Scranton, Pa Group Faces Daunting Task of Preserving Civil War Books

USS ALASKA

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Mar 16, 2016
Group Faces Daunting Task of Preserving Civil War Books
Feb. 25, 2019, at 11:41 a.m.
By JEFF HORVATH, The (Scranton) Times-Tribune

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — In the basement of City Hall, leather-bound volumes kept behind glass contain source records, after-action reports and regimental histories of the Civil War, from the first shots fired at Fort Sumter to the Confederate capitulation at Appomattox Court House.
Kept at the Civil War museum and library run by members of the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Association of Scranton, the collection of about 1,800 books, records and personal battlefield accounts tells the stories of the Union and Confederate armies that clashed across large swaths of the country between 1861 and 1865. Some of the books date back to around the war years, while others were penned and printed in the years and decades that followed. While the collection represents an invaluable historical record of one of American history's most central events — and Northeast Pennsylvania's role in the war — some of the antique volumes are showing their age.


Full article can be found here - https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...s-daunting-task-of-preserving-civil-war-books

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Missed this thread from March! Love the thread recommendations at the bottom of the page because I'd miss a LOT without it!

You know, it's increasingly odd how little so many old books and documents of the war are valued- " (It's) for the future," GAR President Hal Myers said ", from the article. Nice to see the foresight, gives us hope.

Thank goodness for LoC and Internet Archives, Lincoln Foundation, Hathitrust, Project Gutenberg, etc. At least there are copies somewhere of a lot, while terrific projects like the one in Scranton make huge efforts to help preserving originals.
 
Thanks for sharing this information on a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Preservation of any historical land mark or book and paper related materials should always be a major portion of a community's budget and awareness. My family has always donated to very worthy historical causes through generations of our family and my sister and I continue this great family trend. As the great historian, David McCullough once said "You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history." Therefore, if we don't preserve our history then we certainly cannot began to know our history. David.
 
Civil War museum in Scranton moves from City Hall basement to Marketplace at Steamtown
JIM LOCKWOOD STAFF WRITER
Feb 13, 2023

SCRANTON — A "hidden gem" Civil War museum, formerly in the basement of City Hall, has a chance to shine in a new, rent-free location at the Marketplace at Steamtown. Members of the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Association of Scranton Museum and Library moved its contents in recent weeks to a former salon outside of Crunch Fitness on the marketplace's second floor.


Full article here - https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/ne...cle_c6ac2cd8-4d50-5140-b78f-62b33631ce09.html

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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