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PBS to air remastered version of Ken Burns’ ‘The Civil War’

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This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. To mark the occasion, PBS is airing a remastered edition of Ken Burns’ landmark documentary series “The Civil War.”

The nine-part series will air on five consecutive nights, from Sept. 7-11, the month that will mark the 25th anniversary of the series’ first airing on PBS.

The new version of the series has been scanned frame-by-frame for a new high-definition print, which is touted as the first time viewers will get to see the series the way Burns originally shot it.

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Burns was an established and Oscar-nominated documentarian when “The Civil War” first aired in 1990, but that series made him a household name. The first episode set a ratings record for PBS, with an approximate 38.9 million people tuning in. It went on to win a total of 40 awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Peabody and the Lincoln Prize.

This is the second time the series has been remastered. It was previously digitally touched up for its DVD release in 2002.

According to Daniel J. White, the man responsible for the restoration, new details will become visible in the hundreds of black-and-white photos used in the film.

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FOR THE RECORD

1:15 p.m.: A previous version of this article referred to the man responsible for the latest restoration of “The Civil War” as David J. White. He is Daniel J. White.

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Follow me on Twitter: @patrickkevinday

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