University of Georgia Libraries, Others Announce Plans to Digitize More than 80,000 Civil War-Related Documents

From UGA:

The University of Georgia Libraries, in partnership with the Atlanta History Center, the Georgia Historical Society and the Board of Regents’ GALILEO virtual library initiative, is part of a new project to digitize more than 80,000 documents relating to the American Civil War.
Funding for America’s Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia has been provided by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission and is enabling archivists to digitize 81,319 letters, diaries, military records, account books, poetry, photographs and maps that document the American Civil War.
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As part of the two-year venture, a blog on the progress of the project will be available to scholars and the public. Access to the materials will be through websites at each institution.
The digitized documents will be available via the Digital Library of Georgia, a GALILEO initiative based in the UGA Libraries. “The Digital Library of Georgia site is a significant source of exposure for project results, as DLG received more than 4.5 million page views during the past 12 months, including visits from every state and internationally,” Graham said. The records also will become part of the recently launched Association of Southeastern Research Libraries Civil War portal (http://american-south.org), which the DLG hosts.”
The manuscript section of UGA’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Libraryhouses more than 500 collections of original documents relating to the war. In addition to being used by authors, Hargrett’s Civil War manuscripts have been used by more than 700 researchers of all types during the past three years. Similarly, the Georgia Historical Society and the Atlanta History Center Civil War collections are in constant use for books, publications and broadcast documentaries.

Additional Details in the Complete Announcement

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