“When this cruel war is over, praying then to meet again,”went the chorus of a popular Civil War song written by Henry Tucker in 1863. Those words encapsulated so much of what the war was to so many on the war front and at home: a seemingly endless period of waiting, worrying, and hoping. Yet the war in 1863 was only half over. The American Civil War stretched on and on, for four long, bloody years. The beginning of April 1865, though, 150 years ago, marked the Civil War’s decline with decisiveness.
We’re excited to be leading a workshop at the annual Vermont K-12 Edtech Conference at Champlain College in Burlington on May 21st and 22nd! This year’s theme is Dynamic Landscapes: Do, Make, and Create! The two-day conference is sponsored by VITA-Learn, the VSLA (Vermont State Library Association) and the VT AOE (Agency of Education), and is open to Vermont teachers, librarians, administrators, and tech specialists in K-12 schools.
We’ll be speaking on how to use historic newspaper content from Chronicling America in the classroom on Thursday, May 21st at 11 am (D1 Thursday Session 2A). To learn more about our talk and sign-up for our session (if you’re already registered), visit the session website.
For information on the conference and how to register, visit the Dynamic Landscapes website. Hope to see you there!
Visit our For Educators page to download lessons, view tutorials and more!
The Burlington Free Press republished an article on William Miller from the Bennington Banner on February 17, 1843, introducing it with a heavy dose of skepticism:
“It is the latest news from this monomaniac and his whereabouts…This gentleman arrived in this village [Bennington], and commenced a course of lectures on his favorite and celebrated theme–the Destruction of the World by Fire in A.D. 1843…during his first lecture he gave substantially the following description of the MANNER of the Second Advent: ‘A small bright spot will first appear in the east, which will gradually expand as it approaches the earth…At the sound of a trumpet (or some other signal) the bright spot having gradually illuminated the whole heavens, the righteous dead shall rise from their resting places–and the risen and living saints shall together be caught up…the wicked burned up.'”
“The Parson is a large, thick-set personage, something over 60, and stands on his leathers about five feet ten. He has a large head, and a large square full face, with small blue eyes, a small nose, light complexion, and light hair. He is earnest and vehement in his delivery…” -Burlington Free Press, February 17, 1843, page 1.
Vermont transplant, Rev. William Miller (1782-1849), was a notable Baptist preacher during the Second Great Awakening in the first half of the 19th century. Born in Pittsfield, Mass., he moved with his family shortly thereafter at the age of four to Poultney, Vt. In the 1830s he rose in prominence for his views on the impeding Second Advent of Christ (a day in Christian teachings when Christ will return again and take believers up to heaven, leaving all else on earth to burn) nationwide after partnering with Joshua V. Himes, a well-known Boston Baptist minister. Pamphlets, periodicals, speeches, and newspapers largely assisted in the spread of his radical views. Continue reading The End of the World was almost Today in 1843 and 1844: the Failed Prophesies of the Millerites→
Pictured: Erenst Anip, Project Librarian, introducing VTDNP and Chronicling America.
On an almost warm, partially sunny morning this past Saturday, March 7, at 10:30 am, the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project gave a presentation on how to use Chronicling America for genealogy research to an audience of near fifty people at the Vermont Genealogy Library in Fort Ethan Allen.
In the class, we addressed how VTDNP digitizes and selects content, how to search on Chronicling America, and offered some tips and tricks on how to effectively find information about relatives on Chronicling America.
Pictured: Karyn Norwood, Digital Support Specialist, talking about the basics of Chronicling America.
We are very grateful to the Vermont Genealogy Library for the opportunity to present at their facility!
The PowerPoint, with audio, will be posted on our website and slideshare account soon. We’ll also have a brochure posted on how to conduct genealogy research with historic newspapers on Chronicling America , as well, for free download.
Abraham Lincoln’s second term commenced on “a day of gloom and tempest,” ever so near to the close of the bloodiest war in American history: the Civil War. The streets were muddy from a heavy rain, “rendered almost impassable for foot passengers,” but Lincoln’s procession trudged on despite the mucky and wet conditions toward to the Capitol in the late morning, where he was to make his second inaugural speech in the afternoon.
“Crowd at Lincoln’s second inauguration, March 4, 1865.” Photo from the Library of Congress.
By the time he made his way to the stage, the skies had apparently settled to a murky gray color, with the rain desisting. Lincoln’s speech was brief and to the point, and characteristically his own: “In pithy brevity, sagacity and honesty of purpose, the address is Lincolnian all over” (Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 4, 1865). Two excerpts follow that this author found particularly poignant:
“With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avoid it…Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came…
…With malice toward none, with charity for all, …let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wound, …to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Following his speech, an account of the remaining portion of the ceremony was relayed in the Lamoille Newsdealer:
The New York Tribune offered a hopeful summation of the day’s events: “May the President’s two terms of service together reflect the day of his second inauguration–so dark and angry in the morning–halcyon and radiant in the evening.”
Indeed, the Civil War was soon to end in April of that year. As Lincoln’s inauguration took place, Union troops were enclosing on Richmond, in a “coiling serpent of bayonets.”
Lincoln’s leadership, however, would be tragically cut short, and scarcely a week after the end of the war.
