Near the end of 2024 and the start of 2025, we knew we needed to create a new exhibit for 2026, the year commemorating the United States 250th.
As we looked for guidance from the America 250 Commission, we also began to look at our own collections. At the time, the America 250 was encouraging state and local organizations to do the bulk of the work, connecting people with their most directly accessible history. In this spirit, we thought, what can be more local than curating a history of Emmitsburg?
We began to examine our collections, which were heavy on materials from Mother Seton and her family and from the Daughters various ministries across the United States. We had materials from their ministries in Emmitsburg, including St. Joseph’s Academy/St. Joseph College, a major institution in the town since the time of Mother Seton. We had records and artifacts from some of the local schools the Daughters operated. We had accounts of the Civil War detailing life in Emmitsburg, which by sheer luck did not become Gettysburg in the War and in historical memory, but we did not have many artifacts. And we had records and a few artifacts from the Emmitsburg railroad, a point of local pride and, at one time, the smallest incorporated railroad in the United States.
This exhibit quickly became our most research-heavy exhibit, one that extended past the collections that are in our possession. We began to dive into the history of the town beyond our collection scope, utilizing the resources of the Emmitsburg Historical Society and various school alumni organizations. We began to identify themes and marquee artifacts for display, settling on a drill press from the late 1800s as a nod to the town’s agricultural history; a crocheted afghan from the 1870s that was created by an Academy student; and a terracotta angel that was in the Academy Chapel, which later became the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Chapel. We also worked with our neighbors to secure loans of materials, ensuring that the exhibit tells a story of the town, not just of Mother Seton or the Daughters.
We also used this opportunity to explore the undertold story of Emmitsburg’s longstanding African American community. Even in the Antebellum era, generations of families, often consisting of free and enslaved individuals, can be found in the historical record. The town’s history therefore touches on the hardships of slavery and the persistence of a community. We even get the chance to display an artifact from a point of pride in the town – a school desk from St. Euphemia’s, the first school in Frederick County to desegregate.
We began to look for other types of materials to show: tangible three-dimensional artifacts alongside posters and “wordier” pieces, photographs where able, and even films! Amongst them, we have quote-unquote “annotated” a silent video from the 1940s that shows the St. Joseph College campus and surrounding areas and received permission from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to utilize a commissioned music video that features the moving lyric “I’m going home to Emmitsburg.”
We have also sought ways to incorporate some level of interactivity into our exhibits. We invite children to map out the pathways of Civil War soldiers in the leadup to the Battle of Gettysburg, and we invite everyone to explore (reproduced) historical maps from the collection of the town, often with details down to individual properties. This afforded a way to include many of the small stories that are often hard to include in extensive detail in an exhibit like this!
“Emmitsburg: From Way Back When to Now” opens to the public on Saturday, April 11, 2026 and will run through the holiday season 2027. We are located in the Archives gallery of the Seton Shrine.
Welcome to Emmitsburg everybody!
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