Civil War Documents To Go Digital

Civil War scholars and enthusiasts will be cheering over a new initiative by a group of non-profits, one of which is the University of Georgia Libraries.

The Libraries are going to digitize over 80,000 documents that relate to the Civil War, including poetry, letters, diaries, military records, account books, photographs and maps.

The National Historic Publications and Records Commission has given a $74,831 grant for the project, which also involves the Atlanta History Center, the Georgia Historical Society and the Board of Regents’ GALILEO virtual library initiative.

 “Events in Georgia, particularly Sherman’s Georgia campaign and the blockade of the coastline, were critical factors in the outcome of the War,” said P. Toby Graham, deputy university librarian and head of the Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. “This project provides the raw material for building a more complete understanding of Georgia’s role in the conflict.”

The Union capture of Atlanta on Sept. 2, 1864 had a direct impact on Lincoln’s reelection. It hastened the end of the War and ultimately reunited the nation, making the fall of Atlanta a decisive turning point in American history.

As the nation commemorates the sesquicentennial of the Civil War and interest increases in this subject, the need to provide enhanced access to these materials has never been greater, said Paul Crater, vice president of research services at the Atlanta History Center and project director.

Manuscript and visual materials are available only in their original format. The project partners are among the leading research institutions in the Southeast for the study of the Civil War, with hundreds of researchers visiting them annually.

The digitized documents will be available via the Digital Library of Georgia, a GALILEO initiative based in the UGA Libraries.

“The Digital Library of Georgia site is a significant source of exposure for project results, as DLG received more than 4.5 million page views during the past 12 months, including visits from every state and internationally,” Graham said. 

The records also will become part of the recently launched Association of Southeastern Research Libraries Civil War portal, which the DLG hosts.