Historical Method 204

in doing the letter project, i got pretty interested in James Pollock and the whig party, so i’d like to do something with that.  I was looking through the list of everything in the Slifer collection and there are a series of letters exchanged between the two in 1861, so i was thinking that i could [...]

I have been working on my final project topic and research is going very slowly. I think want to focus on women in Cumberland County during this period – specifically their relief efforts and their communications with men participating in the war. That is of course a very broad subject so I need to narrow [...]

This may not be news to some of you, and it is certainly off topic from what has been discussed recently on these blogs, but I just wanted to let everyone know that the bibliography project we handed in to Chris Bombaro is different from the bibliography project for Prof.  Osborne (which was supposed to [...]

Here are the specific guidelines I promised you as one way to structure a good proposal. You are required to hand in a proposal for your main project soon, of course.  But as noted, my advice would be to get into the habit of putting together one of these – however rough – for longer [...]

Hey guys hope you all are having a good week so far. So I have been doing some thinking on possible topics for our new project. What I have come up with is topics that are related to the Battle of Gettysburg. My initial idea is writing about Robert E. Lee. Most historians blame Gen. [...]

P-S The endnotes should be numbers. They seem to have changed to roman numerals through copy and paste. Just wanted to clarify.

I just realized that I have been leaving comments on peoples posts rather than posts this whole semester. I have started thinking about a final paper topic but I go back and forth between deciding what is too broad and what might be too narrow of a topic. I’m going to head to the archives [...]

Wrapping up the loose ends of our letter assignment. It is amazing how much easier it was to read the letter after a couple weeks of looking at it from time to time. The words I could not discern the first few tries were easy after letting it sit for a while. This was a [...]

Here is my completed letter project.  I was not able to ascertain whether or not John Gutshall got the job he was being considered for, but I was able to compile a great deal of information about the people referenced in the letter and the Carlisle Barracks.  The following is a letter from former Pennsylvania [...]

I completed my letter research last night and was able to find information on almost all that was mentioned in the letter. However I was not able to ascertain whether or not Charles Woods received that transfer that he asked Eli Slifer for. I searched documents for the individual, for his regiment during the war [...]

This past week I was able to find much more information on the author of my letter, Charles Woods. I looked for records of him from the U.S. Census throughout his lifetime and was able to find out general information about him there. On GoogleBooks I found a record of his graduation from the Philadelphia [...]

A few updates from the past week of research: The biggest fact that I was able to find out is the identity of the “Company of Volunteers” that was identified by S.W. Price as originating from Jersey Shore, PA. They are Company A, of the 34th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. As it turns out, shortly after [...]

Hey guys in the final stages of completing my letter project. Feel like I have researched all that I can on the matter. Have a good amount of information this Lemuel Terrel or Lemuel Terrell character. Some of the other content within the letter was a little more difficult to look up and find. But [...]

I went to the Archives the other day and got a tremendous amount of help on the last few remaining words I couldnt figure out. I also found out the archives has a few pamphlets on sample writing from the 19th century that would have been a good help earlier in my transcribing but oh [...]

Is it okay if I include 2-4 paragraphs on people I found a lot of info on (Slifer, Curtin, Todd)?? Not a bad question, Brad. Answer, remember what your mission is. It is to bring the letter to life, not write long biographies. All these need solid descriptions but remember what Butterfield said about selection. [...]

Well I have finally been able to track down this Lemuel Terrell character. However, I have stumbled upon something very interesting in my research. While looking for him which has taken me about 5 days and with help from Mrs. Bombaro and Jim from the Archives I have discovered that Lemuel Terrell, which is what [...]

A reinforcement concerning strengths and weaknesses of Wikipedia, even as “just a starting point.”

Hi guys, I found a great deal of info on Gov. Curtain (thanks for the tips Brian), and a sufficient amount on Lemuel Todd.  I was able to find Capt. Wilson’s position and a little about his work at the barracks, but that was it.  I looked through all the records pertaining to the barracks [...]

Just a reminder of how the course outline reads for next Monday’s class. THE EVIDENCE Present & discuss biographical project results: Completed Letter Editing assignment due Completed Bibliography due Good luck everyone on the final push on these first projects.

The most prominent topics from my letter that I have been researching so far are the author of the letter – S.W. Price, Camp Scott, and Camp Curtin. Research on Price has been tedious so far, but I have learned that he was the pastor at the United Methodist Church in Jersey Shore, PA from [...]

Turns out my author’s name is David A. FREY and not FRYE. Took me about five minutes to then locate him on ancestry, where in the 1880 census it says right next to his name: Editor. For awhile I even had doubts about his newspaper’s existance or relevance, but it turns out his newspaper ran [...]

Williamsport – December 1, 1862 I wrote some 8 or 10 days ago to Gov. Curtain concerning a commission of 2 (?) for my son, he he served a commission from Gen. McClellam on the 4th of July for Company K 5 Pennsylvania Reserve Corp. which was vacant and he has been acting in that [...]

I was able to find the author of my letter, Charles Woods on ancestry.com. The information he wrote in the letter regarding his father and his father’s hometown matched up to a Charles Woods in the 1880 U.S. Census. It has still been hard to find much of any other kind of information on Charles Woods. [...]

Those of you who trying to blog and trying to make some progress on your transcription and not doing TOO badly. Looking at the sample edited letter will remind you that the transcription is just the first stage and that much needs to go into these footnotes. And it needs to be substantiated information, as [...]

Here is a copy of my letter so far: From Charles Woods signed on May 19, 1863, requesting a transfer from his position at Chesapeake General Hospital to a position in a northern hospital. Chesapeake Genl Hospital To the Hon. Eli Slifer Sir, I have the honor to express my thanks for the favor granted [...]

Hello all. Hope all is well and that the letters are going well. Still trying to track down this Lemuel Terrell character. Working on how to find more information on him. Getting plenty of information on Governor Curtin. Actually there is no place I haven’t looked that hasn’t given me information on him, whether that [...]

I finished transcribing the letter and I found some info on the guy who wrote it and the guy it was written about.  Here is the complete transcription: The following is a letter from former Pennsylvania  Republican Representative Lemuel Todd, who served from 1855-1857 and from 1873-1875 to Eli Slifer, Secretary to the Republican Governor [...]

In searching databases for my primary sources, and especially ancestry.com, ive been able to find a good amount of context to give me some clues as to the content of my letter. Ive yet to piece them all together but I had been picking out familiar names in some of the old regiment lists off of ancestry.com [...]

Hey guys hope you all are having a great weekend. I have been able to find a great amount of information on Andrew Gregg Curtin the Governor of Pennsylvania during the Civil War. However, the gentleman who wrote him the letter I am researching is becoming quite difficult to find. I have tried looking him [...]

Lang Wister Camp Pierfort Jan 20 1862 To Eli Slifer Dear Sir, Since I have last had the pleasure of seeing you, we have had a great deal of trouble in our regiment. Most of which has arisen, or may I say all, through acts of Lieutenant Col Race? Then the regiment was under Col [...]

(private) Sunday July 17, 1854 __________ I (received?) your kind letter a few days ago, but have been prevented by the hours of ___________ from replying on an earlier day.  My position in relation in relation to the gubernatorial question is this, I am not a candidate for nomination, nor do I intend to be, [...]

A word of advice from someone who has seen it before….if you all don’t start blogging and keeping up with other 204 requirements, the next lecture Osborne gives you about academic responsibility and being thorough and intellectually curious won’t be quite as low-key as the one you got this week. In fact, it will be [...]

Rev. S.W. Price May/61 Jersey Shore, Pa May 8th, 1861 Hon. Eli K. Slifer, Dear Sir; – Having learned that the control of the Northern Central Railway was to a great extent under the State; I write you asking the favor of a renewal of the (illegible) Clergyman’s ticket. By granting it you will greatly [...]

One of the topics that I came up with from my letter was that of Camp Scott, a Union training camp for soldiers that was located on the fair grounds in York, Pa. As a resident of York County, I found this to be an enticing topic. In the library I found a multi-volume work [...]

The bibliography went fairly smooth for me although I cant say how well I did till we get to class. I did also have trouble finding some book reviews so I just went online and searched for some. Whilst doing the research for the bibliography, I found a neatly transcribed battle report from the subject [...]