Category: Uncategorized Page 4 of 6

By Amanda Donoghue

For part two of my historical newspaper hunt, I journeyed to the Cumberland County Historical Society to read through the newspapers from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. This process would be a little different than the previous, as it required reading through newspapers on microfilm instead of searching digital articles in online databases. No key words, no search filters, just me, three hours, and a few hundred newspaper articles. In short, it would be about 50 billion times more exhausting and time-consuming.

I expected to be faced with the mysterious beast of microfilm, but I was handed 5 CD’s when I asked to look through the Carlisle Indian School newspapers. So, I sat down at one of the CCHS computers and loaded the PDF’s up one by one.

Luckily, I did have a slight point of reference, as I knew the time period that Lippincott was most heavily involved with the Carlisle Indian School. It was still a period of about 9 years, but that’s better than searching through the 39 years of the school’s existence. I also had a few specific articles that I found from the footnotes of secondary sources I found on Lippincott. I was most interested in finding an article written by Lippincott himself about his journey to the West where he recruited a few dozen students himself. However, I would still be happy to find any mention of him, as anything to help me visualize his experience, influence, and image at the school would be very helpful for my project.

I started at the beginning, searching through the first newspaper published by the school, Eadle Keatah Toh (this translates to The Morning Star, but it should not be confused with The Morning Star a later publication produced by the school). The amount of reading to do was overwhelming. I decided to do some hard-core skimming, quickly scrolling from page to page, only stopping when I saw “Lippincott.” I recognized that I may be missing some relevant articles that just happened to not mention the professor’s name, but I figured that once I had a better understanding of his involvement and could target my focus to specific dates, I would go back and read through more thoroughly. One of the most difficult yet important things to learn about the research process is how to do it quickly and efficiently, and I’m still in the process of trying to work out that balance.

Another difficulty I experienced with this type of research is the lack of organization that requires a lot more leg work. Each CD (5 in total) would have about 10-20 PDF files that each contained a number of newspapers that would usually span about a year and a half. However, they were not in any chronological order, so I had to literally scroll through every single file that contained over a year’s worth of newspapers to find maybe one or two per file that were relevant to my search. I was actually kicked out of the archives due to closing time before I was even able to finish, so my findings below only cover about half of the total newspapers on all of the CD’s, and those CD’s don’t even contain all of the newspapers from the Carlisle Indian School.

In spite of all of this exhaustion, I actually had fun reading through the papers, even the ones that weren’t relevant. One of my favorite finds was a short letter written by a student to the superintendent of the school, Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Regretfully, I didn’t save the excerpt, but in essence, the student, Conrad, was requesting a change of the name chosen for him (every student got new Anglo-Saxon names to replace their Native names) due to the fact that all of the other students called him Corn Head. In part, this is a sad story of a Native child being stripped of his culture, even down to his name, and forced to assimilate to a culture in which he did not belong. However, the language of the letter was so simple and the problem so small that it really reminded me how young these students were. They were people too, children who had toys and missed their parents and called each other Corn Head. I also can’t think of a cuter nickname for someone than Corn Head. I’m not sure if this article would be something that I could use in my final project, but it showed me that the student newspapers were an excellent source to find writing by the students themselves that can bring life to the digital exhibit that I will create.

In terms of the actually relevant discoveries, I found quite a bit. Two short pieces from the Eadle Keatah Toh in January 1881[1] and March 1883[2] reported the death of a few students and mentioned that Lippincott conducted their funerals. These pieces weren’t exceptionally interesting, but they do provide some nice framework into the sort of involvement that Lippincott had at the school. They could be useful as I create my digital timeline of Lippincott’s involvement with the Carlisle Indian School, as they are small moments in time that speak to the sort of connection that Lippincott had  with the school and its students.

Another piece I found, under the “Monthly Home Letters” section of the February 1882 edition of the Eadle Keatah Toh[3] is a short letter written by a student to his family and friends back home. It describes the sermon they received at Church the previous Sunday from Lippincott, and a short but sweet interaction between the Professor and the students. Obviously, this newspaper was heavily censored, as it was published by the administration of the school, so it must be called in to question whether the students truly felt this way towards Lippincott, but it does shed more light on Lippincott’s involvement and the ways in which he interacted with the students.

The most exciting find was the article I was hoping to find from the beginning: a lengthy front-page article in The Morning Star of a letter written by Lippincott himself to Pratt about his recruitment of 51 students from various tribes in Kansas in September of 1882.[4] There were a few interesting pieces from this letter, including several small anecdotes where Lippincott, who is essentially forcing Native parents to give up their children and possibly never see them again, shows a surprising amount of care and empathy for the children. Even though physicians advised the professor to not accept a young boy who actually wanted to join the school due to an illness—potentially consumption—he still brought him because “sentiment and humanity protest against separating the boy from his sisters” (1:2). However, a strong racist sentiment was still apparent where Lippincott refers to two girls with one Native parent and one white parent as “half breeds” (1:3).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this article, with Lippincott’s combination of empathy and kindness but also extreme racism towards and patronization of the Natives, to be fascinating. They really force me as a historian to practice empathy, as it’s hard to view what Lippincott does as acts of kindness, although that is how he sees it. It would be interesting to contrast this work (along with the article on the Carlisle Indian School written by Lippincott) with the writings of Native teacher at the school Zitkala Ša, who strongly condemned the school.

Furthermore, at the end of the letter, Lippincott lists the names of all the students he ended up bringing to the school. This provides me with the extremely exciting opportunity to possibly find these students and frame my project around them. I’ve done a quick search of their names in the “Student Record” portion of the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, with no results, but I plan to reach out to other sources, such as Barbara Landis, who has conducted a lot of research in identifying the students of the Carlisle Indian School, to continue my research.

[1] “Died,” Eadle Keatah Toh, (Carlisle, PA), Jan. 1881.

[2] “Died,” Eadle Keatah Toh, (Carlisle, PA), March 1883.

[3] “Monthly Home Letters,” Eadle Keatah Toh, (Carlisle, PA), Feb. 1882.

[4] “Dr. Lippincott’s Report,” The Morning Star, (Carlisle, PA), September 1882.

Although I have already done newspaper research for a previous research journal, I made a series of silly mistakes that could have been rather easily avoided.  Furthermore, it seems like newspaper articles could prove to be rather useful to learn more about the Dickinson College class of 1860 because they are primary documents and can explain how the public felt about the members of the class and what their accomplishments were.  With this in mind, I decided to delve into newspaper databases once again to learn more.

As described in my previous newspaper-related research journal, I originally had to learn how to use newspaper databases before I could begin learning new information about the class of 1860.  None were particularly challenging, but it did take a little time to get the hang of it.  This time around, this roadblock was no longer an issue because I already had experience working with newspaper databases.

I went to PA Civil War Newspaper Collection first because I had success using this database beforehand and found it easy to use.  On this database, I found an article about an escape from Libby Prison in February of 1864.  Clarence G Jackson, a Union officer from the class of 1860, was a prisoner at Libby Prison and participated in this bold escape.  The article details the arduous and long process that the prisoners undertook to dig their escape tunnel.  It also describes the process in which they scattered after getting out of the prison to avoid detection, and it points out that sympathetic black people helped the escapees by giving them food and information.

The article was in The Alleghanian, a Republican newspaper from Ebensberg, Pennsylvania.  As a Republican and Northern newspaper, they may have romanticized the escape somewhat by using words like “daring” and by portraying the escapees as heroic.  The article goes as far as to say the escape was more like a “romance of the middle ages” than an actual event.  The article likely would have been written in a much different tone had it been about Confederates escaping from a Northern prison.

I had previously found a book, Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison, about this exact event and the prison itself for my annotated bibliography, so it was great to find a newspaper article about it as well to learn more and help get more information on the brave escape from one of the South’s worst prisons.  It will also be interesting to compare the short newspaper article to Joseph Wheelan’s book to put each source into context.

More than just online databases, I looked for different avenues to find 19th century newspapers.  I went to both the Dickinson Archives and Special Collections, and the Cumberland Country Historical Society to find articles about the class’ commencement, which was held on July 12th, 1860.

At Dickinson Archives and Special Collections, I worked with Malinda Triller-Doran, the Special Collections Librarian, to find a truly remarkable article from the New-York Daily Tribune, published July 24th, 1860.  The article starts at the bottom of one column and rolls over to the top of the other one, so it requires two pictures: part one and part two. The article, “Pro-Slaveryism at Dickinson College,” is about a Dickinson alumni, George A Coffey’s, speech given at commencement that year.  Coffey’s speech started off by saying that freedom is a right and that “without it civilization must die.”  However, the speech took a turn when he says that Americans do not fulfill their principles of liberty and equality because of the four million slaves in the United States at that time.  This stance made people in the crowd, including multiple clergymen, very unhappy.  They hissed at Coffey while he was giving his speech, and eventually, several Methodist Ministers, a Presbyterian pastor, and some of their followers simply walked out because they were so angry.

While I found this to be interesting, the college’s response disappointed me as a Dickinson student.  The article reported that no one from the college congratulated Coffey on his speech, and that the Board of Trustees held a meeting in response to it.  The meeting was private, but it was thought that the Trustees decided that they needed to be more careful about selecting their speakers and that they would never again invite an “anti-slaveryite” to speak at commencement.  Furthermore, the article states most of the faculty and trustees have always been either pro-slavery or “conservative” on the matter.  It does make some sense that the college would not have strong anti-slavery views as it is near the border of Maryland and had many students from Maryland and Virginia, but the article was still very surprising to me, and it is key to understanding Dickinson’s stance on slavery mere months before the Civil War began.

With that being said, it is worth noting that the New-York Daily Tribune was affiliated with the Whig and later Republican parties.  Its founder and editor, Horace Greeley, was so politically inclined that he actually ran for president in 1872.  Before the Civil War, Greeley was very against slavery, so it is possible that Greeley and The Tribune exaggerated or spun the story to make Dickinson College look bad for reacting negatively to Coffey’s speech in order to further their own cause.

After seeing this illuminating article, I went to the Cumberland County Historical Society to look at microfilm from local Carlisle newspapers to see how they reported on commencement.  Specifically, I was interested to see what, if anything, they said about Coffey’s speech and the college’s reaction to it.  When I arrived, Robert Schwartz, their Archives & Library Research Specialist, pulled microfilm from The Carlisle Herald and showed me how to use a microfilm reader.  Though I had always heard bad things about microfilm and that it was painfully slow to use, I found what I was looking for in a few minutes and found it to be pretty easy.  However, I think this is likely because I knew the date of the graduation already.

Originally, I found a lengthy article about commencement written just one day after the event that spanned four columns.  This article briefly summarized a series of speeches given, the anniversary events of the Belles Lettres Society and the Union Philosophical Society, and gave a list of the graduates, as well as those receiving honorary degrees.  Interestingly, it is repeatedly mentioned that there were many “ladies” at the multiple events surrounding commencement, which surprised me because women were not allowed to attend Dickinson at this time.  I would have to assume that these “ladies” were either family from the students’ hometowns or from Carlisle and looking for a potential husband.

Also, George Baylor’s speech at the Union Philosophical Society anniversary event stuck out to me.  Baylor was a graduating student and would later become a highly successful cavalry officer for the Confederate Army, but the speech he gave was on the importance of poetry and its role in “dispersing the ignorance.”  It just a little odd to me because poetry is not something one would typically associate with a soldier.  It helped to humanize him, and other Civil War soldiers, because it made me realize that all the soldiers in the war were real people with real lives and interests outside of the military.

Most importantly, the article mentioned Coffey’s speech and the  Board of Trustees.  The Herald’s reaction was much different than that of the New-York Daily Tribune.  Rather than praising Coffey and condemning those that walked out during the speech, The Herald suggests that divisive topics like slavery should not be talked about at public places like a commencement where people that disagree are likely to become offended and angry.  These people “have a right to expect” that they can attend a commencement “without the discussion of bitter vested questions.”

The article also mentioned that at a meeting of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Collins’ resignation was discussed, and that the paper hoped to receive a copy of what was said next week.  Reading this, I decided to see if they had an article about it in the issue next Friday.  Sure enough, there was an article about Dr. Collins, who was President, resigning to live in the South and work for another college.  The article has a copy of student resolutions, including that Collins was a “Christian gentleman,” a great president, and that he was a true friend.  It seemed as though the student body deeply respected Collins and were sad to see him go.

There was no indication that at the Trustees’ meeting they discussed Coffey’s speech or that they did not want another anti-slavery speaker at a future commencement.  Though The Carlisle Herald did say that they thought the speech was inappropriate, they did not include that anyone walked out or that the Trustees did not approve.  While both accounts made it seem that the overall reaction to Coffey’s speech was negative, it was interesting to see the difference between how mild the Carlisle newspaper was and how extreme the The New-York Daily Tribune was.

Finally, The Carlisle Herald had another article about commencement in the same issue with the article about Collins’ resignation.  The article praised “Old Dickinson” throughout and thought that the graduation was one of the best in the college’s history.  It goes as far as to say that the college had never been better, and that those that tried to defame it were simply wrong.  Though The Tribune’s article was not about the commencement as a whole or the state of the college, it was interesting to see The Herald praise the college after reading The Tribune write negatively about the faculty and Board of Trustees.

It was great to find more newspaper articles about the class of 1860, and I am very glad that I did it.  I was shocked to find the New-York Daily Tribune’s article, but after finding The Carlisle Herald’s article, I am not sure how true their claims are.  Or maybe they are true but, The Herald simply wanted to make the commencement look better than it was.  I would assume that the true story of the reaction to Coffey’s speech was somewhere in the middle of the two article’s stories.  I am also happy to have used microfilm for the first time and that it was much easier than I expected.

Newspaper Article Citations

“Commencement Exercises at Dickinson College.”  The Carlisle Herald, July 13, 1860.  1:2-5. [Cumberland Country Historical Society]

“Daring Escape of Union Soldiers from Libby Prison.” The Alleghanian, February 25, 1864. 2:2. [PA Civil War Newspapers Collection]

“Pro-Slaveryism at Dickinson College.” New-York Daily-Tribune, July 24, 1860. 7:4/5. [Dickinson Archives and Special Collections]

“Resignation of Dr. Collins.” The Carlisle Herald, July 20, 1860.  2:5/6. [Cumberland Country Historical Society]

Untitled. The Carlisle Herald, July 20, 1860.  2:5. [Cumberland Country Historical Society]

Preface

This journal entry is based around the life of Charles Albright. Below are eight sources that provide more context into the world that Albright lived in. The topics that are brought up in this bibliography range from life at Dickinson College to The Battle of Chancellorsville with many stops in-between. The main reasoning behind the picking of these particular books and articles stemmed from the desire to learn more about Albrights life. Charles Albright, Dickinson Class of 1852, lived a very full and prosperous life. He served in the Union Army and directly afterwards spent time in the United States Congress. Albright is, by far, the most well renowned member of the Class of 1852 which is why I decided to focus my attention on him.

Cresswell, Stephen. “Enforcing the Enforcement Acts: The Department of Justice in Northern Mississippi, 1870-1890.” The Journal of Southern History 53.3 (1987): 421-40. Web. [Jstor]

This book by Stephen Cresswell describes the Enforcement Acts that were put into place during the late 19^th century. As Cresswell writes, this acts served the purpose of enforcing voting rights for minorities, especially black Americans. During this time period, organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were doing almost all they could do to restrict and stop voting rights for the people who they saw as inferior, their former slaves and subjects, African Americans. The third of these Enforcement Acts was passed through Congress in 1871. At this time Charles Albright was serving in Congress so he would have voted on this act. Based on his party affiliation, as well as previous political issues, it is clear that Albright would vote for the passing of this act. Dickinson graduate Albright helped the United States Congress move towards ending discrimination in the Antebellum South.

Fehrenbacher, Don E. “The Making Of A Myth: Lincoln And The Vice-Presidential Nomination In 1864.” Civil War History 41.(1995): 273-290. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 10 Oct. 2016. [Jumpstart].

Charles Albright served as a delegate for the Republican National Convention, and this book by Don Fehrenbacher describes the process that was nominating Abraham Lincoln as president. Although the time periods are slightly off, Albright helped Lincoln get elected the first time and time book focuses on his reelection, this book still provides amazing insight into the process of nominating a presidential and in particular a vice-presidential candidate at this time. As Fehrenbacher states, all of the “delegates arrived fully expecting to re-nominate Abraham Lincoln without any trouble, but the vice presidency was a different matter” (Fehrenbacher 274). This paper then goes on to fully describe the process that the committee took leading up to nominating Andrew Johnson for Vice President.

Friedman, Milton. “The Crime Of 1873.” Journal Of Political Economy 98.6 (1990): 1157. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. [Jstor].

Another act that was passed during this time period was the Coinage Act of 1873. This acted transformed the United States away from bimetallism towards a completely gold standard. This means that the worth of one U.S. dollar was solely measured in its value of gold at any said time. This act however, was not greeted as favorably by some people in America. As Milton Friedman points out, “this paper indicates that it was the opposite – a mistake that had highly adverse consequences” (Friedman 1159). This act was so negatively favored that it was coined as “The Crime of 1873”. Throughout this paper Friedman goes on to describe the background leading up to this act as well as any negative consequences he could find including economic and social turmoil. Albright was also in congress during this period. It would be very interesting to find out what his stance on this debate was and whether or not he advocated for this “crime”  or tried to stop it from happening.

Hitchcock, Frederick L. War From The Inside : The Story Of The 132Nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry In The War For The Suppression Of The Rebellion, 1862-1863. n.p.: Philadelphia : Press of J.B. Lippincott Co., 1904., 1904. Dickinson College Library Catalog.

This source is not a secondary source however; it is extremely relevant to Charles Albrights life. This book is a memoir to the 132^nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, written by one of the soldiers that experienced, firsthand, what Albright did. In fact, the chapters that reflect upon the Battle of Chancellorsville reference Albright directly. This book is a very valuable resource as it recounts Colonel Albrights exact movements throughout the Battle of Chancellorsville. This is also a unique resource because it is a reference of what into Albright experienced throughout the war. When making a bibliography about Albrights life this source will be perfect for recounting his exact movements throughout the Civil War. This source is also an important one in terms of this regiment.  In a war as big as the American Civil War it can be hard to pinpoint exact movements and subsequent actions and consequences but this book makes it all possible, at least for the 132^nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Palladino, Grace. Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1840-1868. Fordham UP, 2006. Web. [Jstor].

This book, written by Grace Palladino, focuses on politics that Albright was involved with as well, but this time at a more local level. She is writing about another civil war that she is predicting to take place in Pennsylvania due to controversial conflict and subsequent death sentences, ending in 10 people hanging from the gallows. This paper also voices miners and other people affected by mining opinions about the draft for the civil war. Apparently there was “a force of five thousand miners were armed and in league ready to resist the draft” (Palladino 3). Adding this source to the bibliography creates more layers of political involvement for Albright as he was a volunteer in the Union Army.  Alright was also from said area of Pennsylvania.

Rawley, James A. “The General Amnesty Act of 1872: A Note.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 47.3 (1960): 480-84. Web. [Jstor].

This six-page paper, written by James A. Rawley, describes another act passed through Congress at this time period. This act was another step taken by the United States government to aid the process of post-Civil War reconstruction. The purpose of this act was to rid the punishment set in place that punished soldiers of the confederate army, save about 500 military leaders. Before this act people who sided with the Confederacy were not able to vote “for Representatives in Congress and for electors for President and Vice President of the United States” (Rawley 480). The Congress had the roll of deciding which member of the Confederacy would still not be allowed to vote after this act was in place. Once again Charles Albright was in congress when this act was passed.

Sellers, Charles Coleman. Dickinson College. [Electronic Resource] : A History / Charles Coleman Sellers. n.p.: [Carlisle, Pa.] : [Dickinson College], [2000], 2000. Dickinson College Library Catalog. Web. 8 Oct. 2016. [Jstor].

This book, Dickinson College, is known as the most scholarly book published about Dickinson College. Sellers focuses on the history of the school dating all the way back until 1773, when the land was first acquired.  The last chapter talks about the school during the 20^th century, nearly 200 years since these school was founded. While providing major historical context, this book has a general focus of the 19^th century, the time period in which Albright went to school. Dickinson College is a great resource when focusing, not only on Charles Albright, but also any graduate, class or time period.

 

 

 

I set out on this annotated bibliography with two ideas of a final project in mind.  First, I want to examine the United States Postal Service in the 19^th Century and early 20^th Century because I have two Postmaster Generals in my designated Dickinson College class of 1848.  They are John Andrew Jackson Creswell and James William Marshall, and served consecutively in President Grant’s Cabinet.  Second, I want to research James Bernard Hank, another graduate from 1848 who was a surgeon for the Russian Army during the Crimean War.  Hank died in 1859, three years after the war ended, and it was possible that he died of one of the many illnesses that plagued the armies involved in that war.  Unfortunately, it is too early to finalize my decision as to which topic I will write about for my final project, so this annotated bibliography has sources for both sources.

Articles:

Dvoichenko-Markov, Eufrosina. “Americans in the Crimean War” The Russian Review. 13, 2 (1954): 137-145. [JSTOR]

This article examined the antebellum amicability between Russia and the United States, and the possibility of an alliance during the Crimean War had the United States revoked its neutrality.  However, the article also analyzed the American surgeons who served in the Russian Army, most of whom eventually died from diseases like cholera and smallpox.  The author, was a scholar of American-Russian relations.  Her bias, as a Russian living in the United States during the Cold War might have been to show that various Americans, alluding to the surgeons in the Crimean War, have supported Russia even when the US government unofficially supports Russia’s adversary, or remains neutral.

House, Albert V. Jr. “President Hayes’ Selection of David M. Key for Postmaster General” The Journal of Southern History. 4, 1 (1938): 87-93. [JSTOR]

This article examined the process surrounding Rutherford B. Hayes’ nomination of David Key to Postmaster General.  The article dug deeper into the reasons why having a Southern Democrat, from Tennessee, would be fruitful to show unity between the North and South after the Civil War.  This source might be very bias towards the South.  I had the impression, after reading, that this celebrated the fact that a Southern Democrat was nominated to the cabinet of a Republican President.

Miller, Byron S. “Parties. Judicial Control over Executive. Postmaster General as Indispensable Party in Suit Against Local Postmaster” The University of Chicago Law Review. 4, 2 (1937): 342-343. [JSTOR]

This article reviewed the legal aspect of postal fraud.  Specifically, it examined the inconsistencies and lack of communication between the Postmaster General and local regional postmasters.  Byron S. Miller was the editor in chief for the law review from 1936-1937, so I put him as the author, because I could not determine who out of the other authors of the law review wrote this specific article.  The University of Chicago Law School was a prestigious law school (and still is), so I trust this law review’s interpretation of such high profile cases involving federal government employees and institutions.  I could not see any bias in the article.

Osborne, John M., and Christine Bombaro. “Forgotten Abolitionist: John A.J. Creswell of Maryland” House Divided Project at Dickinson College. (2015): 1-69. [United States History Commons]

This article was an examination of John Creswell’s life.  The portion of the article I was most concerned with was his time serving as Postmaster General, where the authors discussed his abolition of inefficiency in the United States Postal Service.  Osborne and Bombaro were employees at Dickinson College, with Osborne being an associate professor and co-founder of the House Divided Project and Bombaro serving as a librarian.  Their bias might be over-praise for John Creswell and his achievements, since he graduated from the authors’ institution of employment.

Pearce, Robert L. “War and Medicine in the Nineteenth Century” Australian Defense Force Health. 3, (2002), 88-92. [Department of Defense]

The Crimean War section of this article examined the British and French disregard towards that war, as well as health issues for soldiers and personnel in those armies.  Lieutenant Colonel Robert Pearce appeared to be very educated in the field of battlefield medicine and battle tactics.  In addition to his military rank, he was a plastic surgeon.  It would be easy to assume his bias towards the British army, especially since Australia was a former colony of Great Britain, but after reading the article, Lt. Colonel Pearce attacked the British and French armies for their unpreparedness and inability to avoid illnesses during the Crimean War.

 

Books:

Gallagher, Winifred. How the Post Office Created America: A History. New York: Penguin Press, 2016. [Google Books]

This book explained the importance of the Post Office in the United States’ national identity.  The book chronologically examined the evolution of the Post Office and how it became the largest bureaucratic organization during the 19^th century.  This book did not have any bias, instead it was a level-headed analysis of the United States Postal Service.

John, Richard R. Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998. [Harvard University Press]

This book also showed the evolution of the Post Office and its importance as a bureaucratic agency.  However, in addition, John explained how the Post Office was a unifying force in such a diverse country.  I did not notice any bias in this book.

McCallum, Jack E. Military Medicine from Ancient Times to 21^st Century. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2008. [Google Books]

This book examined the evolution of battlefield medical practices up to the present day.  Where the book discussed about the Crimean War, McCallum analyzed the deadliness of the infections endured by soldiers and the lack of communication within the armies to properly treat those infections.  I did not notice any bias in the book, rather a detailed overview of every era of history to examine its usefulness of military medicine.

Nightingale, Florence “I Have Done My Duty” Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War 1854-1856. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987. [Google Books]

This book examined Nightingale’s service in the Crimean War.  It gave some insight of battlefield medical practices in the Crimean War from one of the most well-known nurses from the war.  I did notice a little positive bias in this book directed at the British and French alliance.

Greg Parker

Preface

This research journal is centered on two topics: Civil War medicine and American and Western involvement in China and the Far East during the 19th century, with a focus on the role of missionaries. These topics are connected to my class through Thomas McFadden, a surgeon during the Civil War, and Robert Maclay, a prominent Methodist missionary in China, Japan, and Korea in the mid 1800s. For both topics I tried to find both recent and older sources in order to see whether or not historians’ view of the topic has changed with time. For the former I had some difficulty finding books specific to missionaries so I searched more broadly for books dealing with Western imperialism in China and the Far East. Although these don’t provide much (if any) information about missionaries they do provide information about the larger political context in the region during the 19th century.

Journals

Flannery, Michael A. “Civil War Medicine: Approaches for Teaching.” OAH Magazine of History 19.5 (2005): 41-43. [JSTOR]

Michael Flannery is a professor of history at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a member of the Academie internationale d’histoire de la pharmacie who has written extensively about medical history. This short article offers teachers advice on how to teach Civil War medicine to their students. The emphasis of the article in on the effects of illness and disease on the armies. Flannery also lists sources teachers should look at to find more information.

Hamilton, Marsha J. “MERCURY AND WATER: TWO CIVIL WAR SURGEONS OF THE 148TH PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS.” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 75.4 (2008): 467-504. [JSTOR]

Marsha J. Hamilton is Professor Emeritus (retired) at The Ohio State University. She worked in the University Libraries. The article focuses on how the Union army went about recruiting surgeons to serve. There is also some discussion of the two schools of medicine prominent during this time period. The article is structured around the stories of two surgeons in the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Dr. Uriah Davis and Dr. Alfred Hamilton, which provides a personal viewpoint to the topic. Hamilton uses a mixture of both primary and secondary sources for the article, including some of the letters and personal papers of Dr. Hamilton.

Lazich, Michael C. “American Missionaries and the Opium Trade in Nineteenth-Century China.” Journal of World History 17.2 (2006): 197-223. [JSTOR]

Michael Lazich is a professor of history at SUNY Buffalo specializing in East and Southeast Asian history. The article focuses on how American Missionaries responded to the opium trade in China and the role they played in shaping US policy around it. Lazich also discusses how the views of both the missionaries and the American government towards opium changed over time. Lazich relies on both primary and secondary sources for his information.

Shryock, Richard H. “A Medical Perspective on the Civil War.” American Quarterly 14.2 (1962): 161-73. [JSTOR]

Richard Shryock was a professor of history at Penn. He specialized in medical history and played a large role in professionalizing the field. This article, written before the medical history had become a widely studied field, explores the medical side of the Civil War. The article provides a good overview of the medical aspect of the conflict and discusses how the wounds of soldiers on both sides of the conflict were treated. Shryock almost exclusively uses secondary sources for his information.

Books

Bickers, Robert A. The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing Empire, 1832-1914. London: Allen Lane, 2011. [Google Books]

Robert Bickers is a professor at the University of Bristol specializing in modern Chinese history and the history of colonialism. He has written multiple books on Western imperialism in China. This book describes how the Western powers went about imperializing China and shows what it was like to be in China during this period. Bickers also discusses the effects Western imperialism had on both the Chinese and the Westerners. Although the focuses moreso on European rather than American imperialism, the book does a good job of providing context about what was happening on a larger scale while the missionaries were working on a more personal level with the Chinese. Google Books does not have the full text.

Bollet, Alfred J. Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs. Tucson, AZ: Galen, 2002. [Library Catalog]

Dr. Alfred Bollet is a professor of medicine at Yale who has written extensively about medicine during the Civil War. This book reexamines the beliefs held by scholars and the general public alike and uses both primary and secondary sources to explain why the majority of these beliefs are false and show that medicine and health care during the Civil War was in fact quite good. Through the use of anecdotes Bollet also helps his readers understand what day to day life was like for both the doctors and their patients during the conflict.

Flynt, Wayne, and Gerald W. Berkley. Taking Christianity to China: Alabama Missionaries in the Middle Kingdom, 1850-1950. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama, 1997. [Google Books]

Wayne Flynt is a professor emeritus of history at Auburn University who specializes in Southern culture and religion. He has written numerous books and one is one of the most prominent and widely recognized scholar of the South. Gerald Berkley is a former professor of history and director of the East Asian studies department at the University of Guam. He has published multiple articles as well as book concerning East Asia. This book describes focuses on the experiences of Alabama missionaries in China during the mid 19th century and discusses the views and attitudes of the missionaries and how these changed over time. Although the scope of the work is a little limited it still provides valuable information about the missionary experience in China.

McOmie, William. “The Opening Of Japan, 1853-1855: A Comparative Study Of The American, British, Dutch And Russian Naval Expeditions To Compel The Tokugawa Shogunate To Conclude Treaties And Open Ports To Their Ships.” n.p.: Global Oriental, 2006. Africa-Wide Information. [Library Catalog]

William McOmie is an associate professor of foreign languages at Kanagawa University in Japan. While working on this book he was a visiting professor at the Center for Japanese studies at UC Berkley. This book provides an in depth overview of the Western attempts to “open up” Japan to western ships and business. While McOmie does not focus on missionaries the book is useful for understanding the context and political climate in Japan during the time period.

The focus for this assignment is the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. The following list is a collection of academic sources both centering specifically on the school itself as well as broader sources that provide contextual information about Native American off-reservation boarding schools in general. In finding these sources, I had the following goals: 1) to gain a broad understanding of the nature, purpose, and scope of these schools in America; 2) to gain an in-depth understanding of the methods and processes used by the administration of the schools and Carlisle’s school in particular; 3) to understand the experience of the Native students in the Carlisle Indian School; and 4) to learn of the legacy these schools (and the Carlisle school in particular) and the different perspectives that historians have on them today.

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Books:

Adams, David W. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995.

This text, written by David Adams, a professor of education at Cleveland State University, is a survey of the history of off-reservation boarding schools for Native Americans and an analysis of their purpose of Native assimilation to white American society. While this text does spend time discussing the Carlisle Indian School, it also provides information on other similar schools, thus providing the ability to compare the similarities and differences of these schools all across the country. As can be seen from the title, Adams takes a strong stance in his writing that these schools and those in charge of them ultimately performed cultural genocide against Native Americans through specific methods of forced assimilation of their students. However, Adams also presents various modes of resistance among the students, both while in school and after graduation, showing that they were not passive victims in the assimilation. To prove his argument and present his analysis, Adams utilizes autobiographies of both teachers and students of the schools, as well as school and county newspapers.

Churchill, Ward. Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers, 2004.

Churchill, a renowned scholar of Native American history and professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado, explores the impact that Native American boarding schools had on Native Americans. In this book, Churchill argues that these schools should be examined within the larger context of the genocide waged against Native Americans by the US government and that they should not be viewed as merely an effort to force assimilation but to attack the culture and population of Indigenous groups. He examines the magnitude of negative effects of the schools such as alcoholism, suicides, and tribal dissolution. While Churchill does wholly devote his book to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, his text provides an opportunity to compare the impact that the school in Carlisle had on its students to the effects that are described in the book, and possibly provide new evidence to either support or counter his argument.

Fear-Segal, Jacqueline and Susan D. Rose, eds. Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous Histories, Memories, & Reclamations. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016.

This brand new book approaches the discussion of off-reservation Native American boarding schools in an entirely unique way. Specifically examining the Carlisle Indian School, the editors combine a collection of brand new research on the school with speeches, pictures, and poetry about the school from descendants of students and Native activists. This unique collaboration between scholars and non-academic Natives provides new perspectives and insight into what the experience at the Carlisle Indian School was like for the students as well as its legacy today.

Mauro, Hayes P. The Art of Americanization at the Carlisle Indian School. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2011.

This text focuses on the process of assimilating the Native students, described by Mauro as “Americanization,” at the Carlisle Indian School through an analysis of visual evidence left behind from the school. Mauro argues that the use of pseudo scientific ideas and social Darwinism was extremely important in the justification of the school’s existence as well as the development of the methods of “Americanization.” Mauro provides an interesting and unique argument in this text, presenting ideas that most other scholars of Native American off-reservation boarding schools do not focus on or even mention at all. Through the use of pictures and imagery, uncommon but extremely useful sources, he creates a connection with the students and sheds new insight on their experiences.

Walker-McNeil, Pearl L. The Carlisle Indian School: A Study of Acculturation. Washington, D.C.: The American University Press, 1979.

This dissertation by Pearl Lee Walker-McNeil, a PhD student in Anthropology at American University, provides a unique argument on the Carlisle Indian School’s “Outing System” and its effect on the strength of the assimilation of the students. Although the text is dated, its focus on primary sources from the school and Richard Henry Pratt, the school’s founder, as well as its unique argument and perspective give it some reliability and possibly value for research on the school.

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 Articles:

Bess, Jennifer Caroline. “Casting a Spell: Acts of Cultural Continuity in Carlisle Indian Industrial School’s the Red Man and Helper.” Wicazo Sa Review 2 (2011): 13-38. Accessed October 5, 2016. [Project MUSE, EBSCOhost]

In this article, Jennifer Bass analyzes the Carlisle Indian Industrial School’s student run newspapers, The Red Man and The Helper. In her analysis, she makes the argument that although the students were forced to assimilate to White American culture and ways of life, they were not passive participants in the process. Bess points out various modes of resistance that can be seen in their writings in the newspapers, showing that despite their limitations, the students still fought to have agency over their own identity and to share their own perspectives on their situations.

Enoch, Jessica. “Resisting the Script of Indian Education: Zitkala Ša and the Carlisle Indian School.” College English 65 (2002): 117-141. Accessed October 5, 2016. [EBSCOhost]

Jessica Enoch analyzes the a more transparent mode of resistance in the writings of Zitkala Ša, a former student and teacher at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. In her autobiography and essays, Zitkala Ša openly condemns the administrators at the school, specifically the founder Richard Henry Pratt, as well as the humiliating and damaging methods of assimilation that the school adopted for its students. This analysis of Zitkala Ša’s writing provides an unprecedented level of insight into the perspective of students in the Carlisle Indian School as well as Natives who opposed the school.

Gamache, Ray. “Sport as Cultural Assimilation: Representations of American Indian Athletes in the Carlisle School Newspaper.” American Journalism 26 (2009): 7-37. Accessed October 3, 2016. [Communications & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost]

In this journal article, Ray Gamache specifically analyzes how the Carlisle Indian School used sport as a method of assimilation for its Native students. Gamache uses newspaper articles about sporting events and the school’s sports teams to argue that in these articles, the school attempted to portray its students as active participants in White American Male culture and lifestyle, thus forcing them to assimilate.

Zinc, Amanda J. “Carlisle’s Writing Circle: Boarding School Texts and the Decolonization of Domesticity.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 27 (2015): 37-65. Accessed October 4, 2016. [Project MUSE, EBSCOhost]

Amanda Zinc analyzes the specific pressures put on female students in the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through administrative writings as well as writings by the female students themselves. She argues that the school’s methods of assimilation were gendered and strongly enforced values of domesticity and White/European ideals of femininity onto its female students; however, many of these students resisted those ideas and, after graduation, went on to develop their own ideas of the home and womanhood that nuanced White/European standard for women.

 

Perhaps the most challenging and overwhelming aspect of studying historical methodology thus far has been the task of making connections or inferences from what appears to be very little substantial information. This week I wanted to take the opportunity to explore the life of a member of the class that I had yet to really address in my research.  Although none of these men are necessarily remembered in textbooks for their grandiose contributions to the human narrative, it does not mean they have nothing to say or that their stories are not wholly uninteresting. Much of our course work thus far has proved that to be true, but this week’s work with newspapers in particular provided me with great insight on how small connections, and a bit of patience, can lead to rich and satisfying results. This week I evaluated my table of students in the Dickinson Class of 1861 and decided that there was one in particular that perhaps had interesting stories, but had yet to be sufficiently explored.

I decided to take a look at a man who, on my data table, seemed to have a rather large list of credentials including a major in the Union Army during the Civil War and Military Secretary to the Pennsylvania governor. Henry Harrison Gregg, a man who I’d yet properly research, would deliver a rather captivating story that gave me substantial experience in how to use newspaper articles effectively. I thought, much to my detriment, that gathering information would be rather easy as the databases’ search engines would complete most of the work. I thus attempted to do a sweep of a variety of newspaper databases with just his name including “19^th Century Newspapers,” “Accessible Archives,” and “Chronicling America.” Little proved to be fruitful and I found this to be odd considering the man’s long list of accomplishments.  After an hour or so of this, the method had proven to be sloppy in that it was too broad and did not focus on the man’s achievements, rather his name alone, and often the programs would not even detect his name despite it blatantly being visible in an article. I surmised that if I were to uncover the specifics of his life and perhaps an engaging story through newspapers, I needed to search for the specific and significant event in his life that might appear newsworthy, rather than his name alone. In addition, I looked at the list of accomplishments and compared it to the databases I had chosen to use; I realized I was using those that focused on too broad of topics. It was likely I would not find a small anecdote about events in a specific area efficiently in a database that spanned large topics and widespread geography.  The “Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspapers” database that was suggested on the blog ultimately gave me the more focused set of newspapers that I needed. I chose the credential of Gregg’s that I believed would most likely be documented in a Pennsylvania newspaper, that of his promotion to Military Secretary, and used that to begin more effective research.  Using the keywords “Gregg” and “Military Secretary,” a brief, but significant article appeared that would be the springboard for the rest of the week’s research.

A brief three paragraphs on page three of an 1865 issue of the Huntingdon Globe entitled “A Good Appointment” gave me enough information to begin discovering Gregg’s story. It described a man by the name of Harry H. Gregg to the position of Military Secretary to the governor of Pennsylvania.

This slight name difference would prove to be useful as Gregg would appear almost exclusively as Harry in all the articles I would find thereafter, and thus warned me not to rely too heavily on the accuracy of spelling and word choice when using databases. The article also proved useful in that it mentioned his time as a Major in the 13^th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and that during his military career, he was captured twice by the enemy and held in prison.  This brief article was already beginning to reveal that this man had an engaging and potentially teachable story.

I first searched the “Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspapers” again, but this time with the phrase “13^th Pennsylvania Cavalry” assuming that an article might detail the location of their capture and perhaps some specifics about the engagement. Another brief article of value dated October 5th, 1864 appeared toward the bottom of the list of results. It merely reported the death of Private  Alfred Kenyan, a member of the 13^th Cavalry and Gregg’s company who was “shot thro’ the neck” at the James River when the unit was captured. This informed me of one of the locations where Gregg was captured and a rough estimate of a date. With little more concrete results, I adjusted the search term to “Harry Gregg” and another article appeared dated November 4th, 1863. It provided a rather detailed account of a soldier who described fleeting glimpses of Gregg before he was captured by the enemy several days before the Battle of Rappahannock Station.

Using this information, I then searched several databases with the phrases “Gregg and James River” and “Gregg and Rappahannock”  Although several articles gave me some more detailed information about Gregg’s capture, I still felt as if this didn’t give me a truly riveting story. I decided I was perhaps approaching this chapter in Gregg’s life in a too narrow-minded manner. I backtracked and reread “A Good Appointment.” I immediately  noticed I had overlooked a potential useful keyword and subsequently half of this tale. The original article mentioned that Gregg was sent to “Libby Prison,” a prisoner of war camp in Richmond, Virginia.  I then adjusted my search terms to “Gregg” and “Libby Prison.” The articles I found proved to be the most interesting yet.

The results for “Libby Prison” in the databases were abundant and varied. Many had vastly different claims about the conditions in the prison. Some claimed men were relatively well fed while others stated that they were being starved to death. In particular, an article that peaked my interest the most described a mine of gunpowder that Confederates had constructed underneath the prison to scare prisoners and prevent riot.  The most difficult anecdote to find however was an article that described a personal statement from Gregg himself or those he stayed with during his time at the prison. The terms “Gregg” and “Libby Prison” did not yield anything of value in any of the databases until I noticed one article at the bottom of the results from the “Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspapers.” A

seemingly negligible piece from  Evening Telegraph dated October 30, 1863 gave a very brief description of a correspondence between General S. Greene and his son Joseph who was being held at Libby Prison. In it, Joseph had claimed that he and Harry Gregg were, “well, but dirty,

naked, and hungry.” Although not the detailed recollection of the event I’d hoped for, it made his experience seem at least partially more real and human, a notion that is essential to a teachable story.

I still feel as if there is more to be discovered about Gregg’s time in Libby Prison. I attempted to information in Confederate newspapers , but found little more than a release notice from his first time in prison in The Daily Dispatch. In the future, I hope to gather some primary sources that contain reflections from Gregg himself that may give a more complete and personal account of the incident that these sources lacked.

Research this week with newspapers has proven to be of the most exciting and rewarding processes of the course thus far. The ability to search through thousands of newspapers in seconds made research efficient and gathering specific details rather easy. Essentially, newspapers served as both an accessible historical narrative and an easily assembled timeline of events. However, the databases themselves were not wholly easy to navigate. In many ways they could be unreliable and unwieldy, yielding thousands of results or none at all. This presented the challenge of  learning how the database functions and what its purpose was before I could even begin effective research. Understanding a database thoroughly and learning its limitations takes time itself and I’ve learned one should be both diligent and patient when embarking on this form of research.

 

Process  

Pre-Research Thoughts:

Before I started this research journal, I assumed that it was going to be similar to other database research. Specifically, I thought it was going to be similar to the first research journal on reference sources. I knew that I needed to be aware of partisan affiliations of newspapers during the 19th century. During the 19th century, many newspapers also blatantly plagiarized from one another.

The Research Itself:

I decided that I would begin my newspaper research by first examining four members of the class of 1862 I found most interesting and I feel I might pursue for my historical thinking project, Benjamin Lamberton, Clay McCauley, Martin C. Herman, and William P. Willey. If the search for worthwhile newspaper articles about these men proves to be unfruitful, then I will start searching other members of the class of 1862.

Databases 

• The first database I used was 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. I recommend this database highly. It is very easy to use. The database makes it very easy to download a pdf of any particular newspaper article.
• The next database I used was the Chronicling America database created by the Library of Congress. I did not find this database as easy to use at the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database, but it was still relatively user-friendly. I found some good articles on here.
• The Accessible Archives database in my opinion was not that easy to use. However, I think some valuable articles can be found on this database.
• The Historical Newspapers database was another database that I found useful.
• I also took a look at PA Civil War Era Newspapers Collection and the Civil War Era database but I did not find articles that I used in my research.

Definitely try using a variety of search terms when looking for relevant newspaper articles. Also, using the date limitation option on databases is a good way to weed out irrelevant newspaper articles.

Findings 

Clay McCauley

Clay McCauley is the member of the class of 1862 that I personally  find to be the most interesting so I decided to research him first. I began my newspaper research on Clay McCauley on a database called 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. I began by simply typing in “McCauley, Clay” into the search bar. I also used the date limitations for my search. I limited it to the earliest articles being from 1843 (the year McCauley was born) until 1899 (the latest year offered on the database). This database will not help me find articles about McCauley later in life, since the database strictly covers the 19th century only and McCualey died in 1925.

The first result that proved to be of interest was an article from a newspaper called The Congregationalist and the Boston Recorder and was published on August, 20, 1868. It describes when Clay McCauley was denied ordination as a Presbyterian minister because of his views on the ordination. He then turned to Unitarianism. This article was negative towards Clay McCauley because of this. I tried researching the partisan affiliation of The Congregationalist and the Boston Recorder but I did not find any affiliation.

The next interesting thing I found on the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database was what appeared to be an article written by Clay McCauley himself, entitled Isolation on the Battlefield. I found this article by searching “MacCauley, Clay” instead of “McCauley, Clay”, due to the discrepancy in regards to the spelling of his surname. It was published in The Atchison Daily Globe on July, 11, 1888. I have interpreted this article to be a description of McCauley’s experience in the civil war.

I was very happy to find this article because I think it can prove to be very valuable if I decide to use Clay McCauley for my project.I knew from previous research that McCauley served in the civil war and was taken prisoner by the confederate army but I did not have much further information on his experience in the war. This article gives a firsthand account of how Clay McCauley felt while fighting in the civil war.

By far the best article I found on Clay McCauley was entitled “Progress in Japan” and was published in the Morning Oregonian on August, 1, 1895. I also found this article on the 19th Century U.S Newspapers database by adding Japan as one of my search terms, since I knew from previous research that Clay McCauley did missionary work in Japan. It thoroughly details Clay McCauley’s missionary work in Japan. It describes his work at the Senshin Sakuin school, which he was the head of. The school focused on religion, ethics, and the social sciences. The article contains quotes from Clay McCauley himself and a synopsis of his life story. I learned things about Clay McCauley that I did not know before, such as that he ministered to many congressmen, politicians, and even Spencer Fullerton Baird. I think this newspaper will prove to be very helpful if I choose to focus on Clay McCauley during my research project.

Although I found 19th Century Newspapers to be a useful and user-friendly database, I also wanted to use a database that had a more extensive date range. The next database I looked at in regards to Clay McCauley was the Chronicling America database created by the Library of Congress.

I found an 1899 article from  the Vermont Watchman entitled “McCauley Refuted”. The article recounts how McCauley made statements regarding General Otis and  Admiral Dewey’s views on the war in the Philippines. Apparently, McCauley said that General Otis and his subservient officers opposed the war and that Admiral Dewey intended to leave Manila. These statements were immediately controversial and quickly recounted. The article describes McCauley as a man who talks too much. What I found the most interesting about this article is that McCauley knew Admiral Dewey personally, someone who fellow member of the class of 1862, Benjamin Lamberton, worked with in the navy. This article makes me wonder if there is some kind of connection between Clay McCauley and Benjamin Lamberton outside of Dickinson College.

Benjamin Lamberton

I began my newspaper research on Benjamin Lamberton by using a database called Historical Archives. I did a simple search of his name. I found an obituary from the Washington Post entitled, “B.P. Lamberton Dies of Heart Disease in D.C.: Spanish American War Veteran, 60, Had Been Ill Two Week”, and I assumed this was about the same Benjamin P. Lamberton  I have been researching. However, once I read the article it turned out it was about a Benjamin Paulding Lamberton from Maine who took part in the Spanish American War. This goes to show that multiple people can have the same name and to always be cognizant of this.

I began to wonder if this other Benjamin P. Lamberton was a relative of the Benjamin P. Lamberton. I went to ancestry.com and searched for Benjamin Lamberton. I found some information regarding his parents and wife but I was not able to get concrete information on his children. It could be possible that this other Benjamin Lamberton is a descendent, but so far my research has not been able to confirm or deny.

I did find an obituary from the Washington Post about Benjamin Peffer Lamberton. I think this obituary is very valuable because it describes Lumberton’s career, experience in the Spanish-American war, hunting escapades with President Cleveland and his death. I think this obituary is the most helpful and informative article I have found on Benjamin Lamberton.

On the Historical Archives database, I also found a short article from the Washington Post about how Benjamin Lamberton was to be honored by Theta Delta Chi fraternity. I found this article to be interesting because it specifically references Dickinson College.

In the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database, I found an article about Benjamin Lamberton going hunting with President Cleveland. I thought this article was compelling and Lamberton’s friendship with President Cleveland is an interesting fun fact.

 

 

               George William Caruth 

After my research on Clay McCauley and Benjamin Lamberton, I seemed to have hit a wall. I intended to research Martin Christian Herman and William P. Willey but my newspaper research on the two men did not rear any real results. This could be my own fault and I am not going to give up researching these two members of the class of 1862. However, I took this as an opportunity to research another member of the class of 1862 who I haven’t really looked at yet.

George William Caruth was born on March 7th, 1842 in Scottsville, Kentucky. He was a non-graduating member of the class of 1862. During his time at Dickinson, Caruth was a member of Sigma Chi and Union Philosophical Society. After college, he became a lawyer and then eventually Judge of the Supreme Court of Arkansas and a diplomat to Portugal.

The Daily Arkansas Gazette highlighted Caruth on his appointment. The article describes Caruth as an accomplished lawyer and distinguished man. The article speaks volumes on who George William Caruth was as a person and a professional. It is a good start into research on George William Caruth. The Daily Arkansas Gazette had a democratic political affiliation.

Reflection 

I originally thought that I was going to be researching Clay McCauley, Benjamin Lamberton, Martin Christian Herman and William P. Willey. I had trouble finding articles on Martin Christian Herman and William P. Willey so I turned to other members of my class. I would encourage other students to look past the members of their class who they find to be the most interesting, because you may find valuable information regarding other class members.Overall, I was very happy with most of the articles I found during my research. I was especially pleased with the articles I found about Clay McCauley. It was very time consuming but I uncovered a lot of information that I did not find during my reference research or my archival research. I plan to expand on this research by using microfilm at the Dickinson College library.

 

The next step I took in researching the Dickinson Class of 1852 was looking at 19^th century newspapers, through online databases. This process was both fruitful and time consuming. My basic strategy for finding useful information in these databases was searching for people, in the class  of 1852, who have confirmed death dates. This date helped me narrow my search to around the time of their death to look for an obituary. After looking through the Alumni Record: Dickinson College, I found that of the 55 graduating and non-graduating members of the class, only ten have an exact recorded death date on file. Using this information as a starting point, I then used the Dickinson Library Database Finder, to gain access to multiple websites with literally millions of century old newspapers on file. I started using the 19^th Century U.S. Newspapers database. Through previous research I have found that one of the most renowned members of this class is Charles Albright, so I started my search process with him. I confined my search to within a month of his death, figuring that if someone did write an obituary for him, it would be shortly after he died. This proved to be true as the second link that appeared was a copy of his obituary, published the day after his death. The 19^th Century U.S. Newspapers however, for multiple reasons, was not as helpful on the other members of my class. Some students died in the early 20^th century so the papers being published at the time of their death are not part of this database. After preforming the same search on the other nine members of this class and not finding anything I switched databases. After searching through other databases with no prevail, Accessible Archives and Civil War Era, I finally tried the Chronicling America database that is hosted by the Library of Congress. At this time, I decided to widen my search to articles in the life time of the person that I’m searching. The Chronicling America database proved to be extremely useful. Articles surfaced referring to some of the marriages that Reverend Thomas Sherlock officiated as well as another article talking about Sherlock’s unexpected death.

Published in The North American, Charles Albright’s obituary paints the picture of a well-rounded intellectual who lived a fulfilling life of service to his country as well as his community. After Dickinson Albright studied law up until the Civil War. When Broke out her volunteered with the One  Hundred and Thirty Second regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Albright commanded a brigade in the Union Army at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He also served in the United States Congress after the War. (Albright is pictured right).

The North American  was a daily newspaper that  printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the years 1839- 1925. According to Chronicling America, the paper was prominent Whig newspaper. The Whig  party was formed due  to a dislike  of President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Their main grievances against the Democrats were, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia, “a severe dislike towards tyranny.”  Prominent national figures joined this party such as Henry Clay from Virginia and Daniel Webster from New Hampshire. The election of  1852 however,  “brought about a quick end to the party and its remnants gravitated toward other parties” (Columbia Encyclopedia). The main party that Whigs resorted  to after the collapse was the Republican party, the antislavery party. It can be inferred that that there would be some bias in this paper as it has clear Republican affiliations. Even the name shows quite clearly what side it is on, The North America. 

There is an incorrect statement in article below. Although Albright went to Dickinson for four years, he did not graduate with the class according to the Dickinson College Alumni Record.

 

There are many articles published that include Dickinson graduate Thomas Sherlock. He was a Methodist reverend who apparently officiated multiple weddings. These articles do not talk into detail  about Sherlock but they make it possible to recognize his work. Shown directly below are two of the articles that list Sherlock as  the reverend at the wedding  on from 1857 and one from 1859. Both of these articles were  published in The Star of The North.  Although it is not clear in these articles this paper affiliates with the Republican Party.

Courtesy of The Star of The North

This third article talks about the unexpected death of Reverend Thomas Sherlock.  According to the article Sherlock went out for a morning walk on the beach, suffered a hemorrhage and died on the spot. Although, this article  is  literally one paragraph long, it still has a powerful message.  Sherlock was a devoted priest but also had a strong sense of community. His death was completely unexpected. The Juniata Sentinel and Republican was a weekly newspaper that was printed in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. The title makes the party affiliation clear.

Works Cited:

“Albright, Charles,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/4962.

“General Charles Albright of Carbon County”. The North American. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 29, 1880. [Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers].

George Leffingwell Reed, ed., Alumni Record: Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1905).

“The Whig Party.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. New York, New York: Columbia UP, 2012. Print.

“Married”. The Star of the North. Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, January 13^th, 1858. [Chronicling America].

“Married”. The Star of the North. Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, November 16^th, 1859. [Chronicling America].

“Short Locals.” Juniata Sentinel and Republican. Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 2^nd, 1855. [Chronicling America].

     To further acquire information about Alexander Ramsey and Spencer Baird, I proceeded to search within the newspapers from the nineteen-century. For my investigation I used the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database, the Historical Newspapers database, and Chronicling America Collection from the Library of Congress. The first resource that was used for the research was the 19^th century U.S Newspapers Database, which I found in the Library Database Finder of Dickinson College. I decided to start my investigation writing Alexander Ramsey using the search engine, I was interested in knowing more about Alexander Ramsey’s life when he was governor of Minnesota, thus I decided to do an advance search within the database to narrow the information obtained. In the advanced search engine, I looked up Alexander Ramsey specifically within the years 1849 to 1864. The reason why I started with 1849 was because that year, after Ramsey helped Zachary Taylor become president of the United States, Ramsey was appointed by Taylor as the designated governor of Minnesota. At first, Ramsey was hesitant to accept the job because he was more interested in being the Collector of the Port of Philly, which had a lot of economic benefits. However, he accepted it because he though it would help his political career. Unfortunately, I was not able to obtain the information that I wanted, thus I decided to further narrow my advanced search by adding the keywords: Ramsey, governor, Minnesota and the date range, 1849-1864. With this new detailed advanced search, I was able to obtain 306 results. The results ranged from when he was appointed governor, to when he was elected governor, and his involvement in the Dakota War.

“He is social, hearty and good humored, but cool, cautious, shrewd and persevering.” [1]

    Out of all of the results, the article that got my attention was from the Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette newspaper. The article was published on April 26, 1849 and talked about Alexander Ramsey being appointed governor of Minnesota. In the article it stated that they got information regarding the appointment of Ramsey from a variety of newspapers located in Philadelphia. Then the article talks about the different faculties and qualities that made Ramsey the perfect choice for being assigned governor of Minnesota, which included his extensive experience and character. The article also gives a detailed description of his political career, which started with working in the “Secretary of the Harrison Electoral College of 1840.” [2] Afterwards the article describes his German and Irish descent, and reinstates Ramsey’s character. A point that got my attention from the article was at the end when it stated that Ramsey had the ability to deal with the Native Americans from the region. Because of the way the Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette was talking about Ramsey in the article I was curious to know its partisan affiliation. In order to obtain the information, I search on Google “Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette partisan affiliation 1800s”. I found a reliable source, which by no surprise said that it was a Whig paper; I also found a book called Memoirs of Milwaukee County in Google Books. The book described the Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette as “then the leading Whig organ in the Territory.” [3] Since the moment I read the article I knew there had to be a connection between the party and the paper because while you read the paper you notice that it is biased.

    Because I was even curious about how the Dakota War was portrayed by newspapers in general, I decided to search it on the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database.  To start my search, I did the advanced search and typed Dakota war, governor Ramsey, and set the publication dates from 1862 to 1864, but I was not able to found any results. Then I remember that the tribe that participated in the War was the Sioux, so I decided to take out Dakota War in the search and replace it for Sioux War. By replacing the names, I obtained a result from the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel. The article was useful because it described the war. Even though I obtained one result, I decided to shift the advance search in order to try to obtain a broader amount of results. I proceeded to search using the following keywords: Sioux, Ramsey and the range of the dates, 1862-1864. With this new search I was able to obtain 45 results. Reading the articles, sparked my curiosity on what was Ramsey’s point of view of the war. However, because within the results there were mostly the same type of articles, I proceeded to change databases and search within the Historical Newspapers database.

“The public safety imperatively requires it. Justice calls for it. Humanity itself outraged by their unutterable atrocities demand it. The blood of the murdered cries to heaven for vengeance on these assassins of women and children.” – Gov. Ramsey [4]

     On the Historical Newspaper database I started my research by typing governor Ramsey, Sioux, Indian War and set the publications from the years 1862 to 1864. From the results, I selected one that caught my attention because of its caption. The caption was “Governor Ramsey’s message”. [5] The article was from September 17, 1862 published on the Chicago Tribune.  It was Ramsey’s message about the conflict. After reading the article I decided to choose it to continue my research because it gave an inside perspective of what Ramsey was thinking during the first part of the war. The Chicago Tribune was a six-column newspaper and the article covered two of those six.  On the article, there were extracts of the message that Ramsey gave. These extracts talked about the beginning of the conflict, which was when a group of four Indians from the Sioux tribe on August 17, 1862, killed a white family of six. [6] In his message Ramsey also talked about his plan to stop the conflict; which was by forming a campaign against the tribe which final goal to be the kill the entire tribe. Ramsey also talked about the punishments he was going to implement which were killing the Indians. Because the Chicago Tribune gave extracts of Ramsey’s message I got curious about which partisan affiliations it had. After searching I found that it was affiliated with the Republican party.

     For my research on Spencer F. Baird I decided to begin the search within the Historical Newspaper database. With Baird, I was curious to know more about his work in the Smithsonian Museum. It intrigued me that the first 10 articles were obituaries of his death from different newspapers. This made me think that he had a great impact in his job and community. One that struck me was from October 11, 1887, published in The Washington Post. The caption of the article read “The Late Prof. Baird’s Will“.  [7] Even though the article is extremely short it had a great amount of information. The article stated that Baird would leave everything to his wife and daughter and if they were to die without heirs all of his possessions would go to the Smithsonian.  I was impressed they would release that information to the press because it never occurred me the press was allowed to release someone’s will.

“It may safely be estimated that at least three-fourths of scientific exchanges of this country and of Europe now pass through the Smithsonian Institution” – Spencer F. Baird [8]

    To obtain more information, I decided to continue my research in the Chronicling America Collection from the Library of Congress. The keywords chosen for this search engine were the following: Spencer F. Baird, Smithsonian, and the publications ranged from 1850-1887. I decided to range the publications between these years because Baird started working in the Smithsonian Institution on 1850 and he died in 1887. Similarly, to the past results, the results obtained from this search were mostly obituaries. However, I was able to find an article published by the Weekly National Intelligencer in January 14,1854, that I thought would be relevant to the information that I was striving to obtain. The newspaper was a six column newspaper and the article was two and half columns long. The article was a detailed yearly report that the Smithsonian needed to present to Congress informing the operations of the year, which included publications, travels, collections, books received and reports. For me this was really interesting because I had never heard that before that the Smithsonian had to give annual reports. The article describes with detail parts of the report. It also mentions a special report that Baird made about scientific exchanges between Europe and the Smithsonian, and scientific explorations. Personally, I considered this article to be interesting because of the amount of information it has regarding how the Smithsonian used to operate, and Baird’s involvement in it after.

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[1]”The New Governor of Minnesota,” Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette, pag. 2, column 2 (Milwaukee), April. 5, 1849. link of article

[2] “The New Governor of Minnesota,” Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette,  pag. 2, column 2 (Milwaukee), April. 5, 1849. link of article

[3] Watrous, Jeremy Anthony, Memoirs of Milwaukee County (Madison : Western Historical Association, 1909), 97. Link

[4] “Governor Ramsey’s Message,” Chicago Tribune, pag. 3, column 3 (Chichago), Sep. 17, 1862. link of article

[5] “Governor Ramsey’s Message,” Chicago Tribune, p. 3, column 3 (Chichago), Sep. 17, 1862. link of article

[6] “Governor Ramsey’s Message,” Chicago Tribune, p. 3, column 3 (Chichago), Sep. 17, 1862. link of article

[7] “The Late Prof. Baird’s Will,” The Washington Post, p. 3, column 2 (Washington), Oct. 11, 1887. link of article

[8] “The Smithson Institution,”  Weekly National Intelligencer, p. 4, column 1-3, Jan. 14, 1854 Link of article

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References:

“Governor Ramsey’s Message.” Chicago Tribune, pag. 3, column 3 (Chichago), Sep. 17, 1862. link of article

“The Late Prof. Baird’s Will.” The Washington Post, p. 3, column 2 (Washington), Oct. 11, 1887. link of article

“The New Governor of Minnesota.” Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette, pag. 2, column 2 (Milwaukee), April. 5, 1849. link of article

“The Smithson Institution,”  Weekly National Intelligencer, p. 4, column 1-3, Jan. 14, 1854 Link of article

Watrous, Jeremy Anthony. Memoirs of Milwaukee County. Madison: Western Historical Association, 1909, 97. Link