Special exhibition created with Military Images Magazine opens Oct. 9 at Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center.
Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center and Military Images (MI) have partnered to present Sacrifice on Seminary Ridge, a special exhibition using wartime portraits and personal accounts to tell the stories of the patients, surgeons, and nurses whose lives intersected within the walls of the Lutheran Theological Seminary during and after the Battle of Gettysburg.
The exhibition will open with a public unveiling reception at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, at Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center, 111 Seminary Ridge, Gettysburg. The reception is free, but advance registration is required through the museum’s events calendar.
Some of the individuals featured in the exhibition fought in the desperate struggle around the Seminary on July 1, 1863, and entered the building grievously wounded after it was transformed into a hospital. Others worked amid overwhelming suffering to care for them. Together, their portraits and accounts offer an intimate view of the human cost of the battle and the extraordinary efforts made within the building’s walls.
“Visitors to the Museum regularly encounter the larger story of the Seminary’s role in the battle and its aftermath,” said Rob Williams, director of outreach of Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center. “This exhibit allows them to meet the individuals who lived that history. Their faces and experiences bring a deeply personal perspective to the sacrifice, suffering, and care that defined the Seminary hospital experience.”
The exhibition grew from a collaboration between Seminary Ridge Museum and Military Images, a publication dedicated to preserving and sharing historic photographs of American soldiers and sailors. Paul Russinoff, an MI senior editor and member of the Museum’s board, originated the idea and played a key role in making it a reality.
“This important collaboration between the collecting community and the Seminary Ridge Museum lets visitors look into the faces, and hear the stories of individual soldiers, surgeons and nurses who inhabited the Seminary hospital in the aftermath of the battle and features period photographs, many being exhibited for the first time,” said Russinoff.
The exhibit, sponsored by Fleischer’s Auctions, also demonstrates the power of the Civil War portrait collecting community. Images were generously shared by Scott Hann, Scott Hilts, Charles T. Joyce, Jeff Kowalis, Jason and Mark Krausz, C. Paul Loane, Faye and Ed Max, Robert May, Ronn Palm, Jim Rivest, Paul Russinoff, Brian White, and Ronald S. Coddington, with assistance from Dale R. Niesen. Additional portraits came from the Adams County Historical Society and The Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress. By bringing together these long-scattered faces, the community has allowed the soldier-patients, surgeons, and nurses of the Seminary hospital to stand together once more.
The Autumn 2026 issue of Military Images will feature two related articles: “Within These Walls,” a collection of portraits and accounts featured in the exhibit, and “In the Line of Fire,” an investigation of a memorable Mathew Brady photograph and what it reveals about the building and grounds in the battle’s aftermath.
Sacrifice on Seminary Ridge is exclusively sponsored by Fleischer’s Auctions. The exhibition will remain on view through Dec. 6 and will be included with general museum admission following the Oct. 9 unveiling.
For additional information or to register for the opening reception, visit the Seminary Ridge Museum website.
About Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center
Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center is located in historic Schmucker Hall on the campus of United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg. Through its exhibitions, programs, and historic spaces, the Museum explores the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the care of the wounded, and the moral, civic, and spiritual debates surrounding slavery and freedom.
About Military Images
Since 1979, MI has showcased, interpreted, and preserved historic photographs of American soldiers and sailors. In each quarterly issue of MI, readers find a mix of analysis, case studies, examinations of material culture and personal stories that offer a unique perspective on the human aspect of the Civil War.