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Research and Information
Because the interests of LHS members are so varied, it would be almost impossible to attempt to file it all under the one heading "Research". Instead, we have tried to compile information that our own members have found useful be it books, articles, illustrations, movies, links to other sites whatever can further our knowledge (and yours) about this fascinating time period in our country's history. We would like to remind people, however, that the Living History Society's primary focus is Civilian Life between 1858-1865, and so whenever possible, we have tried to keep our information and research focused upon that specific time period.
Subjects are grouped according to a general description of the information to be found. Under each subject, the information is sorted into four sections: Books; articles; other info; links. Please note that many of these articles have been written by members of the LHS, and copyrights for any information reprinted here is the property of the copyright holder and not for reproduction without permission. Links can also be found in the Links page. We try to update our links on a regular basis; however, if you should notice that a particular link is down or not working, please contact arachnid@lhsmn.org. By the same token, if you have information that you would like us to add to our Research and Information page, please contact arachnid@lhsmn.org.
- General information about the Civil War Era
- Civil War -- Antiwar Movement
- Politics of the 1850s and 1860s
- Civilian Life During the 19th Century
- Customs, Etiquette and Manners in the 19th Century
- Clothing, Costuming and Personal Items
- Medicine, Hygiene and Health
- Food, Cooking, Recipes
- Religious Beliefs in the 19th Century
- Death in the 19th Century
Commerce, Transportation & Trade
- Travel in America
- Horses and Horse-drawn
- Railroads
- Steamboats
- Merchants, Miners & Moneymakers
- Photography
- Dance in the 19th Century
- Music in the 19th Century
- Parlor Games and Amusements in the 19th Century
- Theatre and Drama in the 19th Century
- Literature in the 19th Century
- Sports in the 19th Century
Information for the Living Historian
Of General Interest
General information about the Civil War Era
Books
Wright, Mike. What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War. Presidio Press. 1996. ISBN 0-89141-654-4. While this book is military in focus and content, it is full of interesting anecdotes and information that will entertain and amuse - all the while reminding us that people are people, whether they're in uniform or not.
Sizer, Lyde Cullen. The Political Work of Northern Women Writers and the Civil War, 1850-1872. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. 348 pages. This is an overview of women's literature and a view of the war through those authors.
Baker, Jean H., ed. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. A collection of essays with a fresh perspective that raises new questions.
McNamara, Martha J. From Tavern to Courthouse: Architecture and Ritual in American Law, 1658-1860. Baltimore: John's Hopkins University Press, 2004. 162 pages, 52 illustrations, ISBN 0-8018-7395-9. Though mostly concerned with Massachusetts, the book outlines the development of architecture and placement of courthouses in cities and towns up to the Civil War.
Articles
Other Info
Links
The Civil War Home Page. A huge collection of information about the United States Civil War.Civil War -- Antiwar Movement
Books
Klement, Frank L. Dark Lanterns: Secret Political Societies, Conspiracies, and Treason Trials in the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984.
Neely, Jr., Mark E. The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Cowden, Joanna D. "Heaven Will Frown on Such a Cause as This:" Six Democrats Who Opposed Lincoln's War. Lanham: University Press of America, 2001. 259 pages. This book shows the varying circumstances for opposing the settlement of the sectional crisis by force.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Politics of the 1850s and 1860s
Books
McPherson, James. Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction.. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2001. This is a big overview of the Civil War era that contains a lot about politics.
Holt, Michael. The Political Crisis of the 1850s. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1983.
Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.
Baker, Jean H. Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of the Northern Democrats in the mid-Nineteenth Century. New York: Fordham University Press, 1998.
Miller, William Lee. Arguing about Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
Morrison, Michael A. Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
Holt, Michael. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Allgor, Catherine. Parlor Politics: In which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.
Ryan, Mary. Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
Marszalek, John F. The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson's White House. New York: The Free Press, 1997.
Kerber, Linda. No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship. New York: Hill and Wang, 1998.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Civilian Life During the 19th Century
Books
Leisch, Juanita. An Introduction to Civil War Civilians. Thomas Publications. 1994. ISBN 0-939631-70-9. An excellent book for those who thought that only soldiers lived during the Civil War. Well-written and illustrated throughout with wonderful photographs, "[t]his book introduces many of the concepts necessary to understanding mid-19th century Americans, and their involvement in the Civil War."
Articles
Other info
Links
Customs, Etiquette and Manners in the 19th Century
Books
Shep, R.L. Civil War Era Etiquette: Martine's Handbook & Vulgarisms in Conversation. R. L. Shep, publisher. 1988. ISBN 0-914046-07-1. This edition contains the original Martine's Handbook of Etiquette of 1866 plus a part of The Art of Conversation of 1864 and additional materials and illustrations. A detailed description of what was considered 'proper' etiquette during the mid-19th century by people of that era. A standard text for anyone who wishes to pursue 1st person interpretation of a Civil War era persona. The way that much of the information is presented is funny to modern people, but would have been taken most seriously by their great, great grand parents.
Hemphill, C. Dallett. Bowing to Necessity: A History of Manners in America, 1620-1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Paperback 2002. "Hemphill has written a beautifully lucid, engaging, and thorough study that will be valuable to all social and cultural historians of the first long 'half' of American history and to our students." -- William and Mary Quarterly.
Henry Lunettes. The American Gentleman's Guide to Politeness and Fashion, Derby & Jackson, New York, 1858
Chesterfield's Letter Writer and Complete Book of Etiquette,, Dick & Fitzgerald, New York, 1857, 1860
Arthur Martine. Martine's HandBook of Etiquette, and Guide to True Politeness, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, 1866
S. A. Frost. Frost's Laws and By-Laws of American Society, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, Publishers, 1869.
Walter R. Houghton. Rules of Etiquette and Home Culture: or What To Do and How To Behave, et al., Sixth Edition (Rand McNally, New York, 1884)
Halttunen, Karen, Confidence Men & Painted Women: A Study of Middle Class Culture in America 1830-1870, Yale University Press, New York & London 1982.
Kasson, John F. Rudeness & Civility: Manners in Nineteenth Century Urban America, Hill & Wang, New York 1990.
Levine, Lawrence, W. Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988.
Trollope, Frances, Domestic Manners of the Americans, 1832
Articles
Other Info
Links
19th Century Slang Dictionary at the Camp Chase Gazette, by Craig HadleyClothing, Costuming and Personal Items
Books
Buck, Anne. Victorian Costume. Costume & Fashion Press. 1984. ISBN 0-903585-17-0. Well-organized refernce book, covering all aspects of clothing and accessories during the Victorian Era (1837-1900). Full of period illustrations and detailed photographs. The focus is primarily upon women, although the men's costume section has a lovely series of photographs showing waistcoats from 1835-1885.
Caulfield, S. F. A., Encyclopedia of Victorian Needlework - Vol. 1 & 2 Impressive collection of terms, instructions, pictures, illustrations, etc.
Cunningham, Patricia A. Reforming Women's Fashion, 1850-1920: Politics, Health, Art. Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-87338-742-2, 272 pages, 8.5x11, 90 photos, notes, bibliography, index. A comprehensive study of women's dress reform that considers many of the advocates, thoroughly examining motive, arguments, and promotion of "improvements."
Cunnington, Phillis, Costumes of the Nineteenth Century. Plays, Inc., 1970.
Dalrymple, Priscilla. American Victorian Costume in Early Photographs. Dover Publications, Inc. 1991. ISBN 0-486-26533-1. The title says it all. For those of you used to looking at line illustrations from the period, the reality shown in photographs will surpise you. A wonderful source of inspiration for costumers looking for accurate period details.
Davenport, Millia, The Book of Costume. Crown Publishers, 1948.
Earle, Alice, Two Centuries of Costume in America. Vol. 2, MacMillan Co., 1903.
Evelyn, Hugh, History of Costume, the Nineteenth Century. Plays, Inc., 1968.
Greene, Susan W. Textiles for Early Victorian Clothiing - 1850 - 1880, a Workbook of Swatches & Information. A wonderful adjunct to "Dating Fabrics", this sprial bound book includes (whenever possible) accurate fabric samples. The author goes into great detail about the construction of the material and its uses. You'll never need to wonder what 'Bombazine' or 'Pina' feels like again.
McClellan, Elisabeth, Historic Dress in America, 1800-70. George Jacobs and Co., 1910.
Meller, Susan, and Joost Elffers. Textile Designs - Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif, Style, Color, Layout, and Period. A HUGE book with wonderful, full color photographs. Very useful for textile research.
Montgomery, Florence M. Textiles in America, 1650 - 1870. Not as specific to our period as other books, but the Dictionary section has incredibly details descriptions of many period textiles, some of which are no longer produced. There is also a section of photographs of actual fabric swatches used by period textile merchants.
Norris, Herbert. Nineteenth Century Costume and Fashion. Dover Publications, Inc. 1998. ISBN 0-486-40292-4. A general reference book, giving equal time to the Gentlemen. All illustrations by Oswald Curtis. A good introduction to those as yet unfamiliar with the clothing of the period.
Shuppan-Sha, Bijutsu. 19th Century European Textiles, Dyeing, Weaving and Wallpaper. The book is a collection of photographs of period textiles, and is extremely useful when cross-referenced with "Dating Fabrics". There is no text, however, so trying to figure out which decade any image belongs to requires additional research.
Trestain, Eileen Jahnke. Dating Fabrics - A Color Guide 1800-1960. Produced by the American Quilter's Society, this full-color book is spiral bound, so it can be open flat for better viewing. A MUST for the textile enthusiast! The color pictures and text will take the guess work out of choosing printed fabrics, especially cottons.
Waugh, Nora. The Cut of Women's Clothes, 1600-1930. Theatre Arts Books, 1968.
Waugh, Norah. Corsets and Crinolines. Routledge/Theatre Arts Books. 1991. ISBN 0-87830-526-2. One of THE definitive reference books about the development, evolution and construction of corsets and crinolines - from the early 16th century to 1925. Many of the historically accurate patterns available on the market today owe their existence to the work and research that Ms. Waugh put into this book. Full of illustrations, photographs, and patterns. (Please note - although the patterns shown in this book can be used to make undergarments, it is best attempted only by experienced sewers)
Worrel, Estelle, Children's Costume in America, 1607-1910. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980.
Zeller, Karyn R., A Reenactor's Guide to Clothing and Fabrics of the Civil War. A basic guide for reenactors. Includes a list of period terms for fabrics and sewing techniques.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Costume Sewing Resources. List of links to costume sewing resources for Victorian, American History Re-Enactment, and many other time periodsHistory of Minnesota
General History of Minnesota
Books
Blegen, Theodore Christian. Minnesota, a history of the State. With a new concluding chapter, "A State that Works," by Russell Fridley. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1975.
Folwell, William Watts. History of Minnesota. 4 vols. Revised Edition. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1961, 1924.
Gilman, Rhoda R. The Story of Minnesota's Past. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1989.
Lass, William E. Minnesota, a bicentennial history of the State. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1976.
Neill, Edward Duffield. The History of Minnesota. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1858.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Pioneering The Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca 1820-1910 portrays the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century through first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, colonial archival documents, and other works drawn from the Library of Congress's General Collections and Rare Books and Special Collections Division. The collection's 138 volumes depict the land and its resources; the conflicts between settlers and Native peoples; the experience of pioneers and missionaries, soldiers and immigrants and reformers; the growth of local communities and local cultural traditions; and the development of regional and national leadership in agriculture, business, medicine, politics, religion, law, journalism, education, and the role of women.Dakota Conflict 1862-1863
Books
Anderson, Gary Clayton. Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux . Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986.
Carley, Kenneth. The Sioux Uprising of 1862. Revised Edition. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001, 1988, 1976, 1962.
Clodfelter, Micheal. The Dakota War: the United States Army versus the Sioux, 1862-1865. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1998.
Folwell, William Watts. History of Minnesota vol. 2 of 4. Revised edition. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1961, 1924.
Heard, Isaac V. D. History of the Sioux War and massacres of 1862 and 1863. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1863.
Meyer, Roy W. History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trial. Revised edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993, 1967.
Pond, Samuel. The Dakota or Sioux as they were in 1834. Reprint edition. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986, 1908.
Riggs, Stephen Return. Tak-koo wah-kan, or the gospel among the Dakota. Boston: Congregational Publishing Company, 1869.
Robinson, Doane. A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians .... Reprint edition. Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, Inc., 1967, 1904.
Satterlee, Marion. A detailed account of the massacre by the Dakota Indians of Minnesota in 1862. Minneapolis: self published, 1925.
Willand, Jon. Lac qui Parle and the Dakota Mission. Madison, MN: Lac qui Parle County Historical Society, 1964.
Woolworth, Alan R. and Gary Clayton Anderson. Through Dakota Eyes: narrative accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988.
Articles
Carley, Kenneth. "As red men viewed it: three Indian accounts of the uprising,". in Minnesota History 38 (1962): 126-149.
Grabitske, David M. "Mary McDonald: A Sibley County Mystery,". Spray of the Falls, 2001.
Lass, William E. "The removal from Minnesota of the Sioux and Winnebago Indians,". in Minnesota History 38 (1962): 353-364.
Riggs, Stephen Return. "The theogeny of the Sioux". in American Antiquarian vol. 2, 1878.
Other info
American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. Correspondence, 1827-1878. Originals in Houghton Library, Harvard University. Copies at Minnesota Historical Society.
Annual Reports to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1860-1875. U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs.
"History of the religion, legends, and general condition of the Dakota Nation,". Lynd, James. in the manuscript collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. 1864.
Dakota War Whoop, or, Indian massacres and war in Minnesota of 1862-1863. McConkey, Harriet E. Bishop. Saint Paul: Published for the author, 1864.
Links
Hearth & Home
Medicine, Hygiene and Health
Books
Bettmann, Otto, A Pictorial History of Medicine, Charles Thomas, Publisher, 1956.
Bordley, James, and McGehee, Harvey, Two Centuries of American Medicine, 1776-1976, W. B. Saunders Co., 1976.
Carson, Gerald, One for a Man, Two for a Horse, a Pictorial History, Grave and Comic, of Patent Medicines, Doubleday, 1961.
Cerf, Christopher, and Navasky, Victor, The Experts Speak, the Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation, Panteon, 1984.
Flexner, James, Doctors on Horseback, Viking Press, 1937.
Gayet, Robert, Everyday Life in the United States Before the Civil War, Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1969.
Marks, Geoffrey, and Beatty, William, The Story of Medicine in America, Scribner's Publishing,
Peale, R. S., The Home Library of Useful Knowledge, Home Library Association, 1883.
Shyrock, Richard, Medicine in America, Historical Essays, Johns Hopkins Press, 1966.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Food, Cooking, Recipes
Books
Child, Lydia M., with a new introduction by Jan Longone. The American Frugal Housewife. Dover Publications, Inc. 1999. ISBN 0-486-40840-X. At one time this book was one of the most popular and standard books in a lady's household. Originally published in 1829, this cookbook included many ideas and tips for keeping house as well. Highly valuable for giving insight into how women defined themselves within their own sphere of influence.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Culinary History Times . Social history, manners, and menus.Food Timeline . When foods were introduced and some recipes that work in modern kitchens to reproduce food of an era.
Food History News . Quarterly publicication on food history.
Measurement Conversion Chart . Beware the many advertisements on this page, but the conversion chart is priceless if you need to know about jiggers or pennyweights or a slow oven or other forgotten measures.
Religious Beliefs in the 19th Century
Books
Articles
Other Info
Links
Death in the 19th Century
Books
Articles
Other Info
Links
Commerce, Transportation & Trade
Travel in America
Books
Articles
Other Info
Links
American Notes: travels in America, 1750-1920 comprises 253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920. Also included is the thirty-two-volume set of manuscript sources entitled Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, published between 1904 and 1907. Library of Congress.Horses and Horse-drawn
Books
Banning, William and George. Six Horses. Century Co., New York and London, 1930.
Barnes, Demas. The Far Western Frontier, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Overland, a Series of Letters by Demas Barnes. 1865, reprinted by Arno Press, 1973.
Berkebile, Don. American Carriages, Sleighs, Sulkies and Carts. Dover Publications, 1977.
Forbes, Allan. Taverns and Stagecoaches of New England. State Street Trust Co., 1953.
Harris, Stanley. The Coaching Age. R. Bentley and Son, 1885.
Moody, Ralph. Stagecoach West. Thomas Crowell Co., 1967.
Nevin, David. The Expressmen. Time-Life Books, 1974.
Tristam, William. Coaching Days and Coaching Ways. MacMillan and Co., 1888.
Tunis, Edwin. Wheels, A Pictorial History. World Publishing Co., 1955.
Wheeling, Kenneth. Horse-drawn Vehicles at the Shelburne Museum. Shelburne Museum, 1974.
Winther, Oscar. Express and Stagecoach Days. Stanford Universy Press, 1936.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Railroads
Books
Brown, Dee. Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow. Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1977.
Holbrook, Stewart. Story of American Railroads. Crown, 1947.
Mencken, August. The Railroad Passenger Car. Johns Hopkins Press, 1957.
Throm, Edward. Popular Mechanics Picture History of American Transportation. Simon & Schuster, 1952.
Wheeler, Keith. The Railroaders. Time-Life Books, 1973.
Articles
The First Railroad in Minnesota. Crooks, Colonel William. 2002.Other Info
Links
Railroad Maps 1828-1900 at the Library of Congress. The Railroad maps represent an important historical record, illustrating the growth of travel and settlement as well as the development of industry and agriculture in the United States. They depict the development of cartographic style and technique, highlighting the achievement of early railroaders. Included in the collection are progress report surveys for individual lines, official government surveys, promotional maps, maps showing land grants and rights-of-way, and route guides published by commercial firms.Steamboats
Books
Blacburn, Graham. Ships, Boats, Vessels. Overlook Press, 1978.
Donovan, Frank. River Boats of America. Thomas Crowell Co., 1966.
Drago, Henry Sinclair. Canal Days in America. Clarkson Potter, 1972.
Merrick, George. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi. Arthur Clark Co., 1909.
Shay, Frank. Sailor's Treasury. W. W> Norton and Co., 1951.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Merchants, Miners & Moneymakers
Books
Hiley, Michael. Victorian Working Women: Portraits from Life. Gordon Fraser Gallery, Ltd. 1979. ISBN 0-86092-043-7. Although this book is focused on workiing women in Great Britain from the 1850s - 1890s, the stories, histories, and photographs of these women will forever dispell the myth of the 'delicate flower of womanhood' so beloved by victorian romance novelists. Many of the earlier photographs are excellent resources for those hoping to portray working class women accurately.
Larkin, Jack. The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790 to 1840. Harper & Row, 1988.
Wilson, Everett. Early America At Work. A. S. Barnes and Co., 1963.
Wright, Richardson. Hawkers and Walkers in Early America. J. B. Lippincott Co., 1927.
Articles
Other Info
Links
Photography
Books
Adams, Ansel. The Negative. Morgan & Morgan Inc., 1959.
Adams, Ansel. The Print. Morgan & Morgan Inc., 1968.
McKay, Herbert. The Photographic Negative. Chicago New York: Zivv-Davis Publishing Co, 1942. Four volumes.
A New History of Photography. Konemann, 1998. First 6 sections and section 9 are viable from 19th century perspective.
Matthew Brady, Historian With A Camera. Bonanza Books - New York, 1955.
Eyes of the Nation. Alfred A. Knopf - New York, 1997.
Black and White Photography. West Publishing, St. Paul, MN, 1994. Good sections on view cameras and the zone system.
The 11th Here's How. Eastman Kodak, 1979. Techniques for outstanding pictures
Principles of Composition in Photography. AMPHOTO, 1973. Good discussion of various ways to see a subject
Creative Darkroom Techniques. Kodak, 1975. Tricks to tune up prints.
Warren, Bruce. Photography. West Publishing, 1993. Good information on history. Lots of techniques and equipment explanations.
First Lessons in Black-and-White Photography. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1978. Great beginners book, written for school students, divided into lessons.
A Pictorial School History of the United States History article on black and white transparencies.
Adams, Ansel. Natural Light Photography. Morgan & Morgan Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 1952. Part of the Basic Photo series, Volume 4.
Picker, Fred. Zone VI Workshop. Amphoto Garden City, NY, 1974.
James, T. H. & George C. Higgins. Fundamentals of Photographic Theory. Morgan & Morgan Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 1968.
The Camera. Time-Life Books New York, 1970.
Thompson, John. Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1994. Reprint of 1877 photographs and essays about the individuals pictured.
Schaub, George. Black and White Printing, The Complete Guide to Effective Darkroom Techniques. Amphoto New York, 1991.
How To Make Good Pictures. Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester NY, 1943. A Handbook for the Everyday Photographers.
Shulman, Julius. The Photography of Architecture and Design. Whitney Library of Design, New York, 1977.
Sullivan, Constance. Landscapes of the Civil War. Alfred A. Knopf New York, 1995.
Conrad, Pam. Prairie Visions, The Life and Times of Solomon Butcher. Harper Collins New York, 1991.
Color. Time-Life Books New York, 1970.
Light and Film. Time-Life Books New York, 1970.
2001 Big Book of Photography. Petersons. 2001. Magazine.
Outdoor Photographer. Werner Publishing Corp, 2002. Periodical.
Photo Techniques. Preston, 2002. Periodical.
Photography Monthly. 2002. periodical.
Articles
View Camera. The Journal of Large Format Photography, 2002. Article on Cooke Lenses May/June
Other Info
Links
Entertainment and Amusements
Dance in the 19th Century
Books
Articles
Other Info
Links
An American Ballroom Companion. Over two hundred social dance instruction manuals from 1490-1929 at the Music Division, Library of Congress. Along with dance instruction manuals, this online presentation also includes a significant number of antidance manuals, histories, and treatises on etiquette. Many of the manuals also provide historical information on theatrical dance. Complete Author/Title list for the collection.Music in the 19th Century
Books
Jackson, Richard, editor. Stephen Foster Song Book - original sheet music of 20 songs by Stephen Collins Foster. Dover Publications, Inc. 1974. ISBN 0-486-23048-1. An excellent collection of Foster's most popular songs. All of the pages have been directly reproduced from original and early editons. Original cover art for many of the songs are included.
Jackson, Richard, editor. Popular Songs of Nineteenth Century America -Complete original sheet music for 64 songs. Dover Publications, Inc., 1976. ISBN 0-486-23370-0. This collection is sure to surprise and delight singers and musicians wishing to explore popular songs of the mid-19th century. Throughout the book original cover art has been included. The commentary by Mr. Jackson is well-written and gives an excellent perspective to why certain songs 'struck a chord' with the listening public of the time.
Crawford, Richard, editor. The Civil War Songbook - Complete original sheet music for 37 songs . Dover Publications, Inc., 1977. ISBN 0-486-23422-3. The focus of this book is definitely more appropriate for a war-time encampment than a lady's parlor. The 37 songs contained within include such Civil War Era classics as "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Dixie", and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Singers and musicians who would perform these songs at period events can almost guarantee that there won't be a dry eye in the house once the last chord has faded.
Articles
Other Info
Links
African-American Sheet Music from Brown University (American Memory, Library of Congress) This collection consists of 1,305 pieces of African-American sheet music dating from 1850 through 1920. The collection includes many songs from the heyday of antebellum black face minstrelsy in the 1850s and from the abolitionist movement of the same period. Numerous titles are associated with the novel and the play Uncle Tom's Cabin. Civil War period music includes songs about African-American soldiers and the plight of the newly emancipated slave.America Singing Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets For most of the nineteenth century Americans learned the latest songs from printed song sheets. Not to be confused with sheet music, song sheets are single printed sheets, usually six by eight inches, with lyrics but no music. These were new songs being sung in music halls or new lyrics to familiar songs, like "Yankee Doodle" or "The Last Rose of Summer." The Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress holds 4291 song sheets. Included among these American songs are ninety-seven British song sheets from Dublin and London. The collection spans the period from the turn of the nineteenth century to the 1880s, although a majority of the song sheets were published during the height of the craze, from the 1850s to the 1870s.
Band Music from the Civil War Era makes available examples of a brilliant style of brass band music that flourished in the 1850s in the United States and remained popular through the nineteenth century. Bands of this kind served in the armies of both the North and the South during the Civil War. This online collection includes both printed and manuscript music (mostly in the form of "part books" for individual instruments) selected from the collections of the Music Division of the Library of Congress and the Walter Dignam Collection of the Manchester Historic Association (Manchester, New Hampshire). The collection features over 700 musical compositions, as well as 8 full-score modern editions and 19 recorded examples of brass band music in performance.
Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University is an archive and research center devoted to the study of American popular music from the pre-revolutionary era to the present.
Dreams of the Past 19th Century color lithographic sheet music covers. From the John Hay Library, Brown University.
Free 19th Century Guitar Music Downloads
Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920 (American Memory, Library of Congress) collection presents 3,042 pieces of sheet music drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, which holds an important, representative, and comprehensive collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century American sheet music. This selection presents a significant perspective on American history and culture through a variety of music types including bel canto, minstrel songs, protest songs, sentimental songs, patriotic and political songs, plantation songs, spirituals, dance music. The collection is particularly strong in antebellum Southern music, Confederate imprints, and Civil War songs and music. Also included are piano music of marches, variations, opera excerpts, and dance music, including waltzes, quadrilles, polkas, etc. Cover illustrations represent an important, and in some cases almost unique, source of information for popular contemporary ideas on politics, patriotism, race, religion, love, and sentiment.
Music for the Nation contains more than 62,500 pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright: more than 15,000 registered during the years 1820-1860 and more than 47,000 registered during the years 1870-1885. Included are popular songs, operatic arias, piano music, sacred and secular choral music, solo instrumental music, method books and instructional materials, and music for band and orchestra. The collection documents the attitudes and tastes of a bygone era with music of many varieties and sources, all of it published in the United States.
Music Library-19th Century Sheet Music, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The period from the 1830s to the 1850s was one of great economic prosperity in the U.S.; the growing middle class filled its parlors with pianos, melodeons and organs, and purchased sheet music to perform there. While the intense cultural activity of this period was halted by the Civil War, sheet music publishing continued to flourish through the 1860s as thousands of new titles poured from presses of North and South. The UNC-Chapel Hill Music Library collection of 19th-century American sheet music includes 125 "binders' collections" which consist of a young woman's favorite pieces of sheet music (vocal and instrumental) gathered and bound into one volume, with her name embossed on the cover. Because each volume embodies its owner's taste and philosophical leanings, these collections illuminate the culture of the eastern and southern U.S. during a most significant time in the region's history. Currently there is a descriptive bibliographic listing of the contents of about 57 volumes of the collection browsable on the Music Library's web site; elements of each piece are indexed in detail. In addition, 32 volumes (1200 pieces) have been digitally scanned and linked to the index record.
The Keffer Collection of Sheet Music at the University of Pennsylvania contains 2,531 scores ranging in date from ca. 1790 to 1895. The great majority of the items were published in the United States and approximately 1,150 items were produced by publishers in Philadelphia. The musical content of the collection consists largely of American popular songs and piano music, but also includes works by famous European composers published in the United States. American sheet music of the nineteenth century provides a fascinating historical record of contemporary social concerns, issues, events, celebrities, and tastes. This record is further enhanced by the prevalent use of illustrations for title pages, including portraits, landscapes, and scenes of battles or local sites of interest. Many of the most significant American lithographic artists of the nineteenth century provided illustrations for sheet music and a substantial number of their works are included in this collection.
The Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music at Indiana University's Lilly Library contains approximately 24,000 pieces of sheet music, songbooks, and folios. Sam DeVincent collected sheet music for the artistry of the illustrated covers as well as for the music. In 1988 DeVincent donated a large portion of his collection to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
Sheet Music Collections group of links at the Music Library Association's website hosted by Duke University.
Sheet Music Consortium home page The Sheet Music Consortium is a group of libraries working toward the goal of building an open collection of digitized sheet music using the Open Archives Initiative:Protocol for Metadata Harvesting
The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection - Home Page The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music is part of Special Collections at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University. It contains over 29,000 pieces of music and focuses on popular American music spanning the period 1780 to 1960. All pieces of the collection are indexed on this site and a search will retrieve a catalog description of the pieces. An image of the cover and each page of music will also be retrieved if the music was published before 1923 and is in the public domain.
Parlor Games and Amusements in the 19th Century
Books
Beaver, Patrick. Victorian Parlor Games. Thomas Nelson Inc., 1974. ISBN 0-8407-6608-4 Mr. Beaver's collection of parlor games is a must have for those who would like to answer the question of how our Victorian ancestors amused themselves in the days before radio and television. Some of the games are still commonly played today (checkers, hangman; blind man's bluff); others will surprise you with their ribald nature. This book is currently out-of-print, but copies can be located at used book stores.
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Theatre and Drama in the 19th Century
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"How to Behave At a Theatre", Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 1, New York, April 9, 1870.
Mid-19th Century Theatre Etiquette Elaine Katuin, 2002.
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One-Act Plays published between 1850 and 1865 (including assorted burlesques, burlettas, operettas, etc.)Literature in the 19th Century
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The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books 1850-1880. The books in this collection bear nineteenth century American imprints, dating mainly from between 1850 and 1880. They have been digitized by the University of Michigan as part of the Making of America project, a major collaborative endeavor to preserve and provide access to historical texts. Currently, approximately 1,500 books are included. The collection is particularly strong in poetry and in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals 1815-1900. This collection presents twenty-three popular periodicals digitized by Cornell University Library and the Preservation Reformatting Division of the Library of Congress. They include literary and political magazines, as well as Scientific American, Manufacturer and Builder, and Garden and Forest: A Journal of Horticulture, Landscape Art, and Forestry. The longest run is for The North American Review, 1815-1900.
Sports in the 19th Century
Books
Durant, John, and Bettmann, Otto. Pictorial History of American Sports from Colonial Times to the Present. A. S. Barnes and Co., 1952.
Tygiel, Jules. Past Time: Baseball as History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Paperback 2002. Begins in the 1850s with pre-Civil War nationalism that shaped the emergence of the national past time.
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Public Lives, Private People
Biographies, Diaries, Letters
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Bunkers, Suzanne L., editor. The Diary of Caroline Seabury 1854-1863. University of Wisconsin Press. 1991. ISBN 0-299-12870-9 ; ISBN 0-299-12874-1 (pbk.) A quick read, but a fascinating one. Miss Seabury was a northern woman who, in 1854, went south to Mississippi to accept a position as a teacher. She remained there until 1863. Her diary, written in the descriptive prose of the period, will give the reader a clear account of the moral attitudes and torn loyalties which often pervaded life during the Civil War.
DeButts, Mary Custis Lee, editor. Growing Up in the 1850s; The Journal of Agnes Lee. University of North Carolina Press. 1984. ISBN 0-8078-1622-1. Eleanor Agnes Lee was the fifth child of Robert E. Lee. She bagan this journal in December 1852 at the age of twelve. The journal covers a five year period, and gives a lively and interesting account of what life was like for a young southern woman in the years prior to the Civil War. The book also contains photographs and illustrations from the period.
Livermore, Mary A. My Story of the War: The Civil War Memoirs of the Famous Nurse, Relief Organizer and Suffragette. Da Capo Press ISBN 0-306-80658-4, (first published in 1887). It's an amazing, first person account of the Civil War. Mrs. Livermore, not trusting exclusively to her own memories, solicited letters she had written to friends and family 25 years before (while the war was going on) and took that information to write this book recounting her efforts and adventures during one of the darkest periods in American History. Mrs. Livermore's use of language, her descriptions of events, her intelligence, perspective and humor will draw you in and (hopefully) make you feel what it was like to experience the war years first hand.
Articles
Helen Hastings Sibley: The Governor's Metis Daughter. Grabitske, David M. 2000.
Mary McDonald: A Sibley Country Mystery. Grabitske, David M. 2000.
Sarah Jane: A Ladies' Frontier in Minnesota. Midwest Open Air Museums Magazine, December 1999, Grabitske, David M.
This is the first attempt to provide a biography of Sarah Jane Steele who was prominent in establishing society and culture in early Minnesota, 1843-1869.
First Lady of Preservation: Sarah Jane Sibley and the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1858-1869. Minnesota History, December 2003, Grabitske, David M.
Details on an early historic preservation effort in Minnesota led by the
state's first First Lady
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Of Interest to Children
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Information for the Living Historian
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Bibliography of Historical Interpretation compiled by David M. GrabitskeLinks