Grand Opening of Carnegie Center’s New Permanent Exhibit
Remembered: The Life of Lucy Higgs Nichols
Saturday February 4, 2012, 10:30 am
Community Choir Performance 11:00 am
First-person Interpretation of Lucy Higgs Nichols Performed at 11:30 am

After nearly four years of research, preparation, and collaboration, the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana is proud to announce the grand opening of a new permanent exhibit, Remembered: The Life of Lucy Higgs Nichols, on Saturday February 4, 2012, at 10:30 am. Lucy Higgs Nichols is brought to life in this new exhibit, which details her escape from slavery in 1862, and her service as a nurse with the 23rd Indiana Regiment during the Civil War, to her life in freedom in New Albany, Indiana as an admired citizen whose wartime service earned her a nurse’s pension by a Special Act of Congress in 1898. The exhibit is an extension of the Carnegie Center’s award-winning permanent exhibit, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage: Men and Women of the Underground Railroad. The grand opening celebration will begin with brief remarks and a ribbon-cutting at 10:30 am. A community choir drawn from area churches will perform at 11:00 am, followed by a first-person interpretation of Lucy Higgs Nichols performed by writer and educator Judith C. Owens-Lalude at 11:30 am. Sponsored by the Carnegie Center, Inc., this event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Contributors to the exhibit include the Carnegie Center for Art and History, Inc., the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library, Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County, the Vectren Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, and the Duke Energy Foundation, with significant in-kind support from Solid Light, Inc., the exhibit design firm responsible for this exhibit and Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage: Men and Women of the Underground Railroad. Initial historical research was conducted by Pamela Peters, Curtis Peters, and Vic Megenity. Advisors on the exhibit include Dr. Glenn Crothers, Dr. Keith Griffler, Dr. John Dittmer, Dr. Jane E. Schultz, and Dr. Barbara Gannon.

The exhibit details the incredible life of Lucy Higgs Nichols, who was born in slavery in 1838 but escaped with her husband and young daughter in 1862 by running to the Union Army encamped outside Bolivar, TN. The unit that took them in was the 23rd Indiana Volunteer Regiment, which mustered into service in 1861 in New Albany. Nichols served as a nurse at the regimental hospital of the 23rd Indiana Regiment for the remainder of the War, and experienced tragedy when her daughter, Mona, died during the siege of Vicksburg. Nichols came to New Albany after the War with the men of the 23rd and became an admired citizen whose service was eventually recognized with a nurse’s pension, awarded by a Special Act of Congress in 1898. News of her pension was reported in newspapers across the country, including the New York Times. Lucy was designated an honorary member of the William Sanderson Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, which was in charge of her funeral arrangements when she died in 1915. Lucy Higgs Nichols was buried with full military honors beside her husband, John Nichols.

The Carnegie Center for Art and History, a department of the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library, is a contemporary art gallery and history museum that offers a full schedule of changing exhibitions and other educational programs. The Carnegie Center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:30 pm, and is located at 201 East Spring Street in historic downtown New Albany, Indiana. The Carnegie Center for Art and History is fully accessible. Admission is free. Visit www.carnegiecenter.org for more information on exhibits, events, and classes. The Carnegie Center is proud to present the New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series in partnership with the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association; visit www.napublicart.org for more information.