“A Great and Truthful Medium”: Photography at Gettysburg and Beyond, Selections from the Ron Perisho Collection at Gettysburg College

Exhibition details

This exhibition celebrates Gettysburg College’s recent acquisition of nineteenth and early twentieth-century photographs of the battlefield and town of Gettysburg.

September 2 – December 5, 2026

Location

Main Gallery

Reception

Gallery Talks, September 2, 2026, 4pm

Lecture

Multi-speaker symposium, October 24, 10am-3pm, Mara Hall, followed by a reception at the gallery until 4:30pm

“A Great and Truthful Medium”: Photography at Gettysburg and Beyond, Selections from the Ron Perisho Collection at Gettysburg College — Timothy O’Sullivan (American, born Ireland, 1840-1882), negative, and Alexander Gardner (American, born Scotland, 1821-1882), positive, *Gettysburg Gatehouse, Gateway of Cemetery, Gettysburg*, July 1863, albumen silver print, Ron Perisho Collection, Special Collections and College Archives

Works on display

Included in this collection are the iconic images of the battle’s aftermath by Alexander Gardner, Timothy O’Sullivan, and James Gibson. Also included are less well-known images by photographers such as William H. Tipton, Charles and Isaac Tyson, Samuel Corlies, and Peter S. Weaver. The collection ranges in medium, encompassing albumen silver prints, tintypes, stereographs, and lantern slides. Accompanied by research from Gettysburg College students, this show explores the role of photography in documenting and circulating imagery of the battlefield both during and after the Civil War, and of how technology aids and shapes memory and memorialization.