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Available on this website are a variety of local and American history programs and publications.
CONTACT: civanoff@sbcglobal.net if you wish to schedule at program for your organization.
Carolyn Ivanoff is a retired high school administrator, educator, and independent historian. She writes and speaks about American history in a variety of formats and venues. As an author, researcher, and presenter her work focuses on 19th century America, including social, medical, and material culture, the American Civil War, and Connecticut. At the heart of her research and published works are firsthand, primary source accounts of the people of the Civil War generation. Her books We Fought at Gettysburg and Cornelia Hancock's Civil War are available from Gettysburg Publishing or wherever books are sold.
BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
WE FOUGHT AT GETTYSBURG follows the 17th Connecticut Regiment during the Gettysburg Campaign and beyond in June and July 1863. These first hand accounts describe what these men experienced at Gettysburg. What they saw, and thought, and felt on the battlefield. These accounts are the words of those who lived through the trama of combat and survived to write about it. Many of these men were wounded, taken prisoner, lost friends and suffered themselves on this great battlefield of the Civil War. Their fascinating firsthand accounts tell their story with hundreds of photographs and maps by Phil Laino.
CORNELIA HANCOCK'S CIVIL WARA Heart Touched by FireFrom Gettysburg to the Grand Review
In 1863 Cornelia Hancock, a 23-year-old Quaker from New Jersey wrote, "After my only brother and every other male relative and friend that we possessed had gone to war, I deliberately came to the conclusion that I, too, would go and serve my country." Three days after the great battle of Gettysburg she was the first woman to reach the Third Division, Second Corps Hospital at the Jacob Schwartz farm where over 3,200 desperately wounded men lay in the fields. Cornelia Hancock nursed heroically until the end of the war. Her story is told through her letters, some of the most fascinating first-hand correspondence of the Civil War. This book is a tribute to her and to all the women of the American Civil War who sacrificed and served.
PROGRAMS AND PRESENTATIONS
CORNELIA HANCOCK'S CIVIL WAR introduces audiences to Quaker nurse Cornelia Hancock's dedication and service during the Civil War. Hancock nursed fearlessly and devotedly from the Battle of Gettysburg to the end of the war. This program highlights Hancock’s remarkable Civil War correspondence, identifying the people, places, and events she wrote about. The program provides a frame and context to Cornelia's world and provides 21st century audiences fuller access and understanding of this unique and fearlessly dedicated young woman. Cornelia Hancock looked at the world with eyes wide open and wrote not only her story but that of a nation engaged in Civil War.
DARE TO TEACH tells the story of Prudence Crandall who began a school in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1833 to educate black girls. She would be bullied, harassed, threatened, fined, jailed, and tried three times because she dared to teach. The school was victimized by the populace who contaminated the well, attempted arson, and ultimately the school was destroyed by rioters and closed. Connecticut and Canterbury recanted their positions and voted a pension to Prudence in old age. Prudence Crandall would ultimately be honored and celebrated as the Connecticut State Heroine. This program was awarded a 2013 Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit Honorable Mention for education programming.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF EBENEZER D. BASSETT--A QUIET AMERICAN HERO: Learn about the first Black Ambassador from the United States, Ebenezer D. Bassett, his life and times. Gaining an education in Derby, CT in the 1850s would launch this quiet American hero into the diplomatic corps of the U.S. during Reconstruction. A short biography and educational resources for classrooms are also available. This program received a Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit in June 2010. To read the Connecticut Explored magazine winter 2012 issue article, Ebenezer Bassett's Historic Journey go to: https://www.ctexplored.org/ebenezer-bassetts-historic-journey-2/
SAWS, SCALPELS, SUTURES, DISEASE AND DESTINY: This Civil War Medical Program provides an overview of the practice of battlefield medicine in the 1860s. It highlights the practices that saved lives and dispels the myths that Civil War surgeons were butchers. This program shows the evolution of medicine from the "Dark Ages" to the present and how the American Civil War changed and advanced the practice of medicine forever. Suitable for students and adults interested in science, medicine, and the historical era of the Civil War. This program has been presented to the Raymond U. Massey History of Medicine/Medical Humanities Lecture Series, UCONN Medical Center, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, various cable television stations.
EVERY MAN (AND WOMAN) HIS OWN DOCTOR: This program examines healthcare in Victorian America. What was it like to need and experience medical care in 19th century America? How did people handle and treat inevitable illnesses that come with the human condition? On the frontier, far from any medical help or knowledgeable practitioner, individuals and families had to rely on themselves and their own abilities to treat illness. A garden for most Americans was an utmost necessity and many home medical manuals evolved to contain herbals and recipes or “receipts” that allowed Americans to create commonly used medicines in their own homes. Americans were their own doctors and caregivers. American medicine would change forever because of the Civil War and the catastrophe of the mass casualty rates and health care crisis the war created. This program examines not only the health care experience of 19th century Americans, but many of the Civil War medical practices that the war ultimately embedded into the fabric of American life during the later half of the 19th Century.
This program, ONE FAMILY'S CIVIL WAR, is based on almost 600 letters of Captain Wilson French, Company G, 17th Connecticut Volunteers, his beloved wife Martha Bouton French, and the remarkable journey of those letters through the generations. Captain French was wounded at Gettysburg, captured, and paroled. With the 17th Connecticut in service in Florida, he served as the Provost Marshal of St. Augustine. On February 5, 1865 he was captured at Dunn's Lake and sent to Andersonviille where he was incarcerated at the officers' stockade in Castle Reed. In the summer of 1865 he was subsequently summoned to testify at the Wirz Trial in Washington D.C. Through his letters to his beloved wife, and hers to him, his strong character as a good officer and a good man shine through all his trials and hard service. An amazing story of the Civil War and a family that lived through and survived those difficult and extraordinary years.
MEET FIRST LADY DOLLEY MADISON: Two Programs: In the first, longer program, First Lady Dolley Madison appears in period dress to discuss her life and times. She will discuss her husband James Madison's role as the Father of the U.S. Constitution, the War of 1812, and the great men and events of the era.In the second program, Dolley Madison, and the U.S. Constitution, Mrs. Madison focuses on her husband's role as father of the document and the great men of the era and founders of our nation. She will also speak about her role as a "founding mother."
FAME AND INFAMY IN 1812: This program takes the audience back to the first summer of the War of 1812. The War of 1812 was not a popular war. Some historians have billed it the second war for American independence, but hindsight makes a declaration of war by a fledgling nation against the superpower of the day seem like insanity. Two men from the Hull Family fought for their nation that summer. Uncle William's infamous defeat would bring him national scorn and Nephew Isaac's extraordinary and astonishing naval victory would bring him national fame. Travel back to that summer of 1812 and the events of the nation's most unpopular war. To read the Connecticut Explored Summer 2012 article, Fame and Infamy for the Hulls of Derby go to: http://connecticuthistory.org/fame-and-infamy-for-the-hulls-of-derby/
THE GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD is a popular program around Halloween. It is suitable for all age groups and those with a high interest in the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the supernatural. It provides an overview and description of the three day battle with period and contemporary photos and maps. The highlight of the program are the ghostly images caught on film. Decide for yourself if what you see in the images.
DYING DEATH AND BURIAL ON THE GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD: The thee day battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 2, 3, 1863 was the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. The battlefield today is marked with over 1300 monuments, markers and plaques. The monument to the 116th Pennsylvania Regiment part of the Irish Brigade poignantly depicts the death of a young infantryman in battle. The soldier lies peacefully amid the rocks and fences of the Gettysburg landscape. The monument is haunting and touching and does nothing to depict the terror and suffering of so many men in the desperate struggle that was Gettysburg. The three day battle of Gettysburg was the greatest, most costly battle of a bloody Civil War. This program explores the sacrifices and fate the men who gave their last full measure of devotion, the aftermath of Gettysburg, and the long lasting devastating effects of war on the soldiers who fought and sacrificed and the civilians trapped between the armies in the greatest battle of the American Civil War.
CORNELIA HANCOCK, A VOLUNTEER NURSE AT GETTYSBURG: In 1863 Cornelia Hancock was a 23 year old Quaker girl who wrote "After my only brother and every other male relative and friend that we possessed had gone to War, I deliberately came to the conclusion that I, too, would go and serve my country." Two days after the great battle of Gettysburg she was the first woman to reach the 2nd Corps Hospital. She would nurse heroically throughout the war.
My name is Clara Barton. Many of you will know my name as a nurse in the Civil War. The Angel of the battlefield. But that's only a part of my story. By the time of my death in 1912, my life's work would touch millions of people world-wide and continues to do so. I was born into and lived in Victorian America where a woman's place was limited to her home. Women did not have many legal rights and did not have careers. Few women worked outside their homes. Although I was a woman in a man's world, during my lifetime I had several careers, any one of which would have brought a man fame and perhaps fortune. I earned and enjoyed the fame and glory that was showered on me and I used it to support and further my work. My life's work was all important and it touched the lives of millions. If you have ever received the care of a trained female nurse, if you have ever given or received a blood donation, if you have participated in or donated to relief efforts to help people who have been brutalized by natural disasters or war, if you have participated in a first aid course or have a first aid kit in your home, office, car or boat, if your community has an ambulance corps--- then my life's work has touched your life and this is my story.
CLARA BARTON'S CIVIL WAR AND THE CREATION OF THE MISSING SOLDIERS' OFFICE: Miss Clara Barton was known as the Angel of the Battlefield for her service as a nurse and relief worker during the Civil War. In March of 1865, with written permission from President Lincoln, Barton established the Missing Soldiers Office in her boarding house on 7th Street in Washington, D.C. As the Civil War was coming to a close, over 40 percent of the dead remained unidentified. Tens of thousands of grieving families did not know the fate of their loved ones. From the time she first went onto the battlefield Barton was acutely aware, and deeply concerned, for the fate of the men whom she cared for and their families. With the opening of the Missing Soldiers’ Office, Barton dedicated herself to the search for the missing and the identification of the dead. By time the office closed in 1868, Barton had worked herself into exhaustion. More than 22,000 unknown dead had been identified, 13,000 at Andersonville alone. In 1868 Barton left for Europe to recover her health. Upon her return to the United States Barton would dedicate herself to the founding of the American Red Cross and by the end of her life in 1912 her work would touch millions of lives around the world and continues to do so today.
THE VOTE! The titanic struggle for Women's Suffrage is described in this program and told through period photos, political cartoons, and editorials. Often presented in period dress it highlights the great women of the struggle who fought and suffered valiantly so that American women of future generations would have the right to participate politically in our nation. A popular program during March in honor of Women's History Month.
THE STRIKING SUMMER OF 1915: The year 1915 would bring Bridgeport’s triumphant, striking summer. World War I transformed Bridgeport, Connecticut into a powerful arsenal for the allied war effort at home and abroad. Munitions contracts on a massive scale would profoundly alter the physical landscape, population, and workforce. In a twelve-month period in 1915, Remington-Union Metallic Cartridge would construct a 1.5 million square foot manufacturing facility, the world’s largest building under one roof, on Bridgeport’s East Side. Women workers would play a powerful role in 1915 Bridgeport beginning with a highly publicized teachers’ protest that rocked the city. That summer fifty-five strikes were called. In August over 12,000 striking Bridgeport women would win the eight-hour day mostly without any national labor involvement. During the Striking Summer of 1915 Bridgeport was born again as a progressive eight-hour a day town.
LETTERS HOME DURING THE CIVIL WAR: This Civil War Program is based on correspondence, period documents, records of the town of Derby, CT, and a soldier of the 20th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Learn why a man would leave his home and family in 1862 to fight for the Union. The letters highlight the trials and events that the men and women of the Civil War generation would face in order to preserve this nation. From the battlefields to the home front the program celebrates Americans of the Civil War generation and gives the audience eyewitness accounts of what it was like to live during those difficult years.
WE FOUGHT AT GETTYSBURG & 11TH CORPS HOSPITALS AT GETTYSBURG: Both programs follow the 17th Connecticut Regiment from Barlow’s Knoll to the Spangler Farm and beyond during the three-day Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Through first-hand accounts we come as close as possible to seeing what the solders themselves saw, and thought, and felt on the battlefield. The memories of old soldiers are often criticized as the memories of old men, distorted by time and other factors, however these are the words of those who lived through the trauma of combat and survived to tell about it. All honor to these men who fought for their lives, who lost friends, and suffered themselves on this great battlefield of the war. Through these first hand accounts we in the 21st century can see the battle through the soldiers' eyes as they describe what they experienced. This is above all their story, their legacy to us. Both programs are based on first hand accounts and provide audiences with historical context through the words of the men using period and contemporary Gettysburg photographs and images. These images and recorded memories allow the audience to visualize what the soldiers saw, experienced, and wrote about during the Gettysburg campaign and aftermath.
VIRTUAL ARLINGTON: Take a virtual tour of Arlington National Cemetery. View the history of our nation set in stone as we tour the most prestigious burial place in the world. Meet the men and women who rest in Arlington, who gave their lives so this nation would live. This program is very popular around Memorial Day and Veterans' Day.
THE LAST GREAT ROAD TRIP: Travel the last great road trip from Connecticut to Alaska taking a virtual tour of the great North American continent. Along the way visit the great National Parks in the U.S. and Canada, drive the Alaskan Highway and the Golden Circle. View the wildlife along the way on the world's greatest safari.
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL--FROM CONNECTICUT TO GETTYSBURG 1863: This is the story of four friends who enlisted in the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. They marched, tented, and fought together every day on the hard road from Connecticut to Gettysburg where on the fateful day of July 1, 1863 one of them would be killed, two wounded, and only one left standing. Their story is based on their letters, primary and period source documents. The program is illustrated with contemporary and period images. This program was awarded a 2011 Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit in June 2011. More information on this program and the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (the Fairfield County Regiment) can be found at: http://seventeenthcvi.org/blog/engagements/gettysburg/hard-road/
HISTORY LOST AND FOUND I & II: The two programs in this series uncover the mystery of an unsigned diary of a Pennsylvania soldier during the Civil War. The programs describe discovering the soldier's identity and telling his story with period images in his own words. Program I: Travel with this man from his enlistment in August 1862 to the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in U.S. History. Program II: will take the audience from Antietam to Chancellorsville and the end of this man's war after the battle. Both programs stand alone or can be a series. If you are booking this program specify which of the two programs you are interested in.
OUR TOWN IN THE CIVIL WAR: Seymour, Connecticut could be any small town, north or south, during the American Civil War. Come to hear the stories of Seymour during the Civil War Era from the home front to the battlefield. Meet some of the families. Hear the stories of the men who fought and returned. Honor those brave men who sacrificed their lives for the Union. The program will highlight the service of Corporal John Harpin Riggs and the letters he wrote home during four years of Civil War service to his family on Bungay Hill. What was it like to live in Seymour, or any small American town, during the Civil War years and beyond? Come and visit with us and explore a small town's Civil War past.
JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN Rx, is a very different way to view Chamberlain's extraordinary life. This program examines Chamberlain's health and trials throughout his long life. His medical history provides an overview of 19th century medical care, its successes, vagaries, and in Chamberlain’s case, its miracles. Chamberlain survived smallpox, heat stroke, malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis. After Gettysburg he was diagnosed with “neurasthenia” a Civil War illness syndrome akin to modern post-traumatic stress disorder. His horse was shot from under him five times (Charlemagne twice) and six times he was hit with rebel lead causing his obituary to be sent to the New York papers twice. The most devastating injury was the pelvic wound he suffered outside of Petersburg in June of 1864. The complications from that wound would plague him horribly for almost 50 years and result in the cause of death listed on his death certificate at the age of 85 in 1914.
RESEARCHING YOUR CIVIL WAR ANCESTOR is a genealogical publication on researching Civil War soldiers. The focus is on Connecticut but the publication can be used to research any Civil War soldier, north or south. This program provides a workshop and hands on practical approach to discovering the soldiers of the Civil War generation. You may view the booklet through the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hcnjtzKTymUDlnaPHSWJ9SoOejpqftxv/view
Dr. George Loring Porter was a young Civil War combat surgeon when he was transferred to the Washington Arsenal in 1864. In 1865 he was assigned the duty to secretly bury John Wilkes Booth on the Arsenal grounds. Soon after the Arsenal was reconverted to a Federal penitentiary to imprison the Lincoln Conspirators, Dr. Porter was assigned as the Surgeon in Charge overseeing their confinement and care during the Lincoln assassination trial. After the hanging of four of the conspirators he was one of the doctors who pronounced them dead. He was then assigned to escort Dr. Mudd and other conspirators to imprisonment in the Dry Tortugas. In 1867, Surgeon Porter was assigned to frontier duty at Camp Cook, Montana and traveled through hostile territory, often alone on horseback, on the old Lewis and Clark Trail. Upon returning to civilian life, the doctor practiced medicine and surgery in Bridgeport, Connecticut for the next 51 years in a memorable career. He lived a long and remarkable life as a doctor, soldier, explorer, scientist and surgeon. His story is worth remembering.
The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut was one of the most iconic and unique American manufacturing companies in history. The company created made to order, one of a kind, unique zinc tombstones and monuments from 1874 until 1914. During this period the huge national demand for personal and public monuments seemed endless. Bridgeport's Monumental Bronze Company became the distinctive and exclusive purveyor of cast monuments and tombstones. Each and every one of them unique. These metal markers, monuments to famous people, citizen soldiers, public and personal funerary memorials were a remarkable tribute to American manufacturing and ingenuity. Monumental Bronze called their product white bronze and was a true American original. Their legacy, these beautiful and distinct gray-blue monuments, affectionately referred to as "zinkies" can be seen in cemeteries, public parks and squares throughout the nation.
The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut was one of the most iconic and unique American manufacturing companies in history. The company created made to order, one of a kind, unique zinc tombstones and monuments from 1874 until 1914. During this period the huge national demand for personal and public monuments seemed endless. Bridgeport's Monumental Bronze Company became the distinctive and exclusive purveyor of cast monuments and tombstones. Each and every one of them unique. These metal markers, monuments to famous people, citizen soldiers, public and personal funerary memorials were a remarkable tribute to American manufacturing and ingenuity. Monumental Bronze called their product white bronze and was a true American original. Their legacy, these beautiful and distinct gray-blue monuments, affectionately referred to as "zinkies" can be seen in cemeteries, public parks and squares throughout the nation.
Often individual encounters with history, experienced by common people like us, caught in the maelstrom of events, hold larger truths. Sometimes these experiences have meaning—not only for those who experience them, but for us in today’s world. This program follows twelve members of the 17th Connecticut Regiment through the three-day Battle of Gettysburg and beyond in July 1863. It focuses on the stories of the wounded, the caregivers, and the honored dead. These men fought for their lives, lost friends, and suffered themselves at Gettysburg. Their sacrifices are still with us today and from them we inherited great social and medical advances. Because of their sacrifices we began to understand the hidden costs of war, and that not all wounds are visible. The stories of these twelve citizen soldiers highlight the meaning that their lives and experiences have for our generation today: socially, medically, and psychologically. These are their stories.
WE FOUGHT AT GETTYSBURG: COMRADES IN COMBAT: hear the voices of the men of the 17th Connecticut, the Fairfield County Regiment, who were at the Battle of Gettysburg. These firsthand accounts from those who were wounded, captured, nursed their comrades, lost friends, and survived to fight on to preserve the Union in the American Civil War.
The United States Sanitary Commission was one of the most remarkable institutions in American History. Forerunner of the American Red Cross, the Sanitary Commission (USSC) 1861-1879 was a civilian organization authorized by the Federal government to provide sanitary and medical assistance to the Union volunteer forces during the Civil War 1861-1865. The USSC cooperated closely with the U.S. Army, and provided surgeons and supplies without any cost to the government. Almost as soon as the first shots of the Civil War were fired, women throughout the Northern states began to contribute to the Union cause. The government provided private soldiers with a uniform, a musket, basic rations, and little else. Soldiers were crammed into overpopulated camps with poor food. Little provision for sanitation created epidemics of sickness. The government was ill prepared to evacuate wounded from early battlefields and lacked supplies and organization to support the army. Women were the prime motivators, participants, and contributors to this massive organization that did for the soldiers everything the U.S. Government did not. The USSC was sweeping in the scope. It touched and bettered the lives of millions of soldiers, men, women, and families in the United States during and after the American Civil War.
THE RED CROSS CLUBMOBILE SERVICE in World War II is little remembered today. The Clubmobile was a mobile service club in a "deuce and a half" truck staffed by "Clubmobile Girls" or "Donut Dollies" that provided servicemen with food, entertainment, and a connection to home. The Red Cross had supported U.S. armies in the field since the Spanish American War in 1898 when Clara Barton led the organization to Cuba.It was the sole nonmilitary agency designated to provide welfare and recreation services for the US Armed Forces in World War II. With the official job description of “club services worker,” Clubmobile crews, usually three young women, were tasked to prepare and serve coffee and doughnuts, and other reminders of “home” that might allow the soldiers to momentarily forget the stresses of war. After D Day the women volunteers who staffed the Clubmobiles followed the American armies into the field often serving on the front lines and sharing all the hardships of the combat soldier.
THE HOME FRONT IN WORLD WAR II - A tribute to the Greatest Generation and the American home front. To those who remained behind and helped win the greatest war in world history.
YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS! This program explores history and memory, why we remember and why we forget. It explores how we choose to memorialize and remember the great triumphs and tragedies of our history both local and national with monuments and history.
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: Meet Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England, Good Queen Bess who appears in period dress to speak about her family the Tudors, her reign, and the Golden Age of England named for her. Queen Elizabeth I is often called the greatest monarch in English history, and one of the most powerful women in all of world history. She ruled from 1558 to 1603, turning a struggling nation into a world power known for its military might, religious tolerance, and a flourishing culture led by playwright William Shakespeare.This costumed portrayal of the last of the Tudors details the life of the charismatic leader whose epic rein is still known as the Elizabethan Era.
We Fought At Gettysburg
Available from Gettysburg Publishing https://gettysburgpublishing.com/on-line-store-1/ols/products/we-fought-at-gettysburg and wherever books are sold.
Cornelia Hancock's Civil War
Coming Spring 2026.
Available from Gettysburg Publishing https://gettysburgpublishing.com/on-line-store-1 and wherever books are sold.
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