History Commons^™

Ms-199: Mary Metcalf Barrett Letters, Lauren H. Roedner

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This collection is comprised of seventeen Civil War era letters from Mary Metcalf Barrett to her sister, Elvira Metcalf Aplin between 1859 and 1872. She discusses her feelings about the Civil War, her worry over her son and nephews away fighting, her experiences of life on the home front in Manchester, New Hampshire during the war when foodstuffs are expensive and sometimes hard to find. She repeatedly mentions the mills and industries in town limiting hours or closing altogether, affecting all the employees and making the town destitute. She talks about her income from making and mending clothing but also …

Ms-167: Hiram Parker Jr. Letters, Rachel B. Hammer

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There are 52 letters total in the collection spanning from 1862-1874. The bulk of the letters are written by Hiram most of which are to his father, mother Mary Sparks. However, there are a couple to another member of the Sparks family and a few other friends. Six are letters written to Hiram from his friends and the collection also includes 12 handwritten and printed reports on the construction of the gunboat Tacony. Hiram’s letters are very detailed (some of his letters are over a dozen pages), and he wrote to people very often even adding on to some letters …

Ms-162: Col. William Brisbane Papers, Bryan G. Caswell

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The Col. William Brisbane Papers consist of 133 documents covering a span of thirty-three years, from 1858 to 1891, with the bulk of these springing from Brisbane’s service in the American Civil War from 1861 to 1863. The early documents of the collection illustrate Brisbane’s personal service, containing such items as his own commission and discharge papers for the Pennsylvania Volunteers as well as an invitation to dinner at the house of his brigade commander, Winfield Scott Hancock.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include …

Ms-129: Burlew Letters, Rachel B. Hammer

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This collection consists of letter written between Aaron E. Burlew, John W. Burlew, and Carrie Burlew, all siblings from Atkinsons Mills, Pennsylvania, during the Civil War.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Ms-100: Reuel Williams Waters, 1st Battalion, Maine Light Artillery, 6th Maine Battery, Chelsea M. Bucklin

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This collection consists of three letters and a twenty-two page diary penned by Reuel Williams Waters. The letters are written by Waters to his sisters. Additionally, a photograph of Reuel Waters, several newspaper clippings concerning members of Waters’ family and reunions of the 6th Maine Battery, letters penned by Waters’ mother and sister-in-law after the war, and notes concerning Waters and Bentley (Waters’ wife Emily Bentley) family genealogy are included in this collection.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about …

Ms-096: John W. Miner Letters, Matthew R. Gross

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This collections includes the letters of John W. Miner to his wife Anna throughout his service in the Civil War with the 7th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry at Petersburg, Virginia and his service in the 4th US Cavalry at Fort Griffin, Texas. Miner’s letters are most valuable when used as a tool to study the perceptions of the Civil War soldier regarding battles and national events.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of …

Ms-105: John L. Barry Civil War Letters, Kate Boeree

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This collection contains 47 letters, 37 of which are written by John L. Barry during his time in the Civil War between 20 June 1861 and 7 June 1862. The letters are written to his family in Dunkirk, New York, addressing his mother, father, sister Ellen, and brother Robert.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Ms-020: The Papers Of John H. Warner, Melodie A. Foster

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The John H. Warner collection consists of thirty-eight letters written by Warner to family members and friends during the period October 1, 1862 - May 5, 1865. The affectionate, optimistic letters provide a picture of camp, and later hospital life during the Civil War through the eyes of a young soldier from New York.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our …