We've been funded!

After many months of (not so) patiently waiting, we are thrilled to announce that the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has agreed to fund a project that will result in free online access to over 81,000 digital surrogates of letters, diaries, military records, account books, poetry, photographs, and maps that document the American Civil War in Georgia!

NHPRC February 2012 Newsletter

In June of 2011, the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, in partnership with the Digital Library of Georgia, the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Georgia, and the Georgia Historical Society. submitted a grant proposal to the NHPRC for funding to incorporate economical solutions to create, preserve, and provide free online access to these extraordinary materials.

Staff at each of the partnering libraries selected collections based on the strengths of their institution. These include the Atlanta Campaign and the defense of Savannah; the Eastern Theater and Western Theater outside of Georgia; Confederate government records and correspondence of its prominent officials; life on the homefront; slavery; and the Civil War in memory. The records include the diverse experiences and perspectives of military leaders, soldiers, and civilians whose lives were directly impacted by the Civil War. Thousands of first-hand accounts of Union and Confederate soldiers and officers document their hardships and opinions of the war and national politics. Military documents, including orders issued by William T. Sherman, describe the strategy of the Atlanta Campaign. Letters and diaries from Georgia civilians, young and old, male and female, describe in compelling detail the anxiety leading up to the war, the blockade of Georgia’s coast, the siege of Atlanta, and General Sherman’s subsequent march through Georgia. Financial and military documents reveal details of the buying and selling of slaves by private parties and by governments in the defense of the Confederacy. Letters, questionnaires, and 20th-century photograph collections capture the memories of Civil War veterans and document important Georgia Civil War landmarks a few decades after the conflict.

Now that we've got the official go-ahead, we'll be posting about the process in hopes that our experience will help other repositories as they seek to make their collections more accessible.  We look forward to the journey--stay tuned to America's Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia!