A unique opportunity for Civil War-era historians

[Tom Bogar]

The Library of Congress has announced a new initiative to enlist volunteer historians to transcribe their backlog of handwritten 19th Century letters, diaries, etc., many relevant to Lincoln and the Civil War.

See: https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/10/explor...clr=ealocb

Many of us who have developed "the eye" for deciphering that era's writing might find it an intriguing and worthwhile venture. I plan to participate once my Maggie Mitchell biography is finished and published.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(01-31-2019 10:19 AM)Tom Bogar Wrote:  The Library of Congress has announced a new initiative to enlist volunteer historians to transcribe their backlog of handwritten 19th Century letters, diaries, etc., many relevant to Lincoln and the Civil War.

See: https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/10/explor...clr=ealocb

Many of us who have developed "the eye" for deciphering that era's writing might find it an intriguing and worthwhile venture. I plan to participate once my Maggie Mitchell biography is finished and published.

When do you expect this to happen? My mother would love - GWTW is her favorite movie, first she ever saw (two decades after release...), and she's always found Mitchell's own "story" fascinating. (Just curious - did many families in the US own a TV set in the 1950s/60s? Here one had to go to restaurants, or visit the only neighbor in the area who had.)

[L Verge]

Those of you who are members of the Surratt Society will receive another notice of this in the February issue of the Surratt Courier, which is in the mail headed your way as I type. One of the overseers of this project, Michelle Krowl, sent us the notice shortly after we had sent the January issue to the printer.

Michelle has been a presenter at some of the special programs at Surratt House. She will be speaking in March for our Women's History lecture. Her topic is Antonia Ford Willard, a suspected Confederate spy in the outskirts of Washington City, who met her future husband, a Union officer, while under arrest. Theirs is one of those "mixed marriages" that happened during the Civil War. I suspect that Michelle may have drawn inspiration for this topic while perusing some of the letters in her care at the LOC. The title of her talk is "On Some Auspicious Day," which sure sounds like a line that Antonia (or another senorita of that era) might have written to a friend - or beau.

[Tom Bogar]

When do you expect this to happen? My mother would love - GWTW is her favorite movie, first she ever saw (two decades after release...), and she's always found Mitchell's own "story" fascinating. (Just curious - did many families in the US own a TV set in the 1950s/60s? Here one had to go to restaurants, or visit the only neighbor in the area who had.)
[/quote]

Sorry, Eva. It's actress Maggie Mitchell (1836-1918), a warm personal friend of John Wilkes Booth and early-on Secessionist spitfire who quickly came to regret and put behind her the impetuous acts of her early twenties and go on to thirty more years of fame and respect on stage, and not author Margaret Mitchell.

[Steve]

(01-31-2019 08:35 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  When do you expect this to happen? My mother would love - GWTW is her favorite movie, first she ever saw (two decades after release...), and she's always found Mitchell's own "story" fascinating. (Just curious - did many families in the US own a TV set in the 1950s/60s? Here one had to go to restaurants, or visit the only neighbor in the area who had.)

Eva, a documentary about the life of Margaret Mitchell that I saw on PBS (the American public television network) several years ago might be of interest to you and your mother (if she understands English):

https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Mitchell...d=&&sr=

To be honest, I don't care for GWTW; but Mitchell lived a very interesting life. I really enjoyed and would recommend this documentary.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(01-31-2019 09:27 PM)Tom Bogar Wrote:  When do you expect this to happen? My mother would love - GWTW is her favorite movie, first she ever saw (two decades after release...), and she's always found Mitchell's own "story" fascinating. (Just curious - did many families in the US own a TV set in the 1950s/60s? Here one had to go to restaurants, or visit the only neighbor in the area who had.)

Sorry, Eva. It's actress Maggie Mitchell (1836-1918), a warm personal friend of John Wilkes Booth and early-on Secessionist spitfire who quickly came to regret and put behind her the impetuous acts of her early twenties and go on to thirty more years of fame and respect on stage, and not author Margaret Mitchell.
[/quote]
Faux pas...amazing, I didn't expect that she was so famous that there's enough to dig out for an entire biography!

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(01-31-2019 11:29 PM)Steve Wrote:  

(01-31-2019 08:35 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  When do you expect this to happen? My mother would love - GWTW is her favorite movie, first she ever saw (two decades after release...), and she's always found Mitchell's own "story" fascinating. (Just curious - did many families in the US own a TV set in the 1950s/60s? Here one had to go to restaurants, or visit the only neighbor in the area who had.)

Eva, a documentary about the life of Margaret Mitchell that I saw on PBS (the American public television network) several years ago might be of interest to you and your mother (if she understands English):

https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Mitchell...d=&&sr=

To be honest, I don't care for GWTW; but Mitchell lived a very interesting life. I really enjoyed and would recommend this documentary.

Thanks, Steve.

[Gene C]

Speaking of "Gone With the Wind"
this exciting news item from Fox News - Gone With The Wind Returning to the Theaters for 80th Anniversary.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/go...y-be-mixed