A recent edition of “MTSU On the Record” considered whether the pen was mightier than the sword in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Dr. Alan Boehm

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Alan Boehm, a professor of collection development and management at the James E. Walker Library, was the first show for the program’s new weekday and time slot, 9:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays, when it first aired Jan. 24 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and www.wmot.org. You can listen to their conversation below.

Boehm, who is in charge of the library’s special collections unit, discussed its most recent exhibit, “Printing the Civil War: Representation and Commemoration During and After the Conflict.”

“We have a lot of what are loosely called regimental histories,” said Boehm. “We have books written in the effort to explain the causes of the Civil War. We have a number of books that are biographical in nature recounting both the generals’ and upper echelon officers’ experience … as well as the foot soldiers’ experience.”

Dr. Derek Frisby

To enhance viewers’ appreciation of the display, Dr. Derek Frisby, a military historian and lecturer in MTSU’s Department of Global Studies and Human Geography, also led an informal talk on the topic Jan. 26 in the library’s fourth-floor special collections area.

“The American Civil War witnessed numerous innovations and technologies to the battlefield,” said Frisby. “Yet it was perhaps one of the older weapons in the Union arsenal that secured their victory — the printing press.”

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

Items in the “Printing the Civil War” display are shown in the James E. Walker Library’s Special Collections area. The red book is “The Boys of ‘61” by newspaper reporter Charles Carleton Coffin, who penned Union-friendly articles for the Boston Journal. (Photo submitted)