Civil War history research

A valuable resource for Civil War history is the digitization project of the Richmond Daily Dispatch from the University of Richmond. This resource is a collaborative effort involving the University of Richmond, Tufts University, and the Virginia Center for Digital History. It is being funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and managed by Chris Kemp. There are now 1384 issues of the historic newspaper online with dates ranging from November 1860 to December 1865. To see what's available and to browse around, go to:

http://library.richmond.edu/
Click on the Daily Dispatch, 1860-1865 link

A sample search would be 'hollywood' which will bring up articles about the historic Hollywood Cemetery, here in Richmond. As the newspaper contents have been keyed in, the result will look like this:

An Edict Denying theright of burying the dead in their own Ground.

--Messrs. Editors: It was to us, as well as to many others, (some, too, owners of lots or sections in Hollywood Cemetery,) a matter of surprise, to learn that the Directors of said Cemetery had, in their own superior wisdom and kind-hearted charity, passed, a day or two since, an Edict for the especial purpose of defying the relatives and friends of the Poor Unfortunate young man, Wm. D. Totty--who, on yesterday, expiated his offence, or rather indiscretion, by yielding up his life to the law — the right of interring his remains in his own Section in said Cemetery, which was purchased three or four years ago by himself and his brother, for the purpose of burying therein their father, and where his ashes now repose! ...

Under the Browse the Daily Dispatch link, there are options to view either the text of the newspaper article or the scanned newspaper image, which is a large file and will usually take a few moments to load onto your screen.

The Richmond Daily Dispatch was chosen for digitization because it was the most widely circulated newpaper at the time and was funded primarily through advertising as opposed to political partisanship. In the future, providing that the funding is available, other historical documents will become available online, such as the Philadelphia Public Ledger from the 1860s and William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist paper, The Liberator.

This is a gem of a resource and one that all researchers, professional or not, can benefit from all that it has to offer. Feel free to contact Chris Kemp through the website with comments and suggestions.

Under the Browse the Daily Dispatch link, there are options to view either the text of the newspaper article or the scanned newspaper image, which is a large file and will usually take a few moments to load onto your screen.