One of the great wonders of the digital age is the ability to read rare books and documents from your desktop. Admittedly, reading online isn’t always easy or fun, but nothing compares to ease of access or the ability to search the full text of these resources. A great case study for this brave new […]
13
Feb
10
Seeing Slavery in a Digital Age
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Rare Books13 comments
3
Feb
10
Help Improve the UGRR Digital Classroom
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Images, Lesson Plans, Letters & DiariesJames McPherson writes in Battle Cry of Freedom (1989) that “On all issues but one, antebellum southerners stood for state’s rights and a weak federal government” (p. 78). Yet that one exception –the fugitive slave law– was a principal cause of the coming Civil War and potentially changes one’s view of the war’s meaning. White […]
26
Jan
10
Teaching Civil War Era –To Judge or Not To Judge
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Civil War (1861-1865), General OpinionOn Tuesday, January 26, 2010, I am beginning my Civil War Era history class with a quotation from Frederick Douglas at the top of my syllabus. “I shall never forget the difference,” the great activist claimed in 1894, “between those who fought for liberty and those who fought for slavery; between those who fought to […]
30
Sep
09
Lincoln's Future Is Digital –Deal With It!
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in 19th Century (1840-1880), General OpinionThis month the Journal of American History published a special issue on Abraham Lincoln where I contributed an essay which claimed that the future of Lincoln studies lies mainly in digital work –both in new, ambitious research projects and also in innovative forms of web-based presentation. Okay, so I realize this claim seems more than […]
19
Aug
09
College Student Finds Lincoln Fingerprint
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Recent News, Recent Scholarship, VideoThis year a freshman at Miami University in Ohio discovered a rare fingerprint from Abraham Lincoln just barely visible on one of his letters housed within the college’s archives. Lydia Smith, now a psychology major, made the discovery in November 2008 while examining a letter that Lincoln wrote on October 5, 1863. John Lupton, director […]
19
Nov
08
Was Lincoln's "Team of Rivals" a myth?
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Civil War (1861-1865), General Opinion, Recent NewsI argued yesterday in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that Lincoln’s experience with cabinet-making (the famous “Team of Rivals”) was more of a cautionary tale than a model to follow. Consider this inconvenient truth: Out of the four leading vote-getters for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination whom Lincoln placed on his original team, […]
5
Nov
08
In a thought-provoking column today in the New York Times, headlined “Finishing Our Work,” Tom Friedman argues that the Obama victory represents a final act of closure for the American Civil War. And he finds it particularly fitting that it was Virginia in many ways that provided the key to Obama’s electoral triumph. Friedman writes: […]
31
Oct
08
Helpful websites for Johnson Impeachment (1868)
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Historic Periodicals, Images, Reconstruction (1865-1880)Two websites currently stand out for the access they provide to primary sources about the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868. The first from Douglas O. Linder’s quite exceptional “Famous Trials” series. Linder, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) has put together invaluable primary source packets on trials from Socrates to […]
27
Oct
08
Good article about new Lincoln books
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Recent News, Recent ScholarshipA recent USA Today article provides a good overview of some of the best new Lincoln books upcoming in the run up to the bicentennial of his birth in 2009. The article features information about James McPherson’s new work, Tried by War, a study of Lincoln as Commander-In-Chief. Along the way, the story provides some […]
19
Oct
08
Lincoln and Civil Liberties
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Lesson Plans, VideoYesterday at a teacher training workshop at the Lincoln Cottage in Washington, I discussed Abraham Lincoln’s use of war powers and his approach to civil liberties with a group of K-12 colleagues from the DC and northern Virginia area. We had an excellent exchange at a forum hosted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation […]
