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Original handwritten version of John Blair Linn's trip with new transcription; each of the 19 objects collected on the battlefield, with a description of what the more object shows or represents (and its connection with the John Blair Linn journal) with explanatory notes giving the other story, and with transcriptions of letters (with proper recognition of the original creator). less

The family of Henry Keller were residents of Boalsburg, Pa. in the 1800's. Sophie Keller, daughter of Henry and Margaretta (nee Schneck), is significant because of more her participation in a graveside remembrance at the Boalsburg, PA cemetery in Oct. 1864 that blossomed into an annual memorial day event now held in May. Collection covers sixty-two letters from 1837 to 1893 associated with the life of family members, including Margaretta's kin, with many in the Civil War timeframe. less

Fifty-six handwritten letters from P. Benner Wilson (Bellefonte, PA resident and Officer in the 2nd PA Cavalry) to his brothers and sister dated from July 16, more 1861 to March 30, 1865 describing his experiences in the Civil War, and B&W photograph of Captain P. Benner Wilson dated 1861/1862. less

This collections represents all extant records of the Chester County Board of Relief from 1861 through 1865. The Chester County Board of Relief was set up more by the Act of May 15, 1861 P.L. 749, entitled "An Act to Create a Loan and to Provide for Arming the State" to aid local families of Civil War soldiers. Funded by state appropriations, its members included the County Commissioners and Court of Common Pleas Associate Judges. Township boards of relief were set up individually without legal precedent when townships felt the County Board did not meet the need for aid. Townships could petition the Board to assist their families although the Board did not always agree to help and the township boards assisted families without assistance from the county. The materials in this collection document the actives of the Board of Relief and provides detailed information on the families who sought its assistance. This collection is divided into four record series: account books, applications, correspondence, and administrative records. A full index to the account books, applications, and correspondence can be found here: https://www.chesco.org/1702/Board-of-Relief-1861-1865. less

The two digitized diaries of William Riley Blakeslee consist of 538 scanned pages and date from January 1862 to December 1863.  Found within the diaries are more accounts of his service in the Civil War, including personal accounting records, daily events, travels between camps, and visits to Coatesville. William Riley Blakeslee (1822-1909) was born to Benjamin and Sophia Lane Blakeslee in Springville Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.  After receiving his medical degree, Blakeslee moved to Coatesville, Pennsylvania where he practiced medicine as a surgeon and general physician.  Blakeslee was married three times and left seven children.  As a well-known figure in his community, Blakeslee was known for his house and gardens, and for opening one of the first drug stores in Coatesville. During the Civil War, Blakeslee served as a surgeon with the 115th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers from October 1861 until his discharge in March 1863, and returned to service from July to August 1863 in the wake of Gettysburg.  After the war, he continued practicing medicine in Coatesville and was employed as a surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad for over fifty years. The first diary notes Blakeslee’s arrival at Camp Constitution in Camden, New Jersey in May 1962, and documents the regiment’s travels to various locations in Virginia, including Fort Monroe, Harrison’s Landing, Centerville, northern Virginia, and Fredericksburg from June to December of 1862. Entries in the second diary describe marches near Falmouth, Virginia in January, and activities at Camp Muhlenberg and Camp Cook from July to August of 1863.  Blakeslee’s entries for 1863 provide greater description and details regarding fellow officers, daily news, events, and visits back to his home in Coatesville.  In addition, entries dating from September 9 onward include recollections and notes of daily activities from the previous year. less

Grand Army of the Republic: Personal War Sketches of the Members of Strong Vincent Post No. 67 is a two volume collection of large format single-page more biographies. Each sketch is an interview with a Civil War veteran that provides enlistment information, service locations, and injury and/or discharge information. These unique accounts comprise an invaluable record of Erie County’s role in the Civil War. This collection was made possible through a collaborative effort with the Hagen History Center and was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Historical and Archival Records Care Grant program. less

This collection contains photographs relating to African American history in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Included are topics such as: Abolition Hall, Camp William Penn, Woodmont, individuals, and more cemeteries. One of the photographs is a close up of an oil portrait of the county's first African American doctor, Dr. Daniel A. Wilson. The portrait and all of the photographs are maintained at the Historical Society of Montgomery County, PA. less

Welcome to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania - Indiana Pennsylvania in the Civil War Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. The Indiana more Pennsylvania in the Civil War Era project involves the digitization of primary sources including letters, diaries, and modern and historical photographs that document the experience of men and women of Indiana County, PA during the Civil War era which are now held in the collections of Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Special Collections or the Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County. Central to the collection will be the papers of the White family, including a diary kept by Pennsylvania State Senator Harry White, who fought for the North during the Civil War and was imprisoned in Libby Prison and a number of other prisons across the South, the letters of his father Thomas White, a prominent judge who was involved in the organization of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh, Richard White, a brother who also served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and letters to them from the Pennsylvania governor and high ranking representatives of the federal government. Also included will be other diaries of Civil War soldiers from the Indiana County area. Together these primary sources will provide a glimpse into the experience of Civil War soldiers and their families at home and political life during the war and hopefully making it easier for researchers to form a better understanding of the Civil War in Indiana County. Currently, access to the original resources is very limited. The HGSIC is open from 9 am to 4pm Tuesday through Friday and Saturday from 10am to 3 pm. and the hours of the Special Collections section of IUP Library are similarly restrictive. This project will make these materials available 24/7 to researchers with access to the lnternet. less

As part of a larger statewide effort, in 2018 the Meyersdale Public Library undertook a project to document and compile a list of known African American more burials in Somerset County. Staff and volunteers in the library's Pennsylvania Room combed state death certificates, online gravestone memorials, newspaper obituaries/articles, and additional local publications to determine as many African Americans laid to rest within this rural county as possible. The number ultimately reached nearly 350, though library researchers theorize it is substantially higher. In subsequent years the Pennsylvania Room has gained access to over 900 county death records kept from 1893 through 1905. Staff and volunteers plan to also review these records for documentation of additional African American burials. Thus this collection remains a work in progress, with updated information to be made available over time. less

William D. Bailey, from Dillsburg, Pa., served as a surgeon with the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Colonel Sirwell. He enlisted March 14, 1863, was promoted from more Assistant Surgeon, July 26, 1864; he was discharged November 4, 1864 due to the expiration of his term. This diary covers the period of March 27 to October 3, 1863. Later pages include some home remedy recipes, accounts, and miscellany. less

As part of the 150th commemoration of the Civil War, the Pennsylvania Highlands Community College has digitized a diary and personal letters associated with Cambria County more soldiers who fought in the war. The Quartermaster for General Grant’s army in the west wrote the letters from 1852-1865; the letters have not been transcribed and are only available in .jpg format. less

Amos A. Yeakel was born February 26, 1843, in West Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania and died June 25, 1912, in Vineland, New Jersey. The diary is more a two-volume pocket diary written during the American Civil War between August 19, 1862, and March 14, 1865. It covers the entire period of Yeakel’s service in Company G, of the 145th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Following his mustering into service, the diary deals with Yeakel becoming a soldier, including a prolonged time in a military convalescent camp and a military hospital where he suffered from a vague collection of non-life-threatening illnesses that nonetheless kept him from front line duty for nearly a year. He is then re-mustered into service and is involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the war at various skirmishes and battles, including Spotsylvania Court House and Petersburg, during Ulysses S. Grant’s Spring campaign of 1864. Yeakel was taken prisoner on June 22, 1864 at Petersburg and spent his time as a prisoner in the notorious Andersonville Prison (Camp Sumter) prisoner-of-war camp and other Confederate prison camps. He talks about the terrible ordeal of being held prisoner under appalling conditions, where a number of his comrades died died from malnutrition and disease. Yeakel managed somehow to survive this ordeal, and the diary ends as he is finally paroled in a prisoner exchange in early 1865. less

The following cased images consist of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes in the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center’s photograph collection. The people are a cross-section of middle-class more men, women and children of mid-19th Century, mostly from the Pennsylvania-German milieu of northern Montgomery County and the adjacent counties of Berks, Bucks and Lehigh. The collection is also a good representation of young and old, men and women, Schwenkfelder and non-Schwenkfelder families and individuals. The oldest known person photographed is Susannah Yeakel Schultz who was born in 1782, the second-to-last year of the Revolutionary War and she died in 1861, the first year of the Civil War. The youngest known person is Charles Samuel Wieand, who was born in 1848, the final year of the Mexican-American War and died in 1919, the final year of World War One. less

A representative sampling of valuable items on Abraham Lincoln in the State Library's collection that have been digitized to commemorate the Lincoln Bicentennial in 2009. Items more include the address of Honorable Edward Everett at the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1893 with the dedicatory speech of President Lincoln; and the hanging of the Lincoln conspirators in Washington DC in 1865. less

Selected Pennsylvania Regimental Histories in the Civil War, with histories of Pennsylvania units from other wars to be added.

A wide variety of Civil War literature, including a report on the battle of Gettysburg, preparations for the internment of the remains of the dead at more Gettysburg, testimony of deplorable conditions in Confederate prisons, speeches for and against Reconstruction, and more. less

This collection contains the grave registrations forms of veterans of the Civil War buried in Lehigh County, PA. Upon burial these forms were filed with the more local Veterans Affairs. Most records are for Lehigh County, some Berks and Northampton County records exist in this data. A few Confederate veterans are also represented. less