Digital Collections

This photo album contains 120 cartes-de-visite of members of the Elias Baker Family of Altoona, Pennsylvania, friends, and prominent politicians, including Abraham Lincoln and Simon Cameron. Elias Baker was a prominent iron maker and landlord. Family members and friends pictured in this album include Elias Baker, his wife Hetty Woods Baker, and Annie Porter, who was a friend of the Baker's daughter, Anna. Courtesy of the Blair County Historical Society.

Elisha Bracken, a native of Butler County, Pennsylvania, mustered into Company C of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 100th Regiment on August 31, 1861. The 100th was known popularly as the "Round Head" regiment. Most of its volunteers came from the state's southwestern counties. He was promoted to sergeant and placed in charge of Company C on November 13, 1862. He died in battle near Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, on May 12, 1864. Bracken's diary provides a day-to-day account of his life in the service prior to his promotion to sergeant. He records the regiment's travels, the changing weather, and regimental activities from July through October, 1862. His diary is part of the Penn State Libraries Special Collections Civil War Era Diaries collection.

This collection consists of two of the four diaries kept by Theo Christ while he lived in Lewsiburg, Pa. and during his service during the American Civil War.  The entries may have been copied into these volumes at a later date. The first diary begins in 1856 and records Christ's education, travels, and his affiliation with the new Republican Party. The second volume begins in January 1861 and records Christ's thoughts on secession, his decision to join the military, and his service with the Army of the Potomac's medical corps. Courtesy of the Union County Historical Society.

Diary 1 (January 1856 - December 1860)    Diary 2 (January 1861-October 1862)

John Covode was a prominent Pennsylvanian, U.S. Representative and cofounder of Westmoreland Coal. This collection includes correspondence and printed material documenting his career. The collection is owned by the Heinz History Center of Pittsburgh, Pa. It came to us deteriorating and suffering from severe mold damage. We are pleased to have been able to treat the collection, preserve it for the future, and digitize it for public use on this website. Click here to view the online finding aid.The correspondence covers a variety of topics from local politics, patronage, personal items to the Civil War.  More information on the Covode Collection.

Three volumes of pocket diaries by Emilie Davis, an African American woman, are currently held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The diaries provide us a social "snapshot" into the lives of a historically elusive group of people. Emilie lived and worked in Philadelphia during the mid-1800s and is believed to have been in her late teens or early twenties when she began her diaries in 1863. Her diaries record such momentous events as National Fast Day, the flight of residents from Gettysburg to Philadelphia during the Battle of Gettysburg, the fall of Vicksburg, and the funeral procession of Abraham Lincoln. Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Read a transcription of the Diaries!

Morris W. Hackman, a native of Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania, enlisted in Company G of the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Hackman was born on 10 November 1844 and was only sixteen years old when he enlisted in Hesterville in the spring of 1861. The diary details his experiences as an infantryman, including seeing combat at New Market and Front Royal. Hackman records his capture by Confederate forces on 23 May 1862, during the Battle of Front Royal, and his subsequent imprisonment in various field hospitals. Confederate officials ultimately sent him to the notorious Belle Isle military prison in Richmond where he arrived August 9. Hackman remained at Belle Isle until September 13 when he was paroled. His diary is part of the Penn State Libraries Special Collections Civil War Era Diaries collection.

This collection consists of one diary (77 pages) kept by Adam H. Pickel from 13 August 1862-- 8 July 1863, when he served in the Union army during the Civil War. The diary describes camp life, the challenges of campaigning, and combat. Pickel participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as other small skirmishes. Of particular interest is his record of his unit's arduous march to Gettysburg to engage the Confederate forces there and the wound he received in the battle which eventually led to his death. Related collections are housed at the University of Michigan and Duke University. Courtesy of the Pickel family. See the Adam Pickel digital exhibit related to this diary.

Historical reports of state acting assistant provost marshals general and district provost marshals, 1865. Provost Marshal General Fry required state and district provost marshals to prepare reports on the operations of their offices covering recording and reporting of the enrollment; selecting, notifying, receiving, examining, forwarding, and crediting of draftees; recruiting, examining, mustering, forwarding, and crediting enlistees; and arresting, detaining, and forwarding of deserters; along with information on difficulties encountered in administering the law and suggestions that might improve the procedures. Citizens and aliens physically resisted the draft and riots ensued in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the National Archives.

This is a handwritten diary kept by Sallie Simonton in the last year of the Civil War. It is accompanied by a 25-page transcription of the diary that was completed in 1983. The journal provides a look at life in an affluent home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1865, detailing social visits, domestic labors, illness in the family and community, and the titles of books she is reading. Of note is her description of the flood of 16-18 March 1865 and the celebration of the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, bringing about the end of the Civil War. Courtesy of the Dauphin County Historical Society.

This collection documents the history of five generations of a Pennsylvania family based in Boalsburg and Pittsburgh. It includes the military and personal Civil War-era materials of James T. Stuart (1837-1902) and his wife Emma Eliza Hunter (1848-1935). Stuart was a captain in Company G, 49th Regiment, PA Volunteers (1864-1865). The personal materials include war-time correspondence and some photographs. In addition to family photographs, there are diaries, memoirs, family histories, and miscellaneous items that illustrate the life of this family and American material culture. Emma Hunter is traditionally believed to be one of the founders of Memorial Day in Boalsburg--a town which claims to be the originator of the holiday. The collection includes significant items connected with the local origins and history of the holiday. Courtesy of Penn State Special Collections.

The records of the Washington and Cresson Literary Societies consist of several handwritten issues of the societies' newspapers, and a single hardcover history of the Washington Literary Society. The newspapers (the Cresson Society's Anonymous and the Washington Society's Students' Miscellany) feature college news, poems, humor, student gossip, and risque stories. The societies were founded in March 1859, naming themselves in honor of George Washington and the Philadelphia philanthropist Elliot Cresson. Both societies received a $250 appropriation from the state legislature to create libraries for the benefit of their members. They engaged each other in competitive debates and essay writing and oratorical contests. The rise of fraternities, organized athletics, and other kinds of clubs gradually diverted interest from the literary societies, leading them to disband in 1895. Courtesy of Penn State Libraries Special Collections.

Cresson Literary Society records    Washington Literary Society records