Comments on: Gettysburg Electric Map: No Address

By: JackHerman

JackHerman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:52:38 +0000

Over 30 years ago I attended one of those packed presentations of the Battle of Gettysburg, and that which lead up to it, by the ELECTRIC MAP.
Whenever the discussion of Gettysburg came up, the ELECTRIC MAP was included, and long before I witnessed it. The spectator became an active participant by immersion, following that colored light progression.
One could forget a great Monument upon the hallowed grounds of GETTYSBURG, long before they would forget the ELECTRIC MAP.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:20:19 +0000

This just sucks. I grew up in Gettysburg and went to the electric map more times I want to admit. It was the best. It was like stepping into a 1950s time warp. Of course, there’s still the Eisenhower farm, so the 1950s are still alive and well in Gettysburg.

By: Tad

Tad — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:18:44 +0000

The Electric Map will never seen the light of day again. It has been cut into pieces and stored in shipping containers on an NPS site at Gettysburg.
The Map also contained friable asbestos, and it was this somewhat dangerous.
Now, why couldn’t a NEW Electric Map have been created? After all the NPS spent $103 million of private donations and taxpayer funds to create their new visitors’ center at Gettysburg. Their former Supt. John Latschar vetoed the idea, declaring that the concept was “100% antiquated.” Despite his opinion, a state-of-the-art electric map was recently installed at Monocacy Battlefield, just across the MD line from Gettysburg.
Maybe there is hope for an Electric Map of some kind now that former Supt. John Latschar has been removed from Gettysburg.
In the meantime, visitors may soon be able to sort of view the Electric Map. Before it was destroyed (sorry, I meant to say “dismantled”), the Gettysburg Foundation filmed the old 30-minute Map presentation with an eye to editing it down to a 22-minute presentation. Once this is accomplished, the Electric Map Movie will be shown in one of the two theaters currently showing the new (2008) introductory film and thus give visitors a choice between learning about the battle and being hectored for their complicity in slavery.
Please recall that this former Supt. and the NPS stated that visitors did not want to learn “who shot who where” but rather “why they were shooting.” The reader can best answer this question on an individual basis.

By: James Lehman

James Lehman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:16:43 +0000

Saw it a loooong time ago. Such a display is superior to a mere video presentation. The ability to stand OVER the terrain and watch the flow of the battles, if only with lights, gives one a better idea of the immensity of the activity involved. it’s hard to imagine the ebb and flow of such things, even maps in history books don’t do it justice, especially for John and Mary Q. Tourist. SHOW me how the thousands of soldiers moved and where they died. Don’t just point to where they died.

By: ADalton

ADalton — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:05:01 +0000

They should sell it to someone who cares. That way the map can be saved, and the Getteysburg Foundation can get some money for something it wants.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:24:11 +0000

I saw this for the first time 2 years ago, and as silly as it was, I still say someone’s got to save this artifact for posterity. The electric map was a reflection of just how pitiful the Gettysburg Visitor Center was; I never saw a more threadbare carpet than the one that was there. The site needed some major improvement; it was a joke to have Gettysburg represented so badly.

By: David

David — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:15:58 +0000

Lame. This stuff is American history too! I’m sure the room it was in had *that* smell to it too. One more thing I’ll never be able to see.

Bleh on you Gettysburg Foundation.