By far, my search for online newspapers has been the most challenge aspect of this research process. I began my search through the 19th Century Newspapers database. Here I first searched for “Carlisle” with the date range of 1860-1865. I quickly realized that this was much too broad. By changing my search to “Carlisle, Pennsylvania” and to “Carlisle Troops” and limiting the time from to 1861-1863, was able to find article describing the Confederate advance in Pennsylvania. However, these articles did not directly address my research topic, so I was forced to try again.
Since my topic incorporates both soldiers and the home front, I tried searching for the
Image Courtesy of the 19th Century Newspapers Database.
Sanitary Commission. Here I found an July 30, 1861 article about the Sanitary Commission in Washington from the North American and United States Gazette. This article calls for donations of “Ice…Wine and Pure Spirits, Sheets and Sheeting, Flannel and Toweling, Mosquito Netting” to the Washington DC Sanitary Commission. This article could be useful for a side-by-side comparison to articles in Carlisle newspapers discussing the Sanitary Commission or just generally requesting supplies to be sent to the front.
Following in this new vein, I next searched for sewing machines and viewed only the advertisement results. In the Carlisle newspapers I had seen many advertisements for sewing machines, mourning clothes, and all sorts of domestic items. Therefore, an interesting way to learn about the home front could be to compare the goods marketed at women in different
Image Courtesy of the 19th Century Newspapers Database.
areas. From this search I found many advertisements for sewing machines including this January 3, 1862 article from the Lowell Citizen and Daily News. This article champions the New England Family Sewing Machine as “perfect in its motion, and durable in its parts,” stating that it is “better adapted to meet the wants of every Family than any other machine.”
For my final article, I used the Civil War Era Database. I searched for “Carlisle” and the “36th Pennsylvania,” but did not find anything interesting. However, when I searched for the “Pennsylvania Reserves” I found a pamphlet from the U. S. Sanitary Commission, An appeal to the people of Pennsylvania for the sick and wounded soldiers. This pamphlet calls civilians, ” who are safe at home, surrounded by all the comforts of domestic life” to think about the soldiers and to volunteer for and contribute to the Sanitary Commission (pg. 2). This pamphlet, in conjunction with newspaper articles such as the one above, gives interesting insight into how fundraising was conducted during the Civil War. These articles and this pamphlet would be useful to elaborate on the national agencies and companies developed during he war, and how they were presented to and how they related to those at home.