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Grant Papers section of the site.
Virginia Center for Civil War Studies Civil War Sources
the right place.” The word cloud, shown above, provides a quick way to drilldown to specific sources. For example, diaries offer a glimpse into the everyday life of soldiers, civilians, politicians, etc. Click on ‘Diaries’ in the word cloud, and 22 collections appear in the navigation bar on the left. Various repositories, from Duke University to local historic site collections, comprise the entities holding these diaries. Another example:
Ulysses S. Grant; selecting Grant in the word cloud nets the Grant Library at Mississippi State University and the digitized Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. See the image above. Users can search using keywords; remember to clear your selection before continuing to research new subject matter. Next month, we will investigate additional primary sources. Until then, good luck with studying the Civil War!
Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, instructor, and a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, the Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at mkscdr11@gmail.com, or to request speaking engagements, via his website www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook www.facebook.com/ michael.k.shaffer and Twitter @ michaelkshaffer.
Civil War Sources page at Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. The Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, currently operating under the guidance of Paul Quigley, offers a vast array of online material useful to historians, educators, and anyone with interest in this segment of our nation’s history. Please visit the homepage at https://civilwar.vt.edu. For this article, the ‘Civil War Sources’ section of the site will serve as the focus. Visit https:// www.sources.civilwar.vt.edu/#!/ sites to access this sector. Locating primary source material online, while offering convenience, can also prove challenging. One must stay up to date on new sites, additions to
existing sites, and changes to URLs. Virginia Tech makes the process of locating primary source material online simpler in amassing a wide selection of resources in one, easy to navigate spot. The introduction to their Sources section captures best what researchers will find. “Explore the wealth of digitized primary sources on Civil War-era history. Browse our listing of the best databases online. Click on the tags to explore by theme. Or search for whatever interests you. Whether you’re beginning a major research project or just looking for fascinating new insights into the Civil War era, you’re in
A page from Grant’s Personal Memoirs. Ulysses S. Grant Papers: Series 4, Personal Memoirs, 1884-1885; 1885. Library of Congress.