Please contact me through the About Me page to suggest additional resources.
1860s Hairstyles.
Instructions for women’s hairstyles of the 1860s presented by Anna Allen.
American Ballroom Companion from the Library of Congress,
This site offers a listing of dance manuals from the 19th century; some of which are available in their entirety online. In addition, the Library of Congress offers videos of some dances and links to specific dance instructions here.
American Battlefield Trust, The
The American Battlefield Trust preserves America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters. As the nation’s leading heritage land preservation organization, we have saved more than 57,000 acres of battlefield land in 24 states to date — thanks to the support of our members & partners.
Association of Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums
ALHFAM serves those involved in living historical farms, agricultural museums and outdoor museums of history and folklife. ALHFAM.org provides information on ALHFAM and up-to-date news on the living history museum community.
Authentic Campaigner
“A Web Site for the Authentic Civil War Living Historian” offers some wonderful research articles and good information on impressions. There are three civilian specific forums. It tends to be more oriented toward national events and environs east of Texas. The long time users can also be rather harsh with new users and repetitive questions. Be sure to use the search function thoroughly before posting your questions.
Capering and Kickery
A blog for social dance historians, reconstructors, performers, social dancers, writers of historical fiction, and anyone else who wants solid, research-based information about historical social dance in Europe and America from the 15th through the early 20th centuries. Site includes links to music and dance videos.
Civil War,The Online Harper’s Weekly periodicals from the Civil War era.
Civil War Books and Authors blog
Books reviews, news, interviews, profiles and commentary, with an emphasis on small publishers, university presses, and local history. Subject areas include antebellum politics and all aspects of the Civil War, as well as the U.S.-Mexican War and Indian Wars. All areas are covered, but geographical focus is on the West and Trans-Mississippi theaters.
Civil War Discovery Trail, The
The Civil War Discovery Trail links more than 600 sites in 32 states to inspire and to teach the story of the Civil War and its enduring impact on America.
Civil War Librarian Blog
Blog of Rea Andrew Redd, follows new and classic American Civil War books and media.
Civil War Women: Primary Sources on the Internet
Provides links to manuscript collections at Duke which have been scanned and transcribed as well as links to other Civil War women’s archival documents which are available in cyberspace.
Commonwealth Vintage Dancers, The
This site includes instructions for several different dances one might have done in a Civil War ballroom. It also includes a link to the Spare Parts website that includes some music samples.
Discovering the Civil War
Beginning on April 30, 2010, the National Archives will peel back 150 years of accumulated analysis, interpretation, and opinion to reveal a Civil War that is little-known and even more rarely displayed in a new exhibition.
Documenting the American South
A digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
Facebook
There are many Civil War civilian focused groups on Facebook. Conduct a search for Civil War, civilian, 19th Century, women, fashion and combinations of these terms; you will get more results than you can probably keep up with.
Genteel Arts Academy
This is the site for Carolann Schmitt. She conducts classes on civilian clothing throughout the country and produced the long running “Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860s Conference” in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education. The Institute has developed an array of programs for schools, teachers, and students that now operate in all fifty states, including a website that features the more than 60,000 unique historical documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection.
Home Economics Archive
HEARTH is a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance. The first phase of this project focused on books published between 1850 and 1925 and a small number of journals. Future phases of the project will include books published between 1926 and 1950, as well as additional journals. The full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects relating to Home Economics, are all freely accessible on this site. This is the first time a collection of this scale and scope has been made available.
If I Had My Own Blue Box
Contains articles and other items of interest to the 19th Century living historian.
Invitation to Dance, An
This site is an online exhibit from the American Antiquarian Society. The exhibit includes much information about the development of social dance in America.
Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts
The Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts is a scholarly, refereed e-journal presenting new research about the decorative arts and material culture of the American South prior to 1860.
Leicestershire Victorian Dance Group, The
This group is based in England. They offer downloadable booklets with dance steps as well as videos showing several dances.
Library of Congress
Historic maps, photos, documents, audio and video.
Cornell University Library Digital Collections
The Cornell University Library Making of America Collection is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints. The project represents a major collaborative endeavor in preservation and electronic access to historical texts.
Mormon Pioneer Foodways Blog
1847-1869. Not just Mormon specific.
National Park Service Civil War Home Page
From 1861 to 1865, the American union was broken as brother fought brother in a Civil War that remains a defining moment in our nation’s history. Its causes and consequences, including the continuing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, reverberate to this day. From the battlefields to the homefront, the cost of the war was steep…its lessons eternal.
Not Even Past
Provides dynamic, accessible, short articles on every field of History. Founded in 2010 and developed by the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin, Not Even Past speaks to everyone interested in the past and in the ways the past lives on in the present.
On the Home Front: Civil War Fashions and Domestic Life
As Americans observe the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, the Kent State University Museum will present an exhibit about the material circumstances and domestic life during the Civil War and in the years that followed. Through the display of women’s and children’s costumes, which will be supplemented with related photographs, decorative arts and women’s magazines, the exhibit “On the Home Front: Civil War Fashions and Domestic Life” will focus on the daily life and experiences of the American civilian population during the Civil War. Far from being a simple trivial diversion during such a critical period, fashion provides a unique window into the lived experience of Americans who despite being far from the battlefields were deeply and immediately touched by the conflict.
Rally on the High Ground
The National Park Service, the National Park Foundation, and Eastern National sponsored a symposium on May 8 and 9, 2000 at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. They brought together many of the leading scholars on the Civil War era with park managers, interpreters and educators to explore new research and interpretations of this period of American history. This symposium, Rally on the High Ground, became much larger and more important than the sponsors envisioned. It was broadcast nationally on C-Span, and many of the nation’s leading media sources covered the event. The papers from this symposium are published here in Rally on the High Ground: The National Park Service Symposium on the Civil War Eastern National, softcover, 120 pages.
Research Arsenal
Research Arsenal provides access to thousands of primary documents including photographs, letters, diaries, ordnance returns, quartermaster specifications and more. It’s as easy as a keyword, a name, a date or a place. Find exactly what you’re looking for through search or filters.
Sewing Academy, The
The website of Elizabeth Stewart Clark offers research and forums for men’s, women’s and children’s civilian clothing. She also offers her own line of patterns for children and some free patterns on this site.
Society of Civil War Historians, The
The Society of Civil War Historians (SCWH) is an association of scholars dedicated to exploring slavery, the sectional crisis, Civil War, emancipation, and reconstruction roughly from the 1830s through 1880. The society also looks at the legacies of the conflict that continue to have an impact on society today. SCWH’s mission is to encourage scholarly activity and academic exchange among historians, graduate students, and professionals who interpret history in museums, national parks, archives, and other public facilities. SCWH’s goal is to bring greater coherence to the historical field by encouraging the integration of social, military, political, and other forms of history and generally to promote the study of the Civil War era.
Spared & Shared
A place to stash old letters that were spared from obscurity so that historians or descendants of those who wrote the letters may benefit in their historical or genealogical research.
Trans-Mississippian, The
A blog about the Civil War west of the Mississippi River. The bulk of Civil War historiography has focused on the war east of the Mississippi, but the war west of the big river has seen increasing attention in recent years. Particularly since the 1980s, historians have started to realize that even though armies and battles were of smaller size and scale in the West, it does not mean that these actions were unimportant or insignificant. There are also some interesting features to the war west of the Mississippi such as the role of Native Americans, guerrilla warfare, the role of African-American troops, refugees, the challenges of campaigning on the frontier, and operations along the Gulf Coast and the Pacific coast.
Vicki Betts’ Website
A wonderful resource with newspaper transcriptions and links to other articles she has written.
Victorian Dance Ensemble
The Ensemble is a group of living historians who share a love for the grace and beauty of mid-nineteenth century dancing. We are devoted to fostering an appreciation for the dance and social customs of the Civil War era by presenting demonstrations, classes, balls and other related programs. The site offers dance instruction and articles on Civil War era balls.