HIS 110D & 190D: U.S. Civil War & Reconstruction

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Assignment Option A: Compare how newspapers from different regions covered a significant development of the war

For Preparation: Read News and the Civil War to understanding the role of newspapers in the Civil War.

Quick and easy ways to start finding newspapers from the time period:

Chronicling America: Historical American Newspapers
U.S. newspapers from 1789-1963 (note, dates may expand). Includes digital images of the newspapers' pages. This is an Open Access Database.

Richmond Daily Dispatch
Regional newspaper with digitized pages from November 1860 through December 1865. This is an Open Access Databases.

Dig in deeper with the Library's newspaper databases*:

* These require Logins, see instruction at the top of this page

American Periodicals
Database of periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special-interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically significant periodicals.
From ProQuest.
North American Collections (formerly Accessible Archives)
Includes historical newspapers and magazines. The contents cover historical events, descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, advertisements, and genealogical records.
HarpWeek
American 19th-century illustrated newspaper. Includes digitized full text. 1857-1912.

Assignment Option B & C: (B) Women's roles in shaping the Civil War and (C) Civil War soldiers identities

Diaries and letters offer windows into the lives of ordinary people.

Quick and easy ways to start finding personal narratives from the time period*:

* Most of these require Logins, see instruction at the top of this page

North American Women's Letters and Diaries
This collection contains women’s diaries and correspondence presenting the personal experiences of hundreds of women. Covers Colonial times - 1950.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
This database contains over 2,000 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs, including previously unpublished manuscripts. This also includes biographies, an extensive bibliography of the sources in the database, and material licensed from The Civil War Day-by-Day by E.B. Long.

First-Person Narratives of the American South
Database of personal narratives written by Southerners between 1860-1920. This is an Open Access Databases.

Dig in deeper with published books containing personal narratives:

Use Melvyl to find the books recommended by Professor Jones and get the call numbers or request to borrow these from another library

Topic B: Women's roles	Topic C: Soldier Identities
Reminiscences of My Life in Camp The Secret Eye: the Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1848-1889 Dear Ones At Home: Letters from Contraband Camps	Hard Marching Every Day: the Civil War Letters of Private Wilbur Fisk, 1861-1865 Army Life in a Black Regiment

Use Melvyl to locate books with personal narratives by typing the exact subject heading. See Image. For topic C replace the word Women with Soldiers

Image: This is what your search in Melvyl Advanced Search should look like for this type of search

Option D: Develop your own topic based on a collection of primary sources

Finding the right collection is essential if you choose this option. In addition to consulting Prof. Jones, it is strongly advised that you consult with a librarian (make an appointment by emailing research@library.ucsc.edu or visit the Information Services Desk in McHenry during their drop in hours M-F, 1:00-5:00 p.m.).

Books: As mentioned above, books, particularly edited volumes, are great sources, for example, if you're interested in African American history during the Civil War and Reconstruction, then books under the subject heading African Americans History 1863-1877 Sources could be useful. A librarian could help you with adapting this subject heading to a different topic.

Databases/Primary Source Collections: Browse the library's Primary Source A-Z Databases, sort these by Type ("Primary Sources" or "Primary Sources, U.S."). Remember these require campus login; see instructions above.

Professor Jones has assembled a list of Open Access (free to the Public) resources. These include: American Civil War: A collection of free online primary sources (annotated list grouped by type of primary sources and subject); Civil War Era Sheet Music; Women and the Home Front; Other links are listed on the CANVAS page Civil War Resources On-Line.