The Source

ArchiveGrid

By Michael K. Shaffer · Originally published September 2021 · p. 20

Michigan soldier results for campaigning in Georgia.

ArchiveGrid Researchers seeking primary documents from the CivilWar period will benefit from using ArchiveGrid as a starting point in their quest for more information on a particular subject. As noted on this free site, their database “…includes over 7 million records describing archival materials…historicaldocuments, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,400 archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.” Start at https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/. Take time to read the ‘How to Search’ section of this site. Users may perform Boolean searches to narrow the focus of search results. For example, this writer performed a general search on “Civil War.” The search yielded 84,597 hits as of this writing (late July 2021). See the screenshot middle right. Various categories allow further refinement: People, Group, Places, Archives, Archive Locations, and Topics. Adding “has_links:1” to your search topic will yield results with links to digital content. For example, adding “has_links:1” to the “Civil War” search produces almost 30,000 results. Selecting Civil War songs from the search and mining the UC San Diego collection netted the song sheet shown below left. Experiment with various search techniques to drill into particular collections. In this example, adding search criteria Soldiers – Michigan – Military Campaigns – Georgia netted three results. See the image at bottom right side of page. Some results will produce links to actual documents, while other searches may show finding aids for your use when visiting various repositories. Good luck in researching the American Civil War!

Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, and instructor, who remains a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil

War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at [email protected] or request speaking engagements via his website www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook www.facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer, and Twitter @michaelkshaffer.

Summary view of “Civil War” search results at ArchiveGrid.