Central Michigan University (Museum of Cultural & Natural History)

Central Michigan University's Museum of Cultural and Natural History will conserve the flag of the 5th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, a Civil War unit that served with distinction at the nationally significant battles of Shiloh and Metamora. The conservation process will be used as a teaching opportunity for students in the Central Michigan University Museum Studies Program, and the conserved flag will be used as a centerpiece of an exhibit, tentatively slated for 2013, that will interpret Michigan's contribution to the war effort, emphasizing the number of Michigan men who crossed state boundaries to enlist in units that were being created faster than those of their own state. The museum will display the flag in a temporary exhibit, which will mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.