HST 304AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Spring 2011

Michael UnsworthHistory Librarian

unsworth@msu.edu

OUTLINE

• Civil War Search Strategies in the Online Catalog

• Online Reference Tools• Finding Primary Sources

• Online Catalog• American Memory• Am. Civil War Letters &

Diaries• Official Records• Harper’s Weekly

• Questions

Search Strategies in the Online Catalog:Unit Histories

SUBJECTS:

1. United States. Army. Michigan Infantry Regiment, 24th (1862-1865)

2. United States. Army. Iron Brigade

3. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Regimental Histories

4. Michigan—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Regimental Histories

Unit HistoriesUse this “Advanced Keyword Search”

Template

• SUBJECT: CIVIL WAR 1861• SUBJECT: [COUNTRY OR

STATE]• SUBJECT: [TYPE OF UNIT]• Any Field: [NUMERICAL

PERMUTATIONS]

EXAMPLES:

Battles and Campaigns:Use Subject Search:

Names of a Battle or Campaign• Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862• Corydon, Battle of, Corydon, Ind., 1863• Morgan’s Ohio Raid, 1863• New Mexico Campaign, 1862• Petersburg Crater, Battle of, Va., 1864• Sherman’s March to the Sea • Valverde, Battle of Val Verde, N.M., 1862• Wilderness, Battle of the, Va., 1864

SiegesUse this format in the Subject Catalog[City (State)] – History -- Siege, [date]

• Baton Rouge (La.) – History – Siege, 1862• Charleston (S.C) – History – Siege, 1863• Corinth (Miss.) – History – Siege, 1863• Fort Fisher (N.C.) – History – Siege, 1864-

1865• Knoxville (Tenn.) – History – Siege, 1863• Petersburg (Va.) – History – Siege, 1864-

1865

COMBINE “REGIMENTAL HISTORIES”WITH A BATTLE’S NAME

General Ben “The Beast” Butler

What the !!!???***

West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005. p195.

PRIMARY SOURCES:Definition

“…items that are directly associated with their producer or user and the time period in which they were created. Examples, include diaries, newspapers articles, government documents, photographs, oral interviews, and news broadcasts.”

Presnell, Jenny L. The information-literate historian : a guide to research

for history students (New York : Oxford University Press, 2007): 93.

CAUTION: MEMOIRS

SOURCE: Hamilton, Milton. "Augustus Buell: Fraudulent Historian", Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 80 (1956), 478-92

FINDING PRIMARY SOURCESIN THE ONLINE CATALOG:

1. See if your person wrote something

AUSTIN BLAIR

ONLINE CATALOG SEARCH

RESEARCH IN AN ARCHIVES

FINDING PRIMARY SOURCESIN THE ONLINE CATALOG:

2. RESTRICT BY DATE OF PUBLICATION

JUDAH BENJAMIN: • 2nd Jewish Senator

in U.S. History• Confederate:

– Attorney General– Secretary of War– Secretary of State

• British Legal Expert

FINDING PRIMARY SOURCESIN THE ONLINE CATALOG:

3. STANDARDIZED

SUBDIVISIONS

sources manuscripts

archives notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.

archival resources personal narratives, American, Chinese, Finnish

correspondence personnel records

diaries records and correspondence

Operations at Sea: Diary

Memoir of Sarah Emma Edmonds

I was ordered by General H. to pass the rebel lines, and return as soon as possible. I took the train at Warrenton Junction, went to Washington, procured a disguise, that of a female contraband, and returned the same night. I passed through the enemy's lines in company with nine contrabands, men, women, and children, who preferred to live in bondage with their friends, rather than to be free without them. I had no difficulty whatever in getting along, for I, with several others, was ordered to headquarters to cook rations enough, the rebels said, to last them until they reached Washington.

‘GENERAL SIBLEY”

“OFFICIAL RECORDS”SETS

VOL. 9 PRINT INDEX

VOL. 9 ONLINE SEARCH RESULTS

Vol. 9

A MICHIGANDER:G.A. CUSTER

QUESTIONS

END