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U.S. Civil War Research
Are Books Primary or Secondary Sources?
Books can contain primary and/or secondary sources of information.
Secondary sources are usually written by individuals who did not experience firsthand the events about which they are writing. Secondary sources comment, summarize, interpret or analyze information found in primary sources.
Example: Book about the underground railroad written by a scholar
Primary sources are records that provide first-hand testimony or evidence of an event, action, topic, or time period. Primary sources are usually created by individuals that directly experience an event or topic, and record their experience through photographs, videos, memoirs, correspondence, oral histories, or autobiographies.
Example: A slave diary
Quite often, the best place to start looking for primary sources is in the footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography of a good secondary source!
Background Information
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Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History by Call Number: E468 .E53 20005 vols.
Selected Secondary Source Books
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Black Soldiers in Blue: African American Troops in the Civil War Era by Call Number: E540.N3 B63 2002
Southern Families at War: Loyalty and Conflict in the Civil War South by Call Number: E487 .S74 2000
Stepdaughters of History: Southern Women and the American Civil War by Call Number: E628 .C575 2016Available as an e-book and in print.
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People's Collective Account of America's Ante-Bellum South and the Aftermath by Call Number: E449 .N43 2009Scholarship on the abuse of slaves.
Known for My Work: African American Ethics from Slavery to Freedom by Call Number: E-book
Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America by Call Number: E487 .D278 2002
Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Call Number: E487 .M18 2010
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Call Number: E457.2 .F66 2010
Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory by Call Number: E468.9 .B58 2001
Selected Primary Source Books
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Lincoln, Slavery and the Civil War: Selected Writings and Speeches by Call Number: E457.2 .A145 2001
The Civil War Diary of Gideon Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy by Publication Date: 2014E-book
Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay by Call Number: E664 .H41 A3 1997
Yours in Filial Regard: The Civil War Letters of a Texas Family by Call Number: E467 .L682 2015Primary source material
A Very Violent Rebel: The Civil War Diary of Ellen Renshaw House by Call Number: E605 .H83 1996
The Laws of Slavery in Texas: Historical Documents and Essays by Call Number: KFT1601.6.S55 L39 2010Available in print and as an e-book
Primary source material
Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South-A Brief History with Documents by Call Number: E449 .F496 2003
The Southern Debate over Slavery by Call Number: E446 .S7 2001Petitions to Southern legislatures and county courts.
The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves by Call Number: E464 .W29 2008
A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861-1865 by Call Number: E540 .N3 G74 1992
"They Have Left Us Here to Die": The Civil War Prison Diary of Sgt. Lyle Adair, 111th U.S. Colored Infantry by Call Number: E611 .A33 2011
Emilie Davis's Civil War: The Diaries of a Free Black Woman in Philadelphia, 1863-1865 by Call Number: F158.44 .D38 2014
Find Books at other Libraries
- WorldCat (OCLC) This link opens in a new windowComprehensive online catalog of library holdings locally and worldwide. Lists books, journals, maps, recordings, films, scores, open access resources, and other materials from academic, public, corporate, and specialized libraries. Get It For Me button allows you to request to borrow an item.
- TexShare InformationFind out how to get a Texshare card to use at other academic and public libraries in Texas.