Cat Jamison (Class of 2024) and Libby Nieport (Class of 2024) visited Professor Seiwers’ ENLS 103 class on Friday, January 19, 2024. Cat has been working on the Bucknell Civil War and Underground Railroad documentary for a few years now, while Libby is a newer member. The documentary will be about a half hour, and they have finished most of the research, editing, filming, audio, and interviewing by themselves.
Cat was inspired to work on this project by Professor Siewers and her love for history. She said: “It is cool to see the amount of history that exists right under your dorm room.” Libby was partly inspired by Cat to join the group. She had been hearing about the project for months and wanted to learn more about the history of Bucknell.
Assembling the project was the most challenging part of the process. Cat told the class, “The research aspect of this was the hardest because we’re trying to students who contributed from this university. When you Google ‘Civil War’, everything in the possible world can come up and it does.” She continues, “I am sure there are a lot of people who played an even more pivotal role who we will just never know about.”
Cat explained that when the Civil War occurred, the university shut down so male students and professors could join the North’s effort. Meanwhile, the attached women’s institution stayed open, as they became nurses for the army. Most of the stories about these people came from university archives and the library.
Since she was a first-year student, Cat has put five hours a week into this project. Both Cat and Libby hope the students of Bucknell and inhabitants of Lewisburg will make connections outside of the “Bucknell Bubble” from this video documentary. That way, Lewisburg will not seem so isolated from the rest of reality.
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