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
8
Feb
10
VMI Cadets & John Brown’s Execution – Dec. 1859
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Images, Letters & DiariesThe Virginia Military Institute has a number of interesting digital collections related to the Civil War era, including one that focuses on the school’s involvement in John Brown’s execution. After Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859, VMI Superintendent Francis H. Smith wrote Virginia Governor Henry Wise and offered to send some of the […]
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 […]
21
Jan
10
Post Office and the Press
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic PeriodicalsThe United States Post Office had an important role in suppressing antislavery material in slave states before the Civil War. Newspapers and books, such as the New York Tribune and Hinton Rowan Helper’s The Impending Crisis of the South (1857), were not always distributed in southern states.The Chicago Press and Tribune, which supported the Republican […]
18
Jan
10
The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue (1858)
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic Periodicals, Images, Letters & DiariesOberlin College has a great digital exhibit on the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue that took place in September 1858. This event represented an important challenge to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, as residents were successful in their efforts to prevent southerners from returning fugitive slave to slavery. Some of the rescuers were arrested and their trial […]
13
Jan
10
Webcast – "America on the Eve of the Civil War"
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Video“America on the Eve of the Civil War,” a conference held in April 2009 and sponsored by the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, is now available online as a Webcast. Sixteen historians participated in this conference, which included four different sessions – “Taking Stock of the Nation in 1859”, “The Future of […]
16
Dec
09
John Bull and Uncle Sam
Posted by sailerd Published in 19th Century (1840-1880), Images, Lesson Plans“John Bull & Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations” is an interesting exhibit of selected items from the British Library in London and the Library of Congress in Washington DC. The site is organized around several themes, such as “Exploration and Settlement,” “Common Language, Separate Voices,” “From Abolition to Equal Rights,” and “Popular Culture: […]
16
Nov
09
Harpers Ferry – Mason Committee
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic PeriodicalsAfter John Brown’s attack in October 1859 on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, the United States Senate launched an investigation that became known as the Mason Committee. Yet when this committee released its findings in the summer of 1860, many regarded its efforts as ineffective. “Supporters of both sides were…heavily armed” in the […]
12
Nov
09
Introducing Slavery through Slaves' Own Words
Posted by Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Lesson Plans, Letters & DiariesApproaching the topic of slavery can be difficult, especially at the elementary school level when these issues might be discussed for the first time. Posted by the National Endowment for the Humanities, “Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources” offers a helpful classroom solution. Students from third to fifth grade read and explore […]
21
Oct
09
Harpers Ferry – Fugitives in PA
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic Periodicals, ImagesThe Harpers Ferry story does not end when John Brown was captured early in the morning on October 18, 1859. While five members of his group managed to escape (including Barclay Coppoc, who later served in the Union army), others were not as fortunate. Albert Hazlett and John Edwin Cook, who were traveling separately, were […]
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