American Antiquarian Society Is Treasure Trove
For Civil War Research
By Helen Hannon
November 2002
WORCESTER, Mass. - Civil War researchers
may
access one of the country's great scholarly resources at the
American
Antiquarian Society. Its mission is to collect, preserve, and
make
available for study every printed item published in the United
States
from 1640 through 1876. The society offers an invaluable resource
for
cultural, historical and genealogical study.
The Civil War researcher can find Union and
Confederate regimental
histories, broadsides, biographies and personal narratives,
novels
and visual images. In addition there are manuscript materials
which
include family papers, diaries, letters and Civil War memorabilia.
Dennis Laurie, Specialist of Newspapers and Periodicals, says: "The
society has a significant collection of Civil War newspapers.
There
are holdings of newspapers from Confederate and Border States,
as
well as from the Union, including runs of important big-city
newspapers that featured extensive coverage of military campaigns."
Society's president Ellen S. Dunlap says that
while the society's
mission is to make its collections available to all kinds of
researchers, "we are most keenly interested in serving
those who will
communicate the knowledge they learn from our collections to
others."
This communication can take many forms "from
the creation of a
television documentary to the writing of a book. It can include
the
formal instruction of a classroom or the informal learning
of a
battlefield reenactment."
Dunlap suggests that researchers prepare themselves
by conducting
extensive research in secondary sources before consulting the
American Antiquarian Society's resources.
"
Our collections are so vast and deep that a researcher can
easily
become overwhelmed unless they have a clear and specific idea
about
what they want to see," she says.
Founded in 1812 by Revolutionary War patriot
Isaiah Thomas
(1749-1831), the society is the third oldest historical organization
in the United States. It was also the first to be national,
rather
than local or regional in the scope of its collections. It
would not
be an exaggeration to call it the first Smithsonian.
Thomas smuggled his printing press out of Boston
before British
authorities could shut it down in 1775, re-establishing his
newspaper, The Massachusetts Spy, in Worcester. In the first
issue he recounted the battle of Lexington and Concord under
a banner that
proclaimed "Americans!-Liberty or Death!-Join or Die!"
Thomas became the leading printer, editor, publisher
and bookseller
in the United States and accumulated one of the largest fortunes
in
the country. When he retired in 1802, he began collecting "the
printed word." While searching for historical sources,
he purchased
the complete office files of many Revolutionary-era newspapers
and
amassed a large collection of printed ballads.
His personal library had 8,000 volumes that
became the foundation for
the society's collection which now has more than 20 miles
of shelves
holding over three million items.
The nonprofit society is a private organization
with an annual
operating budget of $3.9 million and an endowment of some
$50
million. It employs 60 people.
The American Antiquarian Society conducts an
extensive fellowship
program for scholars, artists and writers. It also sponsors
a wide
range of programs for scholarly and general audiences.
The society
publishes books, pamphlets and a semiannual scholarly
journal.
There is an extensive series of seminars, conferences,
lectures,
concerts and media presentations. Education pro-grams
for grades
K-12, teacher training workshops and seminars, make
use of facsimiles
of historic materials in the collections.
The library is open Monday through Friday from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and
closed on holidays. It is open free of charge to
serious researchers.
Complimentary public tours are held every Wednesday
at 2 p.m. For
information call (508) 755-5221 or visit www.americanantiquarian.org
