The American Memory Program of the Library of Congress has just made available two new presentations of digitized historical materials: "Civil War Maps" and "The African American Experience in Ohio."
A map of the "Field of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 1863," prepared in 1863 by Theodore Ditterline, now available online.
The collections of materials relating to American history that are available from American Memory (memory.loc.gov) are drawn from the Library of Congress -- whose collections are unparalleled in their depth and diversity -- as well as from other repositories.
The materials in the "African American Experience" presentation are from the Ohio Historical Society. Their digitization was made possible by an award from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition. This $2 million, three-year program, which concluded in 1999, has made awards to 33 institutions nationwide to enable them to make their important American history collections available online.
One new collection, "Civil War Maps," is drawn from the Library of Congress's Geography and Map Division. It consists of reconnaissance, sketch, coastal and theater-of-war maps, which depict troop activities and fortifications. Part of this selection contains maps by Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss, a topographical engineer in the Confederate Army. Hotchkiss made detailed battle maps that were used by Gens. Lee and Jackson. This site also includes maps that depict Gen. Sherman's military campaigns in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and the Carolinas. New Civil War maps will be added monthly.
"The African American Experience in Ohio" presents a selection of manuscripts, printed texts and images from the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. The online presentation illuminates the history of African Americans in Ohio from 1850 to 1920, a story of slavery and freedom, segregation and integration, religion and politics, migrations and restrictions, harmony and discord, and struggles and successes.
The site also includes a "Special Presentation" of favorite materials chosen by staff of the Ohio Historical Society.
New items are also available in the following American Memory collections: "Map Collections: 1544-1999," "Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division's First 100 Years" and "Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record."
"Civil War Maps" and "The African American Experience in Ohio" have been added to the more than 70 collections available from American Memory, a project of the National Digital Library Program. The program will bring more than 5 million items of American history to citizens everywhere as a Gift to the Nation for the Library's Bicentennial on April 24, 2000.
