Open Yale Courses is a great online resource that teachers should check out. This project provides free access to courses on a variety of subjects, including Professor David Blight’s HIST 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877. This is not simply a single lecture. Instead, you can listen or watch all twenty seven classes. Transcripts of each lecture are also available.

Only two other history courses are available –  France Since 1871 and Introduction to Ancient Greek History.

A New York Historical Society exhibit that opened last month provides visitors with a variety of Lincoln-related documents and items. Entitled “Abraham Lincoln in His Own Words,” the exhibit features such items as a draft of the “House Divided” speech, an encouraging telegram to General Ulysses S. Grant, and other papers, letters, and original documents from all periods of Lincoln’s life. In addition to documents attributed to Lincoln are other period objects including photographs, testimonies, and sculptures. A full description of the exhibit can be found on the New York Historical Society’s webpage.

Also, according to a NY Times article, the Smithsonian Museum of American History has answered an age-old question regarding one Lincoln artifact; his gold pocket watch. According to the article, a secret message was engraved within the watch by watchmaker Jonathan Dillon when he repaired it in 1861. Part of the watch’s inscription reads “Jonathan Dillon April 13- 1861 Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels on the above date.”

Although this find is not a radical discovery by any means, it is another addition to Abraham Lincoln lore and can only make us wonder as to what other interesting and peculiar things can be discovered from the Civil War era, even after almost 150 years.

I want to highlight an interesting letter that James Buchanan wrote about a week after President Abraham Lincoln’s Inauguration on March 4, 1861. Despite four “stormy and turbulent” years in the White House, Buchanan told New York Herald editor James Bennett that ultimately “[his] administration [had] been eminently successful in its foreign & domestic policy.” Seven southern states seceded before he left office, but Buchanan believed that the crisis was unavoidable. “No human wisdom could have prevented” the “sad events [that had] recently occurred,” as Buchanan explained. Whether the Civil War was inevitable has been the subject of debate ever since, but most historians criticize his response to the secession crisis.  (Historians who participated in CSPAN’s 2009 Presidential Leadership Survey ranked Buchanan as the worst Chief Executive).Yet perhaps the most interesting part of this letter is Buchanan’s confident stance about how “the public & posterity [would] judge” him. “I feel conscious that I have done my duty…& that I shall at last receive justice,” as Buchanan wrote.

Buchanan also defended his role during the secession crisis in Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion (1866), which you can access through Their Own Words.

The website Civil War Interactive is a rich resource for interacting with the Civil War in the 21st Century.  The site contains a variety of different pages, including a discussion board, primary source documents, articles, biographies, a cookbook, and even trivia. What I liked most is its blog page, which lists a variety of several war related blogs, and its Newswire. The Newswire has up-to-date news that relates to the Civil War, and you will be surprised in both the size and variety of the postings. Check it out and  you’ll see how easy it is to get lost in this great website.

“THE success of the Republican candidate for the Presidency in the United States will prove one of the greatest events of modern times” –   Economist, November 24, 1860.

This editorial, along with two others from 1865, were just posted in the From the archive section of the Economist’s website. This British newspaper considered the Republican victory in November 1860 as such an important moment in large part because the pro-slavery “Southern party” had finally been defeated. “The tide [had]… turned” and, as the Economist argued, it marked “the commencement of a permanent and sustained movement” against slavery in the United States.

Also be sure to read this editorial on Lincoln’s assassination. Some might be surprised at the conclusion that Lincoln’s death would affect more than just Americans – “It is not merely that a great man has passed away, but” as the Economist explained, “he has disappeared at the very time when his special greatness seemed almost essential to the world.” While the Economist has other editorials available on a variety of subjects, including President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, only subscribers can access them.

The Library of Congress has a section within their website called The Learning Page. This section contains great links to lesson plans, activities, and other resources. In particular, there is a great page within the Civil War and Reconstruction section called The Travails of Reconstruction. This page has some nice information as well as good links to some primary documents.

Yesterday, the New York Times blog The Lede posted this news update about Abraham Lincoln and the image sharing website Flickr. In honor of the Lincoln Bicentennial, the blog says, the Library of Congress uploaded 16 never-before-scanned photographs to their Flickr photostream. The 16 pictures, in honor of the 16th president, are a part of a set of 22 photographs on the LoC’s page on Flickr Commons. According to the blog, there are no known copyright restrictions on the pictures.

The pictures are a variety of Lincoln portraits from throughout his life and their presence on FlickR allows users to comment on and tag them like they would any other picture. It’s an interesting look at the combination of 19th photography and 21st century web technology, and is definitely worth a look.

Don’t miss the Lincoln Bicentennial National Teach-In on February 12, 2009 at 1:30pm (EST).

House Divided co-director and Dickinson College Professor Matthew Pinsker, Lincoln Bicentennial co-chair Harold Holzer, and Doris Kearns Goodwin (Team of Rivals) will discuss the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln during a live webcast available at this site: http://www.history.com/lincoln

The Lincoln Bicentennial Commission has more information about this event and the participants.

Two questions to consider before the webcast –

What can we learn from Lincoln?

What should we be doing to honor his 200th birthday?

The New York Times just published an interesting article about a new museum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The David Willis House, which opens tomorrow (February 12, 2009), was where President Abraham Lincoln spent the night before he gave the Gettysburg Address. Yet as Sean Hamill explains, “the museum’s larger purpose…is to tell what happened after the Civil War battle [in July 1863], when dead and wounded soldiers outnumbered the town’s 2,400 residents by 11 to 1.” You can find out more about this museum at this National Park Service website.

The University of Houston has created a wonderful resource called Digital History. The site itself contains an abundance of great information presented in an interactive manner. In particular, the site contains an interesting section titled Reconstruction: Interpreting Primary Sources. This section contains several transcribed primary sources relating to the reconstruction period and concludes with several questions that can be used as either great class discussion, or as a seperate assignment. I recommend checking it out and browsing the site.