veterans Reunions and United Daughters of the Confederacy events.

As I write in Winnie Davis:  Daughter of the Lost Cause, “Post-war Confederate Veterans were continually trying to make sense of what had happened to them, to come to terms with their crushing defeat.  They needed an icon to cling to, someone to guide them through the choppy and unknown waters of Reconstruction forward.”  Winnie became this icon.  These medals, ribbons and images of her face are “powerful containers of memory” that signal Winnie’s significance as a secular Saint of the South

 

Contemporary Winnie button Memorial Hall New Orleans