Online Collection Spotlight: Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library's "Civil War Women" Materials

A wonderful small online collection of archival material related to U.S. Civil War Women is presented by Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Called "Civil War Women," the collection of papers and diaries by three Civil War era women from the South--both Union and Confederate women--provides users and Civil War buffs with the involvement of women beyond the typical charitable groups involved in the Civil War effort. The collection documents have been scanned and transcribed for use and for the ability to see the original materials. The collections show a schoolgirl describing soldier occupation of Gallatin, Tennessee; a wife of a Union Army recruiter; and a female Confederate Civil War spy in Washington, D.C.

Though small in content, the simple formatting of the transcriptions, and the mix of ages of women and their experiences in the war, makes this a very nice collection website for use by libraries for researchers, by scholars, and by cultural institutions looking for multiple perspectives to give visitors during the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Civil War. I've seen a lot of these websites done by families whose ancestors were involved in the Civil War, and the website formatting was very similar. What Duke has done is maintain a simply family-styled format (in-keeping with what many more localized Southern researchers are use to encountering) that makes widely available unique materials. I like the site and its efforts. Check it out: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/collections/digitized/civil-war-women/