Primary Documents Portal
Welcome to the Mahoning Valley Civil War Round Table links portal page. There are literally hundreds of Civil War-related websites, and sorting through each one to find what you're looking for is an impossible task. What I've done here is listed fifteen of the more useful sites featuring original source material that I have researched so far to save you from having to do the work.
Of course, this portal page will be constantly changing as interesting and informative new sites that pertain to the American War of 1861 to 1865 are created, or existing ones are brought to my attention. I urge you to check back often to see what's new.
Research aids:
Old handwriting in genealogy research.
http://www.amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html
Deciphering Old Handwriting - From a genealogy course taught by Sabina J. Murray.
This is not a Civil War site, but it does offer good advice on reading old handwriting, which has changed over the years.
Using Primary Sources on the Web.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfm Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association
Original sources:
Manuscripts of the American Civil War.
http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/civil_war/index.shtml
University of Notre Dame Rare Books and Special Collections
Civil War Women.
http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/collections/digitized/civil-war-women/
Duke University Libraries: Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (19th Century Documents: 1800 – 1899).
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp
Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library
Making of America.
http://dlxs2.library.cornell.edu/m/moa/
Cornell University Library
Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu/
University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Born in Slavery: Slave narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/
Manuscripts Division and Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
The Valley of the Shadow
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/choosepart.html
The Valley Project is a part of the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia
Civil War Diary of Henry W. Tisdale, Company I, Thirty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, 1862-1865
http://www.civilwardiary.net/
Personal site published by Mark F. Farrell, Henry’s great-grandson
EHistory—Primary Sources Section
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/
Ohio State University Department of History
Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War
http://www.civilwarletters.com/
Pvt. Newton Robert Scott, Co. A, 36th Iowa
Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/tafthtml/tafthome.html
American Memory Collection, Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
The Civil War Letters of William (Billy) A. Elliot, Co. A of the 11th NC.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/elliottletters.htm
The website Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War
Absolom A. Harrison, Company D, 4th Regiment, Kentucky Calvary Volunteers
http://www.civilwarhome.com/harrisonlettersintro.htm
The website Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War
The Diary of Edwin B. Weist
http://www.civilwarhome.com/weistdiary.htm
The website Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War
VMI Archives, an Online Historical Research Center—Civil War Letters, Diaries, and Manuscripts
http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=3945
Virginia Military Institute