FREE access to the Footnote.com Civil War Collection

The following announcement was written by Footnote.com. The entire Civil War collection is available FREE during the month of June. 

Millions Of Original Documents Help Americans Gain A New Perspective On The War -

June 10, 2010 – Lindon, UT – Today Footnote.com announced that its U.S. Civil War Collection will be made free to the public through the month of June.  Footnote.com has worked with the U.S. National Archives over the past three years to create the largest repository of Civil War documents on the web featuring over 30 million documents, photos and maps. 

“Our strong partnership with the National Archives has allowed us to build an extremely valuable resource for researchers, historians and genealogists,” explains Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com.  “Now more people than ever have access to records relating to one of the most prolific events in our history.”

The original documents found in this collection provide a different perspective on the “war between the states.”  Major events as well as accounts from individuals are brought to life on Footnote.com. Visitors to Footnote.com will find:
•    Union and Confederate Soldier Service Records
•    Widow’s Pension Files
•    Emancipation Documents and Slave Records
•    Confederate Amnesty Papers and Citizens Files
•    Lincoln Assassination Investigation and Trial Papers
•    U.S. Civil War Photos and Maps
To see how Footnote.com is changing the way we view U.S. Civil War history, visit http://go.footnote.com/civilwar/.    

About Footnote, Inc.
Footnote.com is a subscription website that features original historical documents, providing visitors with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit http://www.footnote.com.

Helps for reading Handwriting

Here are some web sites that will be helpful to learn to read old handwriting.

Early American Handwriting Quiz
This quiz will test your skills at identifying upper and lower case letters.

How to Read 18th Century British-American Handwriting
This is a guide to reading 18th century handwriting with sample images.

Script Tutorials
Tutorials for reading English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese handwriting

Palaeography - Reading Old Handwriting 1500-1800
An online tutorial from the UK National Archvies

Newspaper Digitization Projects

International Coalition on Newspapers
Links to international newspaper digitization projects listed alphabetically by country.

United States Newspaper Digitization Projects
Links to U.S. newspaper digitization projects, sites with national coverage as well as state or regional projects.

This page highlights and links to past, present, and prospective digitization projects of historic newspapers. The focus is primarily on digital conversion efforts, not full-text collections of current news sources.