Library Guides: Resources on the American Civil War: Library Resources

Library Resources
Online Collections of Primary Sources

Civil War Resources in Archives & Special Collections

The University Archives & Special Collections holds many items related to the Civil War, including manuscripts, primary sources, and secondary sources. Many items are available digitally.

Research guide for the Civil War in Mississippi (Archives)
The Archives & Special Collections material identified in this subject guide focus primarily on the Civil War in Mississippi.
Physical Civil War Collections (Archives)
Physical archival collections related to the Civil War. Finding aids are available for each collection.
Digital Civil War Archive
The University of Mississippi Civil War Archive provides a sampling of the Archives & Special Collections extensive Civil War primary source holdings. Accessible through the UM institutional repository, eGrove.

Librarian

Adam Clemons

Email Me

Contact:

662-915-7933

Subjects:African American Studies, History, International Studies, Journalism, Political Science, Public Policy Leadership

Books

The library catalog is the best tool to identify books in the J.D. Williams Library. Books on the Civil War are usually located in the E call numbers.

See also the Civil War bibliography from the Library of Congress for a list of many relevant books.

WorldCat

WorldCat can be used to identify resources available outside of the J.D. Williams Library.

InterLibrary Loan

Use InterLibrary Loan to request materials that the J.D. Williams Library does not own. Use your UM WebID and password to log into your ILL account.

Primary Source Collections Owned by UM Libraries

Microfilmed primary source collection

Confederate imprints : a reel index to the microfilm collection by Edward A. Reno, Jr. and Margaret M. Brezicki
Call Number: Microforms E484.R5
Publication Date: 1974
143 reels. Includes reproductions of many documents relating to the history of the Confederacy.

Digital primary source collection

American Civil War Collection, 1860-1922
Features works published between 1860 and 1922 addressing all facets of the Civil War and its aftermath. Includes broadsides, lithographs, maps, books, pamphlets, photographs, political cartoons, stereographs, and more.
American Slavery Collection, 1820-1922
This digital edition of the American Antiquarian Society?s holdings of slavery and abolition materials contains works published over the course of more than 100 years. Includes books, pamphlets, graphic materials, and ephemera.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: All Series
A comprehensive collection of more than 6,500 American magazines and journals documenting the life of America?s people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Slavery and the Law
Features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867 as well as the State Slavery Statutes collection, a comprehensive record of the laws governing American slavery from 1789-1865.

Reconstruction of Southern States: Pamphlets
Reconstruction encompassed three major initiatives: restoration of the Union, transformation of Southern society, and enactment of progressive legislation favoring the rights of freed slaves. This collection provides representative pamphlets that highlight these initiatives.

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
This collection contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs. Particular care has been taken to index this material so it can be searched more thoroughly than ever. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. The product includes 4,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts such as the letters of Amos Wood and his wife and the diary of Maryland Planter William Claytor. The collection 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.

Official Record

The war of the rebellion : a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies by United States. War Department
Call Number: W45.4
Publication Date: 1880-1901
A collection of all official communications for both the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies in the Civil War.

Cornell University's Making of America
Many of the records in the above collection (plus many more) are available through this online resource.

Online Newspaper Collections

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers 1836-1922
Digitized historical newspapers from the Library of Congress.

New York Times, The (1851 - 2015)
The New York Times (NYT) is an internationally recognized daily newspaper founded in 1851 and distributed throughout the United States. This historical database offers downloadable PDF's from each issue published between 1851 and 2015.

Current access is available at The New York Times (June 1, 1980 - present).
Early American Newspapers, Series 6
Early American Newspapers, Series 6 includes more than 160 significant 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century newspapers, including titles of unique historical significance, regional weeklies and big-city dailies.
African American Newspapers, Series 1, 1827-1998
Features newspapers published by or for African Americans in 35 states from 1827 to 1998. Funded by the Dr. Gerald W. Walton Endowment.
Mississippi Newspapers
Lists every Mississippi newspaper in our collection on microfilm by title, date, city, and county.
Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective
Contains articles from The New York Herald, The Charleston Mercury and the Richmond Enquirer, published between November 1, 1860 and April 15, 1865.
Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003)
The Guardian (1821-2003) and its sister paper, The Observer (1791-2003) give readers online access to facts, firsthand accounts, and opinions of the day about the most significant and fascinating political, business, sports, literary, and entertainment events from the past two centuries. From Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo to the Russian Revolution to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, these British historical newspapers bring history to life for researchers
The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2014
The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context. With over 12 million articles available, the archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, and philosophy, along with coverage of all major international historical events.
Detroit Free Press (1831-1999)
This historic newspaper was first in many ways: First U.S. newspaper to print a regular Sunday edition. First U.S. newspaper to publish court testimony. It sent reporters to Civil War battlefields to describe the action, set up a Washington bureau to report on politics, and was the first American newspaper published in Europe when it began a London edition in 1881.

Government Documents

Congressional Publications
Indexes Congressional publications including Congressional research and hearings from 1789 to the present, linking to full text when available.

Mississippi Members of Congress
Provides basic information on everyone who has represented the state in the U.S. Congress from 1801 to the present. The database includes years in office, congressional districts, committee memberships, and leadership positions

Databases of Secondary Sources

America: History & Life
This the best place to find scholarly articles on the Civil War. Use the advanced search to limit your date range to 1861 - 1865 to avoid false hits.

Tutorial: Using America: History & Life
This short, interactive tutorial will teach you how to use the America: History & Life database to find academic journal articles on the Civil War

JSTOR
Includes journal content, primary sources, images, and more across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
History Reference Center
This has biographical sketches, video, articles and books.
Project Muse
Full text articles from more than 200 scholarly journals in the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences.
Humanities International Complete
Provides full text access to more than 1,200 journals in the humanities. Includes all data from the Humanities International Index plus unique full text content.

License

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