Civil War Family Scrapbook

Pathfinder created by K. Crossley, 4/23/07
revised 4/18/12

Civil War Scrapbook

Enduring Understanding(s)  

  • Cultural systems are the shared beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that influence how societies develop and change.  These beliefs and values are seen in the economic, social, and political systems of a nation. 
  • The cultural system of the United States developed many differences based on political beliefs, economic foundations, and views on slavery. 
  • When cultural differences develop in distinct geographic regions, people may begin to develop a stronger identity to their region than the nation. 
  • Attempts were made to reunite the nation and extend social, political and economic opportunities to African Americans in the era of Reconstruction.  Cultural change was accepted by some but resisted by most.  The differences that led to war, including views on race and the role of the federal government, reverberate in American culture today. 
  • Lifelong learning is built on a foundation of information literacy. 
    •   

Information Literacy Indicators  

  • (1.A)  Recognize how literature reflects, examines and influences the human experience. 
  • (2.A)  Identify and locate resources of the library media center. 
  • (3.A) Generate appropriate search terminology and strategies. 
  • (3.E)  Apply appropriate note taking processes to gather information. 

As you begin the research necessary to create your Civil War family scrapbook, here are resources available in Hoover Middle School that may be helpful.  For your scrapbook, you are going to create artifacts that seem to have been part of a scrapbook kept by one of your relatives who took part in the Civil War.  Therefore, look carefully at any primary sources you find online – letters, diaries and photographs – to get ideas of how YOU can create similar items. 

 

You will need to create a bibliography of the sources you used for this project in NoodleTools.  Look for hints about how to cite for Noodletools in red. 

Books 

The media center has a cart full of books which will be used by all 8th graders, and so will not be available for check out.  You can use them for research in the media center and your teacher may bring the cart to your social studies classrooms for your use as well. 

LeeSubscription Databases 

All of Hoover’s online resources are available for your use in or outside of school.  You can find the passwords on Edline under the Departments/Media Center page. 

Here are the online resources we suggest will work the best for this project. 

Encyclopedias 

An encyclopedia is always a good place to begin your research.  Here you will find basic information that will help you decide how to continue your research.  Use the search box to find your topic. 

NoodleTools:  Encyclopedias are considered a reference source – not duplicated from a printed work.  Do NOT provide a URL. 

World Book Encyclopedia  

Encyclopedia Britannica 

Online Databases 

 American Civil War E-Book – Use the search box to search for information on your topic. 

NoodleTools:  Look at the top of the article under “Source” to find information for your citation.  Cite as a reference source – online – other – yes, I will provide publication details.  “Editors” are NOT listed as authors.  Database is Gale Virtual Reference Library.  Do NOT provide the URL. 

 Annals of American History –You can use the search box or click on the timeline at the top for documents from that time period.  This resource contains primary sources in the form of writings, speeches, etc.
NoodleTools:  Cite these articles as a “reference  → online → other → no, this is a reference database.  The author may be whoever wrote the speech.  The database is “Annals of American History”, sponsor is Encyclopedia Britannica.  Do NOT provide  URL. 

U.S. History in Context – Click on U.S. History in Context to enter this database.  Use the search box to find articles about your topic.   

NoodleTools:  At the top of the article, you can find where US History in Context got this article (encyclopedia, newspaper, etc.) and the date it was published.  Look at the bottom of the article and in the citation to find all the information you need for your citation.  Do NOT provide a URL. 

 soldierSIRS Discoverer - Use the search box to search with your key words and look at the colored box to the left of the title to see the reading level for articles.  You can also search for related websites by clicking on Discoverer WebFind.  

NoodleTools:  Click on “Source and Summary.”  Use that information to figure out where SIRS Discoverer found this article and cite that source (magazine, newspaper, encyclopedia, etc.)  Retrieved from an online database.  For an encyclopedia article:  yes, duplicated from a printed work.  Do NOT provide a URL. 

Websites 

NoodleTools:  Cite as websites.  DO provide a URL for websites. 

 

Civil War 

  1. Library of Congress, American Memory – Use the search box to search for documents and photographs.  There is also the webpage of “Selected Civil War Photographs.” 
  2. National Archives, Civil War photos – Read the introductory paragraph, and then scroll down through the photograph list to see photos of people, battlefields, etc. 
  3. PBS: Images of the Civil War – Look at “Images of the Civil War” to explore photographs from the Civil War.  In “Telling Details” you can click at different places on the photographs to read details about what is happening.  Look for “The War” on the left to find maps, short biographical paragraphs of many Civil War figures, and historical documents.  
  4. University of North Carolina: Documenting the American South – You can use the Search Box OR use this subject index.  Click on the first letter of your topic.  You can also look in “The Southern Homefront: 186-1865”. 
  5. University of North Carolina: First Person Narratives -  This is a collection of diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives written by Southerners. 
  6. National Archives: Teaching with Documents – Click on “The Documents” on the right to see examples of letters by Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. 
  7. New York Historical Society: Civil War Treasures – You can search by subject or type of document you want, such as “drawings” to find these primary sources. 
  8. The American Civil War Homepage – Here is a web bibliography filled with links about many aspects of the Civil War. 
  9. The Civil War Home Page – Another link bibliography, which includes maps, images, and a searchable link database of other websites. 
  10. Yale Law School:  Confederate States of America Documents – Here are official documents of the Confederacy. 
  11. Civil War Medicine – Click on links to read articles about Civil War medical topics. 
  12. Gettysburg Battlefield:  Civil War Timeline - A brief listing of important events of the Civil War. 
  13. The Valley of the Shadow – Follows two communities (one Northern, one Southern) before, through and after the Civil War.  Here you will find letters, speeches, newspaper articles and more. 

Mexican-American War 

  1. PBS: U.S.-Mexican War  
  2. Descendants of Mexican War Veterans: A Concise History of the U.S.-Mexican War – Click on each section to learn about this war. 

Letters and Diaries 

  1. Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War – Read the introduction page and then click on “Table of Contents of the Letters” to read letters written by Newton Scott, a Union soldier, to his future bride. 
  2. University of Virginia: American Civil War Collections – Click on the title of the documents you want to read.  Look for “Letters and Diaries from the Civil War” for diary entries. 
  3. Sullivan Ballou letter – Read this letter showing love of his country, and for his family. 
  4. Civil War envelopes – Many envelopes were printed with caricatures and drawings.  Look here for examples. 
  5. Letters about the Civil War – Read these letters and also a diary by both Union and Confederate soldiers. 

Maps – Get ideas for creating your hand-drawn map from these online maps. 

  1. Library of Congress, American Memory:  Civil War maps -  You can search by subject or place to see many Civil War maps.  Follow instructions to zoom in closer. 
  2. EHistory:  Civil War Maps Slavery 

Slavery 

  1. North American Slave Narratives – Here you can read autobiographical narratives by former or fugitive slaves. 
  2. University of Virginia:  American Slave Narratives – Read the introductory paragraph, and then click on “Annotated Index of Narratives” at the bottom.  You will see a photograph and description of the former slaves.  Click on their name to read their story and their words, transcribed by interviewers. 
  3. Emancipation Proclamation – Here is a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves. 
  4. Fugitive Slave Act – Here is the text of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. 
  5. Our Documents.Gov:  100 Milestone Documents – Look on the list of documents for the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.  Read the history and look at the actual document. 

Biographies 

Frederick Douglass – National Park Service: American Visionaries – Read about the accomplishments of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, including many images and some primary documents. 

Robert E. Lee – A biography and links to other related pages.  

 A. LincolnAbraham Lincoln Historical Digitalization Project – Here you can find a biography, fast facts, writings and speeches by Lincoln. 

  
 
This page is maintained by Molly Rehbehn and Karen Crossley.
Click here to log in