American history

by Miriam Posner, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Digital Scholarship Commons

From time to time, I'll be blogging on behalf of the Digital Scholarship Commons about our work to build the Georgia Lynching Project, which documents the history of lynching in Georgia. Read our other installments here!

By Erica Bruchko, Librarian for United States History and African American Studies, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University

The week of April 27^th – May 4^th 1861 was an eventful one for both Union and Confederate supporters. Virginia offered Richmond as the Confederate capital, Maryland voted against secession, and President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation to increase the size of the Union Army. This history, along with other key events of the American Civil War, is recorded within the Woodruff Library’s extensive digital collection of Civil War Era materials. By exploring  Emory’s database portal, students and scholars can find important newspapers, letters, diaries and other sources, which provide a window into the lives of the men and women who experienced the War firsthand. Some collection highlights include: