Author Archives: colin

I have been continuing to look for information to on Henry W. Spradley, the African American veteran buried at the former Lincoln Cemetery. Searching through microfilm at Dickinson College and CCHS, as well as researching further at CCHS, I have … Continue reading →

Jim Washington has been a huge help throughout my research on Lincoln Cemetery. I have met with him multiple time to talk about the history of the cemetery and he has been pivotal in both finding contacts and figuring out … Continue reading →

I have been researching Lincoln Cemetery, the old African American Civil War Veterans burial grounds, and would suggest these three lessons: 1. History Exists Outside the Scholarly Bubble – So often in historical research, we analyze how other historians have … Continue reading →

It all started one late night in the library, searching through microfilm around Henry Spradley’s death date. According to Susan Cavenagh and her headstone documentation, Henry W. Spradley died on April 9th, 1897. As I browsed beyond the 9th in … Continue reading →

I wanted to look into a number of primary documents to get as much information on these soldiers as I could. First, I have a number of newspapers from the Lincoln Cemetery dropfile at CCHS. They cover the discussion and … Continue reading →

To try to research efficiently with microfilm, I assembled the list of soldiers at Lincoln Cemetery of whom I knew their death dates. I figured that when people die, especially veterans, newspapers will often post a brief biography about their … Continue reading →

Images were always the ultimate goal throughout my research of Lincoln Cemetery. While later I would find some images in the Dickinson Archives, I did my primary image research at the Cumberland County Historical Society. I started by finding a … Continue reading →

In my first manuscript research trip to the Dickinson Archives, I found four different texts that I hoped would provide secondary source or background information on Lincoln Cemetery or any of the soldier buried there. I found them by searching … Continue reading →

Over the last few weeks, I went back and forth between database, photos, secondary sources, microfilm and contacts. However, for simplicities sake, I will present what I found in these categories, starting with databases After looking at Susan Cavenagh’s and … Continue reading →

I first went to the college archives catalog and searched for any possible hit on Lincoln Cemetery. The main goal was to find the names of the soldiers buried there so that I could start using those soldiers to formulate … Continue reading →