The American Civil War Collection
A Guide to Resources in Mount Angel Abbey Library

Like most of the rest of the library, the Civil War collection is arranged and cataloged according to the Library of Congress classification system. Library of Congress numbers begin with a letter. The classification letter E is devoted to general United States history. It is further sorted by numbers. For example, the conflict between the states is cataloged in the area E 441 - E 655, which covers the slavery question (E 441 - E 453), the administration of President Lincoln (E 456 - E 459) and the Civil War itself (E 461 - E 655) The following table shows the relevant part of section E:

In the Z 1200 section are a few bibliographies on Civil War topics:

• Cole, Garold C. Civil War Eyewitnesses: An Annotated Bibliography of Books and Articles, 1955-1986. Columbia, SC: U South Carolina P, 2000. (Ref Z 1242 C78 1988)
• Dornbusch, C. E. Military Bibliograpy of the Civil War [Regimental Publications and Personal Narratives of the War] 3 vols. New York: New York Public Library, 1961. (Ref Z 1242 D612)
• Hartwig, D. Scott. The Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign of 1862: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1990. (Z 1242 H37 1990)
• Menendez, Albert J. Civil War Novels. An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1986. (Z 1231 F4 M46 1986)
• Moss, William. Confederate Broadside Poems: An Annotated Descriptive Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1988. (Z 1242.5 M67 1988)
• Civil War Books: A Critical Bibliography. Ed. Allan Nevins, et. al. 2 vols. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State U P, 1967. (Ref Z 1242 N35 1967)
• Sauers, Richard Allen, comp. The Gettysburg Campaign: June 3--August 1, 1863: A Comprehensive, Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1982. (Ref Z 1242 S27 1982)

• Encyclopedia of the American Civil War : a political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 2000. (Ref E468 .E53 2000)
• Boatner, Mark Mayo. The Civil War Dictionary. Rev. ed. New York: McKay, 1988. (E468 B7 1988)
• Neely, Jr., M. E. Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982. (E 457 N48 1982)
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts on File, 1988. (E467 S56 1988)
• Wakelyn, Jon L. Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1977. (E467 W2 1977)

There are several ways to start researching the Civil War besides just browsing through the shelves:

• Go to one of the bibliographies just listed.
• Look at the bibliographies and/or works cited in an encyclopedia article, a dictionary of the Civil War, or a general book about the Civil War (e.g. MacPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom or Nevins, Ordeal of the Union) and get some ideas for a topic and bibliography.
• If you have already found a few books on your topic, look them up in the library catalog and see what subject headings are given on the listings for these books. Then go to the subject catalog and look up those particular subject headings to see what other titles are listed.
• Pick a topic: e.g. "artillery", "uniforms", "nursing", etc., and look up the topic and see what books listed under the topic cover the Civil War period.

Some of the bibliographies listed above evaluate the books they list. Books for College Libraries (Chicago: ALA, 1988) vol. 3: History, pp. 347-360 lists Civil War books recommended for college libraries. In general, these will be the latest and best books. They do not, however, include books thought to be too specialized for ordinary college libraries, but which may be very good for your research. Here are some of the books they recommend, arranged in the Library of Congress Classification order:

• E 441 - E 442: Slavery in General
  • Donnan, Elizabeth. Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America. 4 vols. (1965)
  • Stampp, Kenneth. The Peculiar Institution (1956)
  • Fogel, Robert. Without Consent or Contract (1989)
• E 443 - E 444: Slave Life
  • Genovese, Eugene. Roll, Jordan, Roll: the World the Slaves Made (1974)
  • Federal Writers' Project. Lay My Burden Down; A Folk History of Slavery (1945)
  • The Slave's Narrative, Ed. Davis and Gates (1985)
• E 446 - E 448: History of Slavery
  • Zilversmit, Arthur. The First Emancipation; The Abolition of Slavery in the North (1967)
  • Aptheker, Herbert. American Negro Slave Revolts (1943)
• E 449: General Works, 1830-1869
  • Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of F. Douglass, An American Slave (1960)
  • Filler, Louis. Crusade against Slavery (1960)
  • McPherson, James M. The Struggle for Equality (1964)
  • Abzug, Robert H. Passionate Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld and the Dilemna of Reform (1980)
• E 450 - E 453: Special Topics
  • Boyer, Richard. The Legend of John Brown: a Biography and a History (1972)
  • Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation (1963)
• E 457: Lincoln
  • Angle, Paul, Ed. The Lincoln Reader (1947)
  • Neely, Mark. Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia (1982)
  • Oates, Stephen B. With Malice toward None: The Life of Lincoln (1977)
  • Donald, David. Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War (1956)
  • Fehrenbacher, Don. Lincoln in Text and Context: Collected Essays (1987)
  • Lincoln, Collected Works (Rutgers, 1953-1955)
• E 458 - E 459: Political History, 1861-1865
  • Catton, Bruce. Two Roads to Sumter. (1963)
  • Stampp, Kenneth. The Imperiled Union: Essays on the Background of the Civil War (1980)
• E 467: Civil War: Biography
  • Wakelyn, Jon. Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy (1977)
  • Warner, Ezra. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders (1964)
• E 468: General Histories
  • Catton, Bruce, Centennial History of the Civil War 3 vols. (1961-1965)
  • Gardner, Alexander. Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War (1959)
  • Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War (1986)
  • Nevins, Allan. The War for the Union. 4 vols. (1959-1971)
• E 469: Diplomatic History
  • Monaghan, Jay. Diplomat in Carpet Slippers: Abraham Lincoln Deals With Foreign Affairs (1945)
• E 470 - E 480: Military Operations
  • Catton, Bruce. Glory Road, Mr. Lincoln's Army, A Stillness at Appomattox.
  • Davis, William C. Duel Between the First Ironclads (1975)
  • McPherson, James, Ed. Battle Chronicles of the Civil War 6 vols. (1989)
• E 482 - E 489: Confederate States of America
  • Davis, Jefferson. The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1958)
  • Eaton, Clement. A History of the Southern Confederacy (1954)
• E 491 - E 586: Armies
  • Wiley, Bell. The Life of Billy Yank, the Common Soldier of the Union. (1952)
  • Starr, Stephen. The Union Cavalry in the Civil War 3 vols. (1979-)
  • Higginson, Thomas. Army Life in a Black Regiment (1971)
• E 601 - E 607: Personal Narratives
  • Wiley, Bell. The Life of Johnny Reb, the Common Soldier of the Confederacy. (1943)
• E 609: Press
  • Andrews, J. C. The North Reports the Civil War (1955); The South Reports the Civil War (1970)
• E 611 - E 655: Special Topics
  • Hasseltine, William. Civil War Prisons (1962)

The library has the nine episode PBS video series on The Civil War (1990). These can be checked out for 5 days.

Last updated September 2007