The Gettysburg Foundation is the private, non-profit organization that works with the National Park Service to enhance the preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg. The Foundation formed through the merger of the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation and Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg in 2006.

The Foundation partnered with Gettysburg National Military Park in May 1998, with the purpose of raising funds for and managing the park’s new Museum and Visitor Center.  Since that time, the old museum and visitor center along Cemetery Ridge has been removed and the park has begun the process of rehabilitating the land to its 1863 appearance.  The Gettysburg Foundation also has a broad preservation mission, including raising funds for battlefield rehabilitation and monument preservation.

The new Museum and Visitor Center opened in April 2008. The Cyclorama, Film and Museum Experience at the Museum and Visitor Center prepares visitors for their battlefield tour. The film, A New Birth of Freedom, narrated by Morgan Freeman,  is the perfect introduction to the Battle of Gettysburg, acclimating visitors to what happened during the three days of battle, as well as what took place before and after that made the Civil War such an important and significant part of our country’s history. Following the film, visitors witness the dramatic conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg through Pickett’s Charge, depicted in the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama painting. The 377– by 42–foot painting-in-the-round was painted by French artist Paul Philippoteaux and a team of 20 artists between 1883 and 1884.  The painting has been restored to its original size and shape through efforts of a team of conservators led by David Olin of Olin Conservation, Inc. of Great Falls, Va.

The Gettysburg Foundation recently completed the process of helping the park to replant trees at the Frey Farm and Patterson Orchard, as well as five acres of woods at Spangler’s Springs near Culp’s Hill.  In April, the Foundation funded the removal of a comfort station and the undergrounding of power lines at Devil’s Den.  Undergrounding of utility lines is also underway at the Althoff, Slyder and Trostle farms.

The Foundation is currently working with StudioEIS to bring the “Abraham Lincoln: One Man, Two Lives” exhibit to the Museum and Visitor Center for summer 2010.  The exhibit is presented by Elliot and Ivan Schwartz of StudioEIS in New York. Elliot and Ivan Schwartz and StudioEIS crafted an Abraham Lincoln sculpture that was installed at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center in late fall 2009. The sculpture and associated landscaping were made possible through a generous gift by the late Robert H. Smith.

 
For more information, please The Gettysburg Foundation.