LibGuides: U.S. History: Civil War &amp; Reconsturction 1861-1877

What types of primary sources exist?

One of the first things you might consider when looking for primary sources for your research is what kinds of things are common to the time. What types of communication, documentation and material culture were produced in the mid-nineteenth century and by the people/events you are interested in? A little background knowledge and a little imagination can start you off on the path by using specific search systems and keywords.

Common Search Terms & Keywords

Documents
Documentary History
Letters
Diary or Journal
Writings

More

Speeches
Demographics, census, and population information
Photographs
Maps
Government and organizational documents
Newspapers
Material culture (clothing, furniture, toys, etc.)
Creative works (novels, poetry, plays, art

Primary Sources

Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Congressional Publications provides access to historical and current Congressional information and publications on all aspects of legislation.
Coverage: 1789 to the present.
Provides full-text for Congressional Committee Prints, House and Senate Documents and Reports (Congressional Serial Set), Hearings, and Legislative Histories. It also covers full text of congressional working papers and bills, as well as the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and the U.S. Code. It provides access to a wide variety of additional information, including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, and financial data.

Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Manuscript Women’s Letters and Diaries from the American Antiquarian Society brings together 100,000 pages of the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The letters and diaries reveal, in each woman’s own hand, the details of the authors’ daily lives, their activities and concerns, and their attitudes towards the people and world around them.

African American Poetry This link opens in a new window
Contains the early history of African American poetry, from the first recorded poem by an African American (Lucy Terry's 'Bars Fights', c.1746) to the major poets of the nineteenth century, including Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window
This primary source collection details the work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the massive, international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings and publications of the activists themselves.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Black Thought and Culture is a collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history. The ideas of over 1,000 authors present an evolving and complex view of what it is to be black in America.
Slavery and Anti-Slavery This link opens in a new window
Slavery and Anti-Slavery (SAS): A Transnational Archive, Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 is a collection devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective.
Part 1: Debates
Part 2: Slave Trade
Part 3: Institution
Part 4: Emancipation
Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice, 1490-2007 This link opens in a new window
This database brings together documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world, covering an extensive time period from 1490. Topics covered include the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective, and the continued existence of slavery today. It offers in-depth case studies in America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Cuba along with important material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade. Material types include manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps, images and more.
Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries This link opens in a new window
Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries presents collections in the documentary record of American slavery, focusing on the industrial uses of slave labor. The materials selected include company records; business and personal correspondence; documents pertaining to the purchase, hire, medical care, and provisioning of slave laborers; descriptions of production processes; and journals recounting costs and income.

Photography was a revolutionary new medium in the Civil War era. Understanding the history of the medium and types of photography available can give context on their purpose, who it was available to, and more.

Types of Photographs, part 1: 19th and Early 20th Century
From the Northeast Document Conservation Center. This leaflet introduces the different types of photographs and their distinguishing characteristics and should serve as a basic guide in identifying individual photoprints and negatives.
Photography and the Civil War
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Civil War Photographs form the National Archives

Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War by Earl B. McElfresh
Call Number: Oversize Books - Level 2 North E468.9 .M135 1999
ISBN: 9780810934306
Publication Date: 1999-10-01
During the American Civil War a good map could spell the difference between and defeat. This book brings together some of the most interesting and beautiful maps of the period, from detailed renderings to rough pencil sketches drawn on horseback.
The Routledge Atlas of African American History by Jonathan Earle
Call Number: Level 2 North E185 .E125 2000
ISBN: 9780415921367
Publication Date: 2000-06-13
From the Table of Contents: pt. 2. Two communities, slave and free -- The first emancipation -- Free Blacks in the new republic -- Discrimination in the antebellum North -- The free Black community -- The cotton kingdom -- The slave community -- Nat Turner's rebellion, 1831-- pt. 3. Toward freedom -- Expansion of slavery, 1819-57 -- Runaways, kidnappings, and abolitionists -- Slavery and the Civil War -- Radical reconstruction, 1866-57 -- "Exodusters" --

Civil War Records in the Cartographic Research Room
From the National Archives.
Library of Congress Civil War Maps
University of Alabama Historical Maps of the Civil War

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
The collection includes maps, illustrations, newspapers, and more.
Civil War Collections at Dickinson College
Antietam Research Institute

Books with Primary Sources

Books are an excellent place to find reprints and transcriptions of original documents and images. You can use Keywords to search for books, or the Subject Heading for primary sources "Sources" by changing the drop down from "Any Field" to "Subjects."

Understanding Historical Newspapers

The mid-1800s were a time of great change for communication in the United States. The advacnes in transportation and the telegraph dramatically increased the speed information traveled. Furthermore, the federal government subsidized the distribution of newspapers through the U.S. Postal System. Communication with the public was vital to the war effort on both sides, and modern journalism as the profession we think of today was formed as a part of that. However, newspapers were still quite different than today and were often heavily partisan (backed by a political party or group).

Understanding how newspapers functioned during and after the Civil War is vital to place them (and the information they give) in the context of the times. See the following for brief overviews.

Newspapers and Journals During the Civil War Era
A brief overview from the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State.

Fanatics and Fire-Eaters by Lorman A. Ratner; Dwight L. Teeter Jr.
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9780252072215
Publication Date: 2004-06-28
In the troubled years leading up to the Civil War, newspapers in the North and South presented the arguments for and against slavery, debated the right to secede, and in general denounced opposing viewpoints with imagination and vigor. At the same time, new technologies like railroads and the telegraph lent the debates an immediacy that both enflamed emotions and brought the slavery issue into every home.

Digitized Newspapers

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection - Five Series
The collection documents the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. It provides access to American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912 in five series.
Series 1 (1691-1820)
Series 2 (1821-1837)
Series 3 (1838-1852)
Series 4 (1853-1865)
Series 5 (1866-1877)
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Includes digital facsimile images of both full pages and clipped articles for hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers. For each issue, the newspaper is captured from cover-to-cover, providing access to every article, advertisement and illustration.
Click the link for a list of Newspapers included in the collection.
American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
American Periodicals Series includes digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century. Titles range from Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository; magazines such as Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home and more.

Chronicaling America Historical Newspapers
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

Historical New York Times (1851-2019) This link opens in a new window
The New York Times (1851-2019) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Every issue of each title includes the complete paper, cover-to-cover, with full-page and article images in easily downloadable PDF format.

California Digital Newspaper Collection
A Freely Accessible Repository of Digitized California Newspapers from 1846 to the Present
Guide to Historical African American Newspapers Available Online (Marist Univeristy Guide)
This guide provides a list of historical African American Newspapers available online as part of digitization projects at libraries and historical societies as well as digitization projects done by Google. Much of the content is available for free, though some is under restricted access. Includes a chronology of papers operating as far back as 1827.

News & Visual Culture

While early photographic processes such as the Daguerreotype existed during the Civil War, it was not until the late 1800s that photographs were printed in newspapers, and not until the early 1900s that it became a regular practice. However, with the invention of the Lithograph, illustrations were common in the news. Political Cartoons were also a common way of influencing readers.

History of Periodical Illustration
From North Carolina State's project on Nineteenth-Century Newspaper Analytics.
Library of Congress Cartoon Prints
Lecture on Civil War Cartoons (YouTube)
Richard Samuel West, historian of cartoons and popular publications and founder of New England's Periodyssey, discusses the range of topics in and formats of political cartoons published during the Civil War and delineates how the medium changed obver the course of the conflict. This talk took place on July 16, 2012, as part of The Visual Culture of the American Civil War, an NEH Summer Institute for College and University Teachers.

University Library

U.S. History