WHAT YOU NEED NOW - CONTENT UPDATED THROUGH THE DAY
June 18, 2005
New Book Showcases MU's Confederate History Collection
by HNN Staff
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Huntington (HNN) - New Book Showcases MU's Confederate History Collection
Noted Civil War author Jack Dickinson has produced an exhibition catalog based on
the unique holdings of the Rosanna A. Blake Library of
Confederate History at Marshall University.
Civil War Paper Items showcases printed items produced
in the Confederate states of America between 1860 and
1865. The volume is in soft-cover format, 8½ by 11
inches, with 140 full-color pages.
Included in the museum-quality book are examples of
sheet music, song books, and dance notices; religious
tracts; bonds and currency; cachets, letterheads, and
patriotic items; government documents and forms;
cartes de visite (card photographs); prints,
sketches, and maps; newspapers and other periodicals,
some printed on the back of wallpaper; and veterans'
association publications.
A letter written by Gen. Robert E. Lee to Gen. P. G. T.
Beauregard in 1863, and the final payment paperwork
and check for the commerce raider CSS Alabama, are two
of the notable items reproduced.
The Rosanna Blake Library was given to Marshall
University by Dr. Rosanna Blake, a Proctorville, Ohio,
native who served as a government attorney for many
years. Her interest in the Confederacy was sparked by
a book about Robert E. Lee she received for her 10th
birthday, and she collected materials extensively
throughout her life.
In 1965, Dr. Richard B. Harwell, noted Civil War
bibliographer, considered her collection one of the
best in the country. Housed in the Libraries' Special
Collections Department, it has now grown to more than
4,000 monographs and 3,000 imprints. Dr. Blake also
established two graduate scholarships at Marshall
University, in Southern history and Confederate
literature.
The author of nine books and numerous magazine
articles on the Civil War, Dickinson is a West
Virginia native and 1966 graduate of Marshall
University. After a career at IBM, he returned to
Marshall as the Confederate Bibliographer for the
Blake collection.
Dickinson was the 1999 recipient of the Jefferson
Davis History Writing Award from the United Daughters
of the Confederacy, and has received the History
Writers award from the West Virginia Department of
Archives and History. He is a member of the Company of
Military Historians.
The volume can be ordered for $14.95 plus $3.95
shipping and handling from: Marshall University
Foundation, Attn: Dean Barbara Winters, Marshall
University Libraries, One John Marshall Drive,
Huntington WV 25755-2060.
A presentation and autograph session by the author is
planned for 4 p.m. on July 29, 2005, in the Drinko
Library Atrium. More information is available from Winters at (304)
696-2318.
