Alexander Street Press is offering free access, until June 30, to its digital collection of American Civil War materials. This contains four collections:
- Letters and Diaries
- Illustrated Newspapers and Magazines
- Photographs
- War Research Database
This is a gold mine! For example, from a search on “reading” we find that William Wheeler of New York was reading Hawthorne’s “The Marble Faun” in the summer of 1860 (he like “Scarlet Letter” better), and that in the summer of 1849 William Quesenbury Claytor had just finished “Jane Eyre.”
Wonder of wonders, there is even a reference to Alice B. Haven in a letter from Jeannette Hulme Platt to James Canfield, July 29, 1867 where she says “Last week I was charmed with “Memoir of Cousin Alice.” She was a woman above women;…” Hurrah!
Enjoy it soon.