Ongoing Initiatives
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center
The Gettysburg Foundation owns and operates, in partnership with the National Park Service, the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center, providing for facility maintenance and safety, care and curation of museum artifacts, and creating and maintaining a quality, memorable visitor experience.
Preservation.
Acquisition.
Culp's Hill Rehabilitation
2021 - present
Partnered with the National Park Service to raise funds and make the Culp's Hill site more accessible to visitors. The rehabilitation project opened sightlines, added more interpretive signage and constructed a new trail from near the 150th New York Infantry monument to Forbes Rock.
Children of Gettysburg 1863
Rupp House History Center
2020 - 2021
Renovated the Rupp House History Center to present an all-new educational and interactive experience, Children of Gettysburg 1863.
Designed for young historians in grades K-5, the hands-on history exhibits bring to life the stories of Billy Bayly, Albertus McCreary, Sadie Bushman and other young residents of Gettysburg through first-hand accounts and interactive adventures.
Little Round Top Rehabilitation
2014 - present
Raised funds for the National Park Service to research and provide solutions to the deterioration of Little Round Top’s pathways, walkways, parking lots and vegetation. A strategic position for the Union Army’s line of defense and immortalized in films, books and accounts of the battle, Little Round Top ranks as one of Gettysburg’s most visited landmarks.
Land & Artifact Acquisition
2006 - present
Funds acquisition and conservation of Union and Confederate uniforms, swords, broadsides, books, letters—and entire collections. Acquired more than 400 acres and preserved an additional 700 acres to restore portions of the 1863 battlefield.
2016 – Accepted the donation of the Craig Bashein private collection of more than 200 Civil War artifacts including uniform, pistols, swords, medals and original oil painting.
2016 – Purchased and donated President Dwight Eisenhower's 1955 Cockshutt Black Hawk Model 40 Tractor and Cultivator to the Eisenhower National Historic Site.
2013 – Acquired an extensive collection of General John F. Reynolds’ possessions, including his kepi, officer’s field sword, sword belt and sash, enameled headquarters 1st Corps badge, handkerchiefs and service escutcheon.
2012 – Donated $300,000 for the conservation and rotation of artifacts in the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War.
Monument Restoration
2006 - present
2020 – Preservation efforts - including thorough cleaning and repair of mortar joints - on six equestrian monuments (Union Generals George G. Meade, John Fulton Reynolds, Oliver O. Howard, Winfield S. Hancock and Henry W. Slocum and the Virginia state monument featuring Confederate General Robert E. Lee)
2013 – Pennsylvania Memorial Rehabilitation – Accepted donations and raised funds for the rehabilitation of the memorial including shell blasting and removal of corrosion and grime from the Goddess of Victory and Peace statue atop the monument.
2013 – 11th Massachusetts Monument – Received contributions from the Friends of Gettysburg, donors and supporters to restore the vandalized monument including the restoration of the famed arm and sabre representative of the Massachusetts state motto (“By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”).
George Spangler Farm & Field Hospital
2008 - 2019
Purchased and restored the 80-acre George Spangler Farm & Field Hospital, the site of the Union Army's 11th Corps field hospital. More than 1,900 wounded soldiers—Union and Confederate—were treated here.
2019 – Rehabilitation of stone farmhouse
2016 – Restoration of the Pennsylvania bank barn
2016 – Reconstruction of the smokehouse
2013 – Preservation of the summer kitchen
2012 – Removal of non-historic buildings
Cemetery Ridge
2008 - 2017
Raised funds for the restoration of Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill—key to the Union position in the battle—to return these areas to their 1863 appearance.
Work included demolishing the old Cyclorama building and returning previously re-located monuments to their original positions including the 12th Massachusetts Infantry Position marker (1885), the 88th Pennsylvania Infantry Position marker (1883), and the 1st Massachusetts Sharpshooters Position marker (1913).
Civil War Museum of Philadelphia Artifacts Collection
2016
Obtained ownership of the $9.5 million, 3,000-artifact collection of the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia.
Before receiving stewardship of the collection, Gettysburg Foundation—in partnership with the Civil War Museum—conserved, stored and displayed much of the museum's collection.
George Spangler Farm Apple Orchard
2016
Through our Recruits, Gettysburg Foundation raised funds for the replanting of the apple orchard at the site of the George Spangler Farm & Field Hospital.
More on Recruits
New Cannon Carriage Shop
2014
Acquired and renovated the Gettysburg Armory garage for use as the cannon carriage shop. Replacing the original shop secured and funded by the Friends since 1991, the new shop provides for the preservation of monument artwork and the nearly 400 cannons used to represent the actual artillery lines on the battlefield.
Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad StationTM
2014
Purchased and refurbished the historic railroad station where President Lincoln arrived and departed Gettysburg upon delivering the immortal Gettysburg Address in Nov. 1863. Gettysburg Foundation operates the downtown museum.
Devil’s Den Battlefield Rehabilitation
2009 - 2010
Raised $330,000 to bury intrusive overhead utility powerlines in Devil’s Den and other historic areas in efforts to restore the Gettysburg battlefield—as closely as possible—to its 1863 appearance.
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center
2008
Working closely with the National Park Service, raised $103 million to build the Museum & Visitor Center. Home to the historic Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama painting and the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War, the Museum & Visitor Center annually welcomes more than one million visitors to the battlefield.
Cyclorama Restoration
2004 - 2008
Acquired $15 million from federal sources for the restoration of the Gettysburg Cyclorama—a federally owned artifact. Provided an additional $120,000 for the cleaning of the painting in 2013.
Environmental Stewardship
2008 - present
Opened the Museum & Visitor Center with an environmentally friendly LEED Silver certification before upgrading to LEED Gold designation in 2010.
Gettysburg Foundation continues striving to maintain its LEED Gold certfication.
Public Education
The Great Task Youth Leadership Experience
2016 - present
Fund the National Park Service summer residential, student-centered educational program, The Great Task Youth Leadership Experience, designed to build character by focusing on actions and decisions.
In the Footsteps of Leaders® Executive Leadership Program
2007 - present
Conduct the executive leadership program, In the Footsteps of Leaders®. Inspired by the real-life decision makers at the Battle of Gettysburg, the program focuses on how communication, strategic planning, team building, adaptability and decision making determine outcomes.
More on In the Footsteps of Leaders®
Friends of Gettysburg
& Volunteers
Maintain the legacy and mission of the original Friends of the National Park at Gettysburg (1989) through today’s Friends of Gettysburg (2006 – present) with 22,000 Friends nationwide and around the world.
Friends annually donate more than 1,000 volunteer hours to preservation and administrative efforts including restoring posts and fences at Cemetery Hill (2015), replanting the historic orchard at Ziegler’s Grove (2017) and operating the Rupp House History Center.
In addition, Friends continue to raise money for restoration and rehabilitation projects including the Pennsylvania Memorial (1999, 2003), George Spangler Farm smokehouse (2016), George Spangler Farm trail (2018) and Little Round Top (2014 - present).
Join the Friends Volunteer