Isa Cruz

Last Friday afternoon, the third floor of Hawthorne–Longfellow Library filled with students, librarians, faculty and community members as the Bowdoin Preservation Collective (BPC) unveiled their reimagined Joshua Chamberlain exhibition—an effort months in the making and years in the dreaming.

Over cupcakes topped with sugar mustaches, the BPC’s Grace Campbell ’27 and Andy Robinson ’27 shared how a project that began during the spring of their first year culminated in the current display: “Chamberlain: The Man Behind the Mustache.”

“I’m a big Joshua Chamberlain head, so we were really thrilled to do this exhibit,” Campbell said.

Under the guidance of Education and Engagement Librarian with the Department of Special Collections and Archives (SC&A) Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, the BPC spent their early semester sorting through boxes and evaluating other exhibits.

“We met a bunch of times on Friday afternoons … and over that time we collected things people were interested in and used that to create the exhibit labels,” Robinson said.

The BPC has previously collaborated with the local Pejepscot History Center (PHC). Although the PHC was not involved in this specific project, the work done there influenced many of BPC’s priorities within the Chamberlain exhibition.

“We’ve had really wonderful long-standing relationships with people at the Pejepscot History Center,” Robinson said. “That really informs the work that we do when we’re creating something like an exhibit because it helps us understand what kind of information is most effective to present, what we should be communicating and where there’s gaps.”

One of the BPC’s primary goals was to look past the Little Round Top mythology and understand who Chamberlain was: a father, a husband and a real person.

“It’s about trying to distill who he is as a person more fundamentally through these various documents and artifacts in a way that is not just what you can search up,” Robinson said.

Although Chamberlain’s Medal of Honor and a Tiffany & Co. bracelet he gifted his wife remained from the previous display, the rest of the artifacts were chosen by student BPC members. Campbell explained that, despite the variety of personal tastes among students, the arrangement and relationships among the items were deliberate, creating a throughline designed to guide viewers through the exhibit.

“My favorite is the letter to Daisy [Chamberlain’s daughter]…. He purposefully wrote it all in print in this pink-purple ink,” Campbell said.

Robinson selected one of Chamberlain’s diaries for the exhibit.

“I think a lot of what’s cool about history is trying to read between the lines and understand what people’s train of thought was, what their motivations were, what they value, and looking at the diary allows you to do that,” Robinson said.

The BPC established a link to contemporary Bowdoin pedagogy by uncovering a financial statement showing that Chamberlain subscribed to “The Democrat,” a pro-Confederacy newspaper.

“I understand why Chamberlain would have subscribed to something he didn’t exactly agree with to get multiple perspectives…, kind of like how our professors encourage us today,” Campbell said.

Similarly, Campbell emphasized that the uniqueness of their reimagination lies in the diverse input from students across various majors.

“Andy and I are the only history majors [in the BPC],” Campbell said. “I think it’s interesting to look at the people that routinely come to our club and see that they’re not people that are regularly taking history classes three times a day…. It’s people that just want to expand their own interests.”

Van Der Steenhoven was just as excited about the project as the BPC members, emphasizing the importance of student interaction with historical collections.

“Highlighting student voices and perspectives is a critical aspect of my work,” Van Der Steenhoven wrote in an email to the Orient. “It gives the rare books, manuscripts and college archival materials new life and broadens the conversation.”

Van Der Steenhoven also hopes that the heavy student presence in the exhibit can inspire other members of the student body to engage with SC&A and Bowdoin’s history.

“I’m excited for folks who visit the exhibit to draw the connections between Chamberlain, who was a member of the Class of 1852, and the current student body—perhaps piquing further interest into Bowdoin’s long and fascinating history,” Van Der Steenhoven wrote.

Campbell and Robinson have a similar goal of deepening student engagement with history.

“History is iterative … and bringing in new perspectives helps add to the historical record,” Robinson said.

Andy Robinson ’27 is a member of the Bowdoin Orient.