Henry Buhl Library: U.S. History 1: Colonial Times through Reconstruction: Civil War

Encyclopedias, Books & Documentary Films

American Civil War: a State-by-State Encyclopedia
Call Number: E 468 .A5324 2015 v.1-2
This two-volume encyclopedia offers a unique insight into the Civil War from a state and local perspective, showing how the American experience of the conflict varied significantly based on location.
The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History
Call Number: Ref E 301 .E146 2010 v.1-4
Includes entries covering a wide variety of topics, as well as primary documents (v.4), chronologies (v.4), and a few essays (v.1). Featured entries: education & schools; Lewis & Clark Expedition; secession; slavery, life & culture; westward expansion; women
Encyclopedia of the Confederacy
Call Number: Ref E 487 .E55 1993 v.1-4
Covers the people, locations & battle sites, and other Civil War subjects related to the Confederacy.
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War
This five-volume encyclopedia includes entries on the people, battles, armies, and states involved in the War, as well as topics related to society and culture such as music, religion, newspapers, medicine, and more. A Civil War chronology; bibliography; and collection of primary documents are also included.
Historical Dictionary of the Civil War and Reconstruction
Call Number: E 468 .R53 2012
Covers the significant events, persons, politics, and economic and social themes of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The dictionary concludes with a selection of primary documents.

Visualizing Emancipation
Visualizing Emancipation is an ongoing mapping project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, that sheds light on when and where men and women became free in the Civil War South. Uses official military correspondence, newspapers, and wartime letters and diaries.

The West Point History of the Civil War
Call Number: Oversz E 470 .W47 2014
The definitive military history of the Civil War, featuring the same exclusive images, tactical maps, and expert analysis commissioned by The United States Military Academy to teach the history of the art of war to West Point cadets.
Encyclopedia of the United States in the 19th Century
Call Number: Ref E 169.1 .E626 2001 v.1-3
An A to Z reference of articles covering topics such as education, slavery, women, cities, the Civil War, naval technology, politics, and the South.

Salem History Online This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to the Great Lives & Great Events encyclopedias as well as the Decades in America series (1920's through the 2000's), and the Defining Documents series.

American National Biography This link opens in a new window
Contains over 19,000 biographies of significant, influential, or notorious figures from American history written by prominent scholars. The American National Biography (ANB) is the successor to The Dictionary of American Biography (DAB).
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
Contains 60,000+ biographies of important British historical figures from the Roman era to the present day, with 11,000+ portraits
Salem History Online This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to the Great Lives & Great Events encyclopedias as well as the Decades in America series (1920's through the 2000's), and the Defining Documents series.

Soldiers and Sailors Database
"The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War" (from the National Park Service).
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Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records." Biographies of politicans, spies, and activists are also available, along with articles about life during and after the Civil War.

Suggested search terms

Confederate States of America -- History
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
United States. Army -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865

Find War Documentaries

Search for War (Nonfiction)

Highlighted Titles

The Civil War by Ken Burns
Call Number: DVD 825-829
Gettysburg
Call Number: DVD 3073
Robert E. Lee
Call Number: DVD 3074

HENRY
The Library Catalog

Journal Article Databases

America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present with indexing for 1,700 journals from as far back as 1910
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Contains citations and abstracts for articles from 2,300+ academic journals back to 1955 for world history (excluding US and Canada) from 1450 to present
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archival Database of full text scholarly journal articles
Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Offers full text of 300+ journals providing current news and information pertaining to all branches of the military and government.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Large collection of full-text scholarly articles and books supporting research in the humanities and social sciences.
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Covers a wide range of subject matter in both popular and scholarly periodicals.
Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 4,600 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,500 journals and nearly 10,000 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This scholarly collection offers unmatched full text coverage of information in many areas of academic study including: animal science, anthropology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion & theology, veterinary science, women's studies, zoology, and many other fields. Academic Search Complete offers critical information from many sources unique to this massive collection. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.

Journal articles are very specific.

Finding articles is easier after you have read up on your topic.

Use more than one article database.

No database searches everything.
For thorough research, use more than one database and try different search terms.

A to Z List of Journals
Always check the A to Z list to see if we have access to the journal title and date of publication you need!

Need an article that isn't full text? Access the request form below.

Document Delivery Forms

Remember, scholarship is international.

You may come across some great articles in which the titles (and thus the articles) are not in English.

So, when you can, it is a good idea to limit your searches to articles in English.

Primary Sources

The Antebellum Era
Call Number: E 301 .D43 2003
Firsthand accounts offer students, scholars, or anyone interested in the pivotal period preceding the Civil War a look at how America's press covered important national issues and events of the day, from the passage of the Missouri Compromise through John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.
The Civil War
Call Number: E 464 .C54 2004
Strong collection of annotated primary documents from the Civil War years present a wide range of opinions, North and South, on the major political and military controversies of the time.
Defining Documents in American History: Civil War (1860-1865)
Call Number: E 464 .C58 2014 v.1-2
"Surveys key documents produced during the Civil War with special attention devoted to the war-time policies of President Abraham Lincoln and the 37th US Congress. A special feature of the volumes is the inclusion of letters and diaries by soldiers and civilians writing about their experiences."
The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Call Number: Stor E 464 .U6 1880
Also available online via Making of America (Cornell).
Atlas of the Civil War (companion to the Records)
"The Official Records were accompanied by an extensive atlas produced by the Government Printing Office in 1895. There are 175 plates with detailed maps of events covered in the Official Records" (from Ohio State University).

Valley of the Shadow
"The Valley of the Shadow is a digital archive of primary sources that document the lives of people in Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, during the era of the American Civil War. Here you may explore thousands of original documents that allow you to see what life was like during the Civil War for the men and women of Augusta and Franklin."
Civil War Washington
"Civil War Washington allows users to study, visualize, and theorize the complex changes in the city of Washington, DC between 1860 and 1865 through a collection of datasets, images, texts, and maps." The collection includes photographs, newspapers, emancipation petitions, and medical cases (from Center for Digital Research in the Humanities).
Visualizing Emancipation
An ongoing mapping project that sheds light on when and where men and women became free in the Civil War South. Uses official military correspondence, newspapers, and wartime letters and diaries.

The Reconstruction Era
Call Number: E 668 .D545 2003
Covers the social, political, economic, physical, and constitutional changes wrought by secession and the Civil War during Reconstruction. Primary documents are included.

Understanding U. S. Military Conflicts Through Primary Sources
Call Number: Ref E 181 .U53 2016 v. 1-4
* Covers benchmark documents in U.S. diplomatic and military history from 14 conflicts.
American Presidency Project
Call Number: Search HENRY by President as AUTHOR for call numbers
Search the papers of the presidents from George Washington through Joe Biden. Users can search by president, date, keyword, document type, and more.
The American Nation
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .A747 2008
The American Nation makes available, in one volume, many of the most crucial documents necessary for understanding the variety of policies and viewpoints driving American public life during an important, substantive part of American history. Covers the Civil War through our entrance into WWII.
Milestone Documents in American History
Includes important primary sources related to American history from 1763 to 2003.
Milestone Documents in American History, 2nd ed.
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .M62 2020 v. 1-4
Includes documents from African American history, women's history, immigration history, as well as 21st-century issues ranging from terrorism to campaign finance to LGBTQ rights. Vol. 1 1619-1831. -- v.2 1832-1898. -- v.3 1901-1956. -- v.4 1957-2019.
Milestone Documents of American Leaders
Call Number: Oversz E 173 .M62 2009 v.1-4
Milestone Documents of American Leaders features important full-text sources written by presidents, jurists, legislators and other influential people who helped shape the nation.

Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to journal and magazine articles, books, government documents, speech transcripts, etc. relating to the military and government. Both primary and secondary sources are available here.

Find papers by

Ulysses S. Grant
Robert E. Lee
Jefferson Davis

Voices of the Civil War
Call Number: Check HENRY for Call Numbers
This series includes letters, diaries, and memoirs from Yankee and Confederate men and women written during the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant Digital Collection
Access to 31 volumes of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (from Mississippi State University).

Documenting the American South
"Includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs" (from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
Duke University Libraries Digital Collections
Access diaries, letters, military registers, advertisements, and other documents from the Civil War.
The Abram H. Draper Collection
Consists of 34 unique pieces of correspondence, including letters and poetry from Sergeant Abram H. Draper to his wife Anna M. Wiley Draper during the American Civil War.

Search Across Multiple Titles

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Collection of primary and early sources for American history, including historical newspapers and county and regimental histories.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1-5 This link opens in a new window
Collection of over 7,500 early American periodical titles published from the seventeenth through the late nineteenth century.
The New York Times (1851-current) (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Coverage dates: 1851-2007
Coverage dates: 1851-current
GALE Primary Sources (Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Full-text coverage of The Sunday Times (London, UK : 1822-2006), and The Times (London, UK : 1785-2014), and a collection of 19th-century U.S. newspapers

Chronicling America
"Search America's historic newspapers pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present."

Individual Newspapers & Magazines

Virginia Chronicle (Library of Virginia)
The Virginia Chronicle is a historical archive of Virginia newspapers, providing free access to full-text searching and digitized images of over 3 million newspaper pages.
Harper's
Access the Harper's Archive, 1850 - present. Full text availability.
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Harper’s is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S., beginning in June 1850 when it was launched as Harper's New Monthly Magazine
The Nation
Users can search and access the complete backfile of The Nation, "an unabashedly left-wing publication." Coverage: 1865 -- Present (1 month embargo)
Richmond Daily Dispatch 1860 - 1865
Includes "1384 issues of the paper available online, ranging in date from November 1860 through December 1865" (from Institute of Museum and Library Services).

Brady's Civil War
Call Number: Oversz E 468.7 .G25 2008
A pictorial history of the Civil War, using photographs taken by Mathew Brady and his assistants.

Barnard & Gardner Civil War Photographs
"Among the most important pictorial records of the conflict, together they shed a stark light on the destruction witnessed during the war and its aftermath" (from Duke Libraries).
LIFE Photo Archive
Search millions of photographs from the Life photo archive -- stretching from the 1750's to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of Life and Google.

Suggested search terms

Confederate States of America -- History
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
United States. Army -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865

Simply, add "primary source" to your search using the Note field.

Visit the locate primary sources page for a refresher.

HENRY
The Library Catalog