MAGIC Searching | "Official Records" Sets | Databases

MAGIC Searching

Finding Secondary Sources, i.e., bibliographies. Do the following Keyword search: "s:1861-1865 AND s:bibliography"

Finding Primary Sources: "United States History Civil War

1. Personal Narratives" (includes letters, diaries, journals, reminiscences, etc.)
2. Regimental histories" (includes larger and smaller units)
3. Sources"

"Official Records" Sets:
Armies | Navies

For a detailed description of the sources listed below, see Musick, Michael P. " Honorable Reports Battles, Campaigns, and Skirmishes Civil War Records and Research," Prologue: the Journal of the National Archives (Fall 1995, vol. 27, no. 3) MAIN E172 .P7 .

ARMIES
Print

War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: Secretary of War, Government Printing Office, 1881-1901, 129 vols. MAIN E464 .U61 Online version
Organized into four separate topical series:

A general index was published in 1901 and is generally regarded as inadequate. Use the Guides listed below.

Guides

A User's Guide to the Official Records of the American Civil War. Aimone, Alan C. and Barbara A. Aimone. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane, 1993.MAIN 464 .A35 1993
This work is essential to understanding the organization and limitations of the "Official Records " Contains extensive bibliography of supplemental sources.

Military Operations of the Civil War: A Guide-Index to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865. Washington, D.C. : U.S. National Archives and Records Service, 1966-1980. 5 vols. MAIN E464 .U612
Prepared by trained archivists, this is a vastly superior index to the "Official Records". A copy of the1536 page original typescript (which has more detail than the 5 volume set) is also available at Microfilm 20465.

CD-ROMs
(Located in the Software Collection, 4^th Floor, West Wing)

Army Official Records. Wilmington, NC : Broadfoot Pub. Co., c1995. SOFTWARE CD-ROM E464 .A7 1995.
" with maps, tables, illustrations and general index) with enhanced searching capabilities: hyperlinks/hypertext, table of contents, keyword, field, proximity, text and images, relevance ranking.

Civil War CD-ROM: The War of the Rebellion. Carmel, Ind.: Guild Press of Indiana, c1997. SOFTWARE CD-ROM E464 .C5 1997 Includes the following:

1. The War of The Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
2. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Frederick H. Dyer.
3. Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (1861-1865), William F. Fox
4. A User's Guide to the Official Records of the American Civil War, Alan And Barbara Almone
5. Military Operations of the Civil War: A Guide Index to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, National Archives.

For a 1996 review of the advanced prototypes of the above CD-ROMs, click here (note that it appears on the Broadfoot web site). 

NAVIES
Print

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Washington, D.C.: Naval War Records Office, Government Printing Office, 1894-1922.MAIN E591 .U58 Online version

CD-ROM
(Located in the Software Collection, 4^th Floor, West Wing)

Civil War CD-ROM II : Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Carmel, Ind. : Guild Press of Indiana, 1999. SOFTWARE CD-ROM E591 .U565 1999

DATABASES

List of All the History Databases Available to the MSU Community

***Essential***

America, History & Life -- Index to articles, books, and dissertations on U.S. and Canadian History.

• Web version
• CD-ROM server version

• Microform -- the entire set is avaible in the Microforms Library at MICROFILM 313. A Web-based index (under construction) is available.
• Full-Text APS (under construction) -- Part of the ProQuest stable of databases. When you get to the ProQuest page, click on this icon (in upper left hand corner of the page):
  
  Then check the box for "APS Online."

Civil War Research Database -- "This database focuses on creating information on Civil War soldiers. Its primary source of information are the state rosters that were published by the Adjutants General for each state involved in the War. These rosters include the military records for each member of that state's military forces. In addition, it has information from the Official Records, pension index records, 1860 census records, GAR records, Roll of Honor records, Medal of Honor records, and Regimental histories. Also, the database will soon include images of battle maps that accompany the Official Records." Be sure to follow the instructions in "How To Access The Civil War Research Database."

Harper's Weekly -- "the leading illustrated newspaper of its time."

• Print version -- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS RARE BOOKS folio AP2 .H32 (1857-1916; some vols. missing)
• HarpWeek -- indexing and full text of the original (1857-1877). Click here for a more detailed description; click here to connect.

• Print index -- Main Library Reference AI21 .N44 (1851-present)
• Historical Index to the New York Times (1863 to 1905; 1913 to September 1922)